Building the FBT brand
Situation

TikTok wanted to spin off the “Fulfilled by TikTok” brand as its own entity. To do this they needed a new logo and tagline so that the brand: FBT could stand on its own as a fulfillment and logistics company independent of TikTok, without outright rejecting its association with the parent brand.

Back to School
Situation

An important part of my role was to serve as a cultural translator to transform strategies from Beijing into language and creative approaches that would resonate with global audiences. For Back to School, the brief articulated a need to communicate “on trend” and “cheap.” After seeing that the creative was taking this direction quite literally, I stepped in to guide the language direction and defend the studio’s strategic creative choices.

The Task

Create a campaign for back to school shoppers showcasing TikTok’s competitive advantage: as a discovery engine for inexpensive, on-trend products and school supplies. Leverage pre-approved ‘bento box’ design style in a color from the pre-approved color pallet.

When the creative team suggested yellow — the feedback was that it was ‘too bright.’ I helped the creative team reframe their choice in the underlying insight highlighting that ‘yellow’ in combination with the ‘bento box’ design evoked the idea of a school bus making it the perfect choice for a ‘back to school’ campaign. I also authored the ‘more trendy / less spendy’ tagline to create a memorable mnemonic capturing the TikTok Shops ethos and competitive advantage.