Our end-of-year celebration spotlights 14 trailblazing brand and creator partnerships on TikTok this year. This series features the stories behind the campaigns, as seen through the lens of a creative team led by celebrity director & photographer Carlos “Kaito” Araujo. Ranging from CPG to auto, each story captures the essence of what makes marketing on TikTok special.
In 2021, brands and creators broke new ground on TikTok. Marketing leaders engaged with this generation’s storytellers to co-create at the speed of culture, inspire brand love, and sell out products in real time — ushering in a new era of marketing that’s rooted in storytelling, connection, and authenticity. And the impact was massive.
These are the Culture Drivers of 2021.
Our end-of-year celebration spotlights 14 trailblazing brand and creator partnerships on TikTok this year. This series features the stories behind the campaigns, as seen through the lens of a creative team led by celebrity director & photographer Carlos “Kaito” Araujo. Ranging from CPG to auto, each story captures the essence of what makes marketing on TikTok special.
In 2021, brands and creators broke new ground on TikTok. Marketing leaders engaged with this generation’s storytellers to co-create at the speed of culture, inspire brand love, and sell out products in real time — ushering in a new era of marketing that’s rooted in storytelling, connection, and authenticity. And the impact was massive.
These are the Culture Drivers of 2021.
Meet Our Team
Blake Chandlee
President, Global Business Solutions
As a young brand, TikTok has had quite the impact on culture globally. This was an especially relevant year for TikTok and brands—from small budding businesses to the world’s largest. So we wanted to take a moment to look back and celebrate the early adopters, the trailblazers, those brave marketers leading the way in innovation. We call them Culture Drivers.
These Culture Drivers are inspiring stories of fruitful and fun collaborations between some of the biggest brands in the world and the TikTok creators who turned their briefs into the leading edge of commerce and culture. They pushed the boundaries of what marketing can accomplish, first on TikTok and then, inevitably, the rest of the media landscape. They showcased a diversity of identity, but also thought and style, a reflection of TikTok’s global user base and the world at large. And they introduced innovative ways for brands to connect with their customers—current and future. Take a look, and maybe they’ll inspire you to try to join next year’s class of Culture Drivers.
Sofia Hernandez
Head of Global Business Marketing
While TikTok may have a billion users globally, we’ve only been around for a short while, so the interactions on TikTok don’t follow the old scripts. This past year saw the emergence of a new kind of marketing, born out of TikTok’s laser focus on making authentic connections, inspiring co-creation and spreading joy. A fintech firm partnered with a Filipina-Canadian drag queen to explain banking alternatives! A global QSR brand got yelled at on camera—and loved it! It was apparent that something different was going on, and Culture Drivers grew out of that realization.
These brands stepped outside of their comfort zones, learning to loosen tight controls on their content, and partnered with TikTok creators who breathed life into the messaging. The campaigns were bold, real, and rooted in entertainment. And as you can see, they made magic together in a way that couldn’t have happened anywhere else. Meet the Culture Drivers.
Sandie Hawkins
GM of North America, Global Business Solutions
Like all of the partnerships featured here, Culture Drivers was a collaborative effort. Not only did these brave marketers see an opportunity to try something new this year, but then they allowed us behind the scenes of these remarkable campaigns to explore the thought processes and protocols behind their creation. It’s an exceptional glimpse at how great brands are built, brought to life in artful portraiture by Kaito and his team. Creators are essential to the success of TikTok as a platform. Their inventiveness, creativity, and ambition underpin absolutely everything about Culture Drivers. They are the ones we look to for inspiration and vision. Culture Drivers exists thanks to them and the marketers who took a chance on a new way of reaching consumers, who are making and shaping culture at this very moment. And maybe this will encourage some of you to make your own mark. There are always new Culture Drivers waiting to be created—are you and your brand one of them?
Blake Chandlee
President, Global Business Solutions
As a young brand, TikTok has had quite the impact on culture globally. This was an especially relevant year for TikTok and brands—from small budding businesses to the world’s largest. So we wanted to take a moment to look back and celebrate the early adopters, the trailblazers, those brave marketers leading the way in innovation. We call them Culture Drivers.
These Culture Drivers are inspiring stories of fruitful and fun collaborations between some of the biggest brands in the world and the TikTok creators who turned their briefs into the leading edge of commerce and culture. They pushed the boundaries of what marketing can accomplish, first on TikTok and then, inevitably, the rest of the media landscape. They showcased a diversity of identity, but also thought and style, a reflection of TikTok’s global user base and the world at large. And they introduced innovative ways for brands to connect with their customers—current and future. Take a look, and maybe they’ll inspire you to try to join next year’s class of Culture Drivers.
Sofia Hernandez
Head of Global Business Marketing
While TikTok may have a billion users globally, we’ve only been around for a short while, so the interactions on TikTok don’t follow the old scripts. This past year saw the emergence of a new kind of marketing, born out of TikTok’s laser focus on making authentic connections, inspiring co-creation and spreading joy. A fintech firm partnered with a Filipina-Canadian drag queen to explain banking alternatives! A global QSR brand got yelled at on camera—and loved it! It was apparent that something different was going on, and Culture Drivers grew out of that realization.
These brands stepped outside of their comfort zones, learning to loosen tight controls on their content, and partnered with TikTok creators who breathed life into the messaging. The campaigns were bold, real, and rooted in entertainment. And as you can see, they made magic together in a way that couldn’t have happened anywhere else. Meet the Culture Drivers.
Sandie Hawkins
GM of North America, Global Business Solutions
Like all of the partnerships featured here, Culture Drivers was a collaborative effort. Not only did these brave marketers see an opportunity to try something new this year, but then they allowed us behind the scenes of these remarkable campaigns to explore the thought processes and protocols behind their creation. It’s an exceptional glimpse at how great brands are built, brought to life in artful portraiture by Kaito and his team. Creators are essential to the success of TikTok as a platform. Their inventiveness, creativity, and ambition underpin absolutely everything about Culture Drivers. They are the ones we look to for inspiration and vision. Culture Drivers exists thanks to them and the marketers who took a chance on a new way of reaching consumers, who are making and shaping culture at this very moment. And maybe this will encourage some of you to make your own mark. There are always new Culture Drivers waiting to be created—are you and your brand one of them?