On Wednesday, November 1, at a glittering ceremony in London, the TikTok Ad Awards 2023 were presented to the brands and agencies across the UK that are leading the way on TikTok with creative, high-performing campaigns.

Marking the second year of the TikTok Ad Awards, each winning campaign tapped into TikTok in a unique and entertaining way, leveraging our platform's culture, community and ad solutions to engage audiences and smash campaign targets. Together, these brands give a masterclass on what it takes to win on TikTok, showcasing the campaign strategies and ad formats that drive remarkable results.

Greatest Creative

This award recognises brands that have the courage to redefine the boundaries of creativity on TikTok.

@lidlgb Lidl bakery x N-Trance = a certified banger and we want YOU to feature on it! 🎤 This could be the first song to feature lyrics about an all butter croissant... 😆 #openversechallenge #lidl #lidlbakery ♬ Set You Free (feat. Tricia McTeague) - With Tricia McTeague parody vocal re-record - N-Trance

Lidl (@lidlgb) won the award for their Ode to Bakery campaign, for driving a conversation and growing brand love with a custom jingle. For this interactive campaign, Lidl leveraged the popular Open Verse Challenge TikTok trend where they encouraged viewers to duet the video, but with a twist: the song opening is a remix of a popular N-Trance song, with lyrics taken from consumers' online comments. Driving over 19.5 million impressions, an astonishing 39% view-through rate and a 32.3% uplift in ad recall, Lidl's playful campaign is proof in the power of TikTok-first, sound-centric creative.

Jo Gomer, head of campaigns and media at LidlGB said: “We wanted our content to celebrate LidlGB arriving on TikTok. We built the idea on a core customer truth: that our bakery is loved! We celebrated it using a cult classic track, working directly with NTrance and used real customer comments. ‘Ode to Bakery’ was a product of amazing cross-agency work between Accenture Song, Coolr and OMD, where all parties went above and beyond to create a brilliant TikTok-first campaign”.

Greatest Performance

This award recognises the measurable impact of paid TikTok campaigns, highlighting the brands that harness TikTok to smash their lower-funnel objectives.

@sandsxfitness my biggest mistake was thinking the gym would “take up too much time” when I was studying @PureGymOfficial #puregym #fyp #gymtok #gymmotivation ♬ Viva La Vida - 𝘿𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙑𝙞𝙗𝙚𝙨🎧

Pure Gym (@puregymofficial) earned this accolade for their use of TikTok to grow customer numbers with a full funnel strategy. PureGym wanted to increase reach and grow its member base at a lower cost-per-acquisition, so they took part in the TikTok Creative Exchange programme to develop 20 pieces of creator-led content that leveraged trending sounds and special effects. PureGym's rigorous test and learn approach reaped impressive results with a reach of over 10.9 million, proving the effectiveness of an always-on, full-funnel TikTok campaign.

Tom Donegan, paid social manager at PureGym said: “It’s been a pleasure working with TikTok to develop our content and targeting strategy and to see the impact of a full-funnel campaign structure on performance. In the past year alone, we have reached more than 10.9m people in the UK and reduced our CPA by 77%”.

Greatest Small Business

A brand new category this year, this award celebrates the brands with fewer than 50 employees that leveraged TikTok ads to achieve their campaign goals and drive real-world results.

@healthxcel Share with a friend! #pharmacist #healthyfood #naturalhealth #healthylife #nutrition #learnontiktok #moringa #moringapowder ♬ Positive Vibes - Soundbeaver

Healthxcel (@healthxcel) won the prize for Greatest Small Business, leveraging TikTok ads to achieve their campaign goals and drive real-world results. Business owner Rima Deu started off with no real knowledge of running ads, but had seen incredible success from her organic posts. Using this as a springboard, she leveraged Spark Ads to increase reach and nail targeting, enabling her to reach a larger, relevant audience. ince creating ads with TikTok, Healthxcel gained over 2 million impressions and 29,000 conversions, equating to a 400% rise in sales.

Rime Deu, CEO, Healthxcel said: “TikTok has enabled us to grow our business massively and, more importantly, help to change millions of peoples’ lives. As per our brand mission: to be in every single household making people happier and healthier every single day.”

Greatest TikTok

This prize is awarded to the best overall campaign: the campaign that really tapped into TikTok's community, creativity and trends to inspire joy and create a cultural moment.

@glowforitshop Results speak for themselves!! We have so much confidence in our Lash Serum and have already seen so many transformations and touching stories! We can’t wait for the journey to continue🤍🩷🤍 #lashgrowthserum #tiktokmademebuyit #glowforit ♬ original sound - youngexwives

Glow For It (@glowforitshop) won the award for the best overall campaign that really tapped in TikTok's community, creativity and trends. Small business owner of Glow For It Limited, Daisy Kelly, speaks directly to the camera to capture her audience with transparent messaging addressing real customer queries. By using the "reply with video" TikTok feature to respond to the community's comments, Glow For It interacts with their audience to build trust and boost engagement. This campaign had a significant effect on the business, with Glow For It selling one month worth of stock in 48 hours, embodying the saying "what starts on TikTok doesn't stay on TikTok".

Daisy Kelly, founder, Glow For It said: “This campaign has allowed me to scale my business more than I could have ever imagined. It has propelled my business years ahead of where we planned. The return we have seen from this ad spend has provided me with the profit needed to invest in new product development and to expand our team of native TikTok creators… I will be forever grateful to this platform and all that it has offered”.

Kris Boger, General Manager, Global Business Solutions at TikTok UK, said: "The creativity and performance from agencies and brands, and small businesses on TikTok is always exceptional, and the calibre for this year's Ad Awards has continued to be outstanding. From making the most of product features and trends, to partnering with brilliant creators to deliver authentic, entertaining content, these campaigns bring to life the creativity and joy that makes TikTok so unique. We're also thrilled that small businesses on our platform have been a big standout this year, with their own dedicated award category, as well as taking the gong for greatest overall campaign. A huge congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you to everyone who submitted such amazing entries!"

A huge round of applause also to our shortlisted entrants, who all delivered exceptional campaigns on the platform and helped us make last night so much fun; we're excited to see what you do next! You can check out the UK shortlist here: https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-GB/blog/tiktokadawardsshortlist-uk-2023