Brief:

• TikTok this week partnered with personalization platform AdGreetz to help brands run custom campaigns at scale on the social video-sharing app, according to a press release. Insurance company Prudential was the first brand to tap into the partnership.  

• Prudential deployed almost 1,400 versions of campaign video creative on TikTok to promote its new Pulse health app, whose target audience is people ages 18 to 44. The assets were personalized based on location, gender and time of day, and the effort deployed a mix of video messages to highlight Pulse's features and benefits.

• Prudential last year launched Pulse in Malaysia with plans to expand to 10 other counties in Asia as part of an effort to educate consumers about preventative health and to connect them with medical professionals, a company announcement said. The app is available for free from Apple's App Store or Google Play.

Insight:

Prudential's custom ad campaign on TikTok is representative of how AdGreetz's technology could work for other brands looking to reach consumers through the viral video app that has seen its popularity soar. The partnership with AdGreetz serves as another sign that TikTok is looking to round out its advertising offerings and bring a more diverse set of brands into the fold. 

Personalizing creative assets based on user characteristics, including gender, age and time of day, can help advertisers craft messages that are more likely to resonate with individuals based on their demographic criteria.

In the U.S., receptivity to personalized ads this year reached an all-time high, with 43% of consumers saying it was important that ads be personalized, a survey by advertising and analytics platform Innovid found. The research revealed that 32% of consumers like personalized ads and that 30% of respondents like brands more when they customize their marketing messages.

TikTok's young-skewing user base at the same time fits with Prudential's target audience for its Pulse health app, which is receiving a heavy promotional push.

The coronavirus pandemic has spurred worldwide growth in health and fitness apps like Pulse as consumers focus more on their physical and mental well-being, and rely on their smartphones for help. Global downloads of health and fitness apps surged 47% to 656 million in the first two months of Q2 from a year earlier, compared with only 6.8% growth in Q2 2019, researcher Sensor Tower found. 

Prudential turning to TikTok to promote Pulse shows that the ByteDance-owned app is maturing, courting more advertisers from categories that are outside of its typical wheelhouse, including insurance. Marketers to date have been drawn to TikTok due to its active young user base, but working with solutions providers like AdGreetz gives the platform a chance to prove it can deliver campaigns at scale that provide returns. 

TikTok in June introduced its first global platform for marketers, called TikTok for Business, which centralizes the platform's ad products and services for brands, mirroring hubs offered by rival social media sites like Instagram. TikTok is continuing to forge new advertising partnerships despite the looming threat of a U.S. ban, which the Trump administration said it will impose due to national security concerns stemming from ByteDance's ties to China.