TikTok is designed to be a space where brands can experiment and engage directly with their audience. At TikTok World 2024, Symphony, a suite of generative, artificial intelligence (AI)--based advertising solutions designed to help creators and brands produce innovative and targeted content for TikTok, was unveiled.
At the event, TikTok highlighted that Symphony enables businesses of all sizes, creatives and agencies to combine human imagination with the efficiency of AI. Research has shown that creating targeted ads for TikTok increases purchase intent by 37% and brand favorability by 38%. In addition, 79% of users prefer brands that know exactly how to create platform-specific content.
Digital avatars
TikTok has introduced digital avatars to help creators and brands engage with a global audience. These generative avatars enable new ways to scale creative strategies on TikTok. 58% of users say they trust brands more after learning about them from TikTok creatives. The avatars are designed to globalize brand content with a personalized, human touch that includes different gestures, expressions, nationalities, age groups and languages.
TikTok has stated that there will be two types of digital avatars:
Stock avatars are pre-made avatars created with paid actors and licensed for commercial use. They allow companies to add a human touch to their content through global creators with diverse backgrounds and in over 30 languages, including Spanish.
Custom avatars represent a creator or brand spokesperson with multilingual skills and allow creators and marketers to control and scale their image and brand.
AI Dubbing
Symphony's AI creative suite also includes AI Dubbing, a global translation tool. With this tool, creatives and brands can overcome language barriers, scale their content with multiple languages and connect with a global audience.
AI Dubbing automatically recognizes the language of a video. It then transcribes and translates the content to produce a video that is dubbed into more than ten languages (including Spanish), making the message more inclusive and impactful for different audiences.
To ensure that industry feedback plays an integral role in the development of Symphony and AI-based solutions, TikTok has also launched the Symphony Collective: Industry Advisory Board, a body made up of a broad spectrum of content creators from different industries. Founding members include representatives from companies such as Mondelez (Oreo, Milka, Trident), American Eagle, Wendy's and the NBA, as well as agencies and content creators.
This TikTok initiative comes just days after Instagram's initiative to allow large content creators to create AI versions of themselves to interact with their followers. Both platforms are investing in AI technology to improve interaction and personalization, highlighting the growing importance of AI in digital marketing.
