TikTok stakes claim as ‘home of search’ as it launches more AI ad tools
At a briefing session in Cannes, TikTok executives announced new AI tools for advertisers and laid claim to being the home of search.
One billion daily users, of whom 40% use TikTok for search in the first 30 seconds of opening the app, is partly what has made TikTok go “from vanity to vital” for advertisers, according to Khartoon Weiss, vice-president, general manager, of global business solutions.
Sharing a stage with colleagues from advertising and product teams, Weiss outlined the platform’s transition to a search tool for users: “The most creative search platform, powered by people.”
Championing creativity
Fittingly during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Sofia Hernandez, global head of business marketing and commercial partnerships, stressed the case for creative impact on the platform. “Creativity done right starts movements,” she said.
According to research conducted in partnership with System1, there are three key creative principals for advertising on TikTok:
• First impression is everything
• Emotion wins
• Branding early and strongly is a superpower
If done correctly, these three can lead to as much as a three times increase in return on investment for advertisers on TikTok, the company said.
AI tools for advertisers
TikTok also announced developments on its AI platform, TikTok Symphony. Advertisers will now be able to create video ads entirely in AI by either using a combination of product images and prompts or text prompts on their own.
Alongside that, TikTok has a suite of AI “avatars” — based on real people — which can be used to generate product showcase videos.
All generated content will be labelled clearly as such, promised Moritz Bartsch, head of creative product strategy and operations.
TikTok Symphony will also be integrated into WPP Open, the holding group’s marketing platform.
Out of phone
Answering questions, the team indicated TikTok’s willingness to move off the platform and into living rooms and OOH advertising, highlighting digital OOH panels at Nice airport.
The Out of Phone initiative was first announced in 2023 and was rolled out to the UK in 2024.
This is “an ecosytem play”, said Bartsch.