TikTok Releases Key Future Strategies At Cannes Lions Festival

TikTok leaders talk shopping, advertising, brand safety, the creator economy, and more.

On Monday, June 20, TikTok hosted its first-ever company event at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Several executives of the entertainment platform talked through their vision for the company’s future and its challenges.

At the event, held annually at the resort town in the French Riviera, and considered one of the premier awards shows for the advertising industry, Blake Chandlee, TikTok’s president of global business solutions, talked about the growth of ads on the platform.

He said there are currently hundreds of thousands of advertisers — but TikTok is aiming for millions.

TikTok executives also discussed shopping functionality, safety challenges, the impact of iOS 14 privacy settings on social media advertising, and the influencer/creator economy.

TikTok Strives For More Advertisers Despite Privacy Limitations

TikTok plans to boost their advertising use by adding new tools to the platform and implementing a program developed in-house that will report on the quality of ads.

Like other social media apps, TikTok has been seeking new ways to target advertising in the wake of Apple providing users with the option to limit cross-platform tracking.

Ray Cao, managing director and global head of monetization product, strategy, and operation, said TikTok’s platform will include more contextual targeting.

Additionally, the platform is taking steps to address brand safety issues and quality controls, which has caused some advertisers to be wary of TikTok in the past.

According to Francis Stones, TikTok’s head of European brand safety, the platform’s review process now includes more than just images. It also checks sounds, text, and emojis to ensure brands aren’t inadvertently associated with something potentially problematic.

In-Platform Shopping Will Be Expanded

TikTok is currently in the process of globally expanding its live shopping functionality, according to Sofia Hernandez, global head of business marketing.

This new feature will allow brands to capitalize on the viral status they can gain from user-created content directly.

These changes should open new opportunities for digital marketers by allowing them to target an audience more accurately. Brands and content creators will be able to enhance their exposure with reduced concern about negative associations, while also gaining a means to make sales.