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Creative Partners Rule TikTok’s Marketing Ecosystem

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“Inspire creativity and bring joy.”

TikTok’s mission statement applies as much to its advertising as it does to its consumer-facing product. This week on AdExchanger Talks, head of ecosystem partnerships Melissa Yang describes why the company decided to focus on creative partners ahead of areas like bidding and optimization. 

“TikTok has become a place where brands can show up, let down their traditional guardrails, experiment and try approaching things differently,” she says. 

The platform wants businesses to make TikToks themselves and be part of the community. But advertisers, even those fluent in social media, may not have TikTok-ready content teed up. 

“Consumers these days consume such an enormous amount of rich and immersive content,” says Yang. “It’s a lot of work for brands to keep up with. The creative partners space is one where we can build a lot of innovation – both scaling production and also the underlying technology and tools.” 

Also in this episode: Ad targeting on TikTok; prioritizing mental health and safety.  

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