October marked, among other things, Black History Month and the final countdown to the COP26 conference. As such, we’ve seen these events and recent topical news coverage influence the tone of many new creative social media campaigns over the last four weeks.
In this edition, we’ve got plenty of new activations from social giants like TikTok and Facebook, as well as content from a number of organisations campaigning for social and environmental change such as Stamma and UN Climate Change.
For a deeper dive into social media platform innovation, head over to The Social Quarterly Report or the Social Media Platform Trends report.
Let’s get started.
TikTok: You Have To See It
TikTok, with help from Publicis Groupe’s creative Philippines Photo Editor collective Le Truc, has produced a new campaign which takes inspiration from its most popular videos from months past. The activation, titled ‘You Have To See It’, demonstrates how real-life stories posted to social media are often more unbelievable than fiction.
Together, a myriad of ordinary social media users, celebrities and well-known TikTok creators relay the story of a true of viral TikTok series in which a woman (@samanthartsoe) found an entire abandoned apartment hidden behind the bathroom mirror of her own.
The many conversations featured in the spot take place over dinner, at a spa, in a club and even amongst a noisy factory production line, creating humour and intrigue for both viewers who have and have not seen the original videos being discussed.
TikTok:
To celebrate Black History Month this October, TikTok has also created a brand new in-app campaign to spotlight the talent of prominent Black voices on the platform as they become renowned names in the categories of music, acting, dance, makeup artistry and much more.
Featuring users from all corners of its Black creator community, including Dreya Mac (@dreyamac), Nife (@itsjustnifee), Benjy (@benjy_lookbook) and Ehiz Ufuah (@_ehiz), TikTok aims to highlight creativity and emphasise the huge part Black talent has played in making TikTok the platform it has become today. The content is supported by an OOH activation of the same title.
The campaign also encourages lesser known creators to raise awareness of and discussions around Black History Month and share their experiences. So far, the hashtag has garnered nearly 60 million views on TikTok.
Facebook Portal: Gold Star
Facebook has released another campaign in its series of activations surrounding its video-calling hardware, Portal, this time focusing on the connection between grandparents and grandchildren.
Portal has just begun its partnership with the charity YoungMinds, which will continue throughout the year and into 2022, which aims to underline of the importance of relationships between young people and trusted adults as part of the latter group’s mental health development.
The omnichannel campaign will run on social media, TV and OOH across the UK, with ‘hyper-local activation’ in Bournemouth, where messages from grandchildren will be shown in DOOH environments.