TikTok and Reels, the ads of the future?

There is a massive surge in interest and participation in short-form video to remain relevant by brands.

In a media landscape where a 15-second homemade video on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or Triller can generate millions of views, how does a brand evolve its voice and stay on trend? How can marketers tap into this massive surge in interest in the short-form video while remaining relevant and authentic in their communications?

Getting their approach correct is becoming more challenging, due to the massive proliferation of popular user-generated content on social platforms competing for attention with traditional channels.

Brands have to work so much harder to stand out now… to capture the public imagination and maintain loyalty they are partnering with social talent and influencers who already have audience attention and loyalty within their audiences.

They can either choose to utilize the creativity opened up by the vast music library within Instagram’s new Reels product, or cede a little creative control and instead come up with their take on a TikTok hashtag challenge.

Storytelling always starts with the music, and creatives need to look for tunes that have natural editing points, which allow a mental storyboard to unfold. If you can feel a music video coming on when you hear a song, you are well on track to making a successful short video.

Creative collaboration is essential.

The power of short-form video is unleashed by brands that realize they must collaborate and bring in talent from the platform as creative directors.

Marketers don’t ‘get’ the genesis of trends, sometimes we don’t understand the dance moves. If you want to set a trend, you need to lean into people who get it. Bring them on and consult with them. Bring in talent that understands editing, understand the dance, understand how this works, and create a format other people can replicate.
You’re automatically educating all the other talent you can work with, and then it’s something the UGC community can adopt.

Now, let’s pose this question: Has short-form video disrupted video marketing to the point where it is now the new way to run television adverts?

Technology and Gen Z are probably going to help us lead the way. The one thing that gives me a spidey sense to say short-form video will become predominant is that ‘high fashion’ brands have adopted this, and they’re notoriously cautious when you look at digital-first media. If high fashion is here, we have disrupted.

Fifteen-second user-generated video is a massive opportunity, so long as brands understand they are not always the best to tap into this latest trend alone. They need to form collaborations that will deliver compelling creativity as well as keeping a brand relevant.