Advertising Week presented an opportunity to engage directly with media professionals, fostering new relationships and deepening existing collaborations. TikTok’s presence was designed to educate advertisers, demonstrate practical solutions, and ultimately influence media agencies and brands in their budget allocation decisions. As the Design Director, I played a crucial role in shaping TikTok’s brand presence, overseeing the visual identity of our activations and builds across multiple years and global regions, ensuring a seamless and engaging user experience, and designing creative assets that effectively communicated TikTok’s advertising solutions. My work helped establish a cohesive narrative that demonstrated practical solutions, reinforced brand messaging, and ultimately influenced how media agencies and brands considered their budget allocation decisions.
"TikTok has pretty much had the coolest activation I have seen in the last few years that I have attended Advertising Week." - Former NBA Player Baron Davis
Over the years at Advertising Week, TikTok moved from establishing credibility to proving performance beyond awareness, and that shift demanded an education first approach delivered through clear, hands on design that turned curiosity into conviction. In 2021 we set the tone with the TikTok Made Me Buy It bodega that connected culture to commerce in a way decision makers could touch. In 2022 we intentionally downsized our presence with no physical footprint and focused on strategic panels, partner conversations, and targeted learning agendas that clarified creative best practices and measurement discipline while preserving resources for a larger return. In 2023 we came back at scale with Exponential Entertainment and the Tube Girl content experience, building an integrated environment where attendees could try creative tools, see how content becomes outcomes, and leave with simple pathways to activate. By 2024 the conversation matured to privacy, AI, and cross platform measurement, so we unified messaging, identity, and live demos into a single narrative that made complex products easy to understand and immediately actionable for brand and performance leaders. Every touchpoint, from the feature walls and spatial flow to stage content and executive materials, was built to show how ideas become measurable results and to capture feedback that informed rapid updates during the week. Across this arc I served as the integrator who connected brand strategy, spatial design, creator programming, and product proof into one coherent experience that strengthened TikTok’s authority, deepened partner engagement, and positioned the platform as the future of entertainment marketing culture as well as commerce.
Over the past few years, TikTok has significantly evolved its presence at Advertising Week, cementing itself as a dominant force in the advertising and marketing industry. From 2021 to 2024, the platform has transitioned from an emerging digital disruptor to an essential partner for brands seeking to engage audiences in innovative ways. Creatively, we wanted to stand out in a crowded field of publishers and really target an audience of decision making practitioners that were in control of a lot of ad budgets across the industry and could use TikTok to transform their businesses in an unexpected way.
Each year presented distinct challenges and opportunities, from overcoming industry skepticism in 2021 to refining measurement strategies in 2023 and pushing the boundaries of creative commerce in 2024. Through immersive activations, thought leadership sessions, and innovative design, TikTok has consistently set the benchmark for how digital platforms integrate into industry events, proving its ability to influence advertising trends at scale.
As the Design Lead, my role was instrumental in shaping the visual and experiential identity of TikTok’s presence at Advertising Week. From crafting visually compelling brand activations to designing immersive spaces that seamlessly integrated storytelling with product education, my work ensured TikTok's brand presence remained impactful and engaging. This was a smart and informed audience that was extremely media saavy and had seen plenty of activations in their careers, so we had to stand out and do something creatively fresh that would differ from the executions other brands of a similar scale were doing.
At this stage of it's market penetration in the North America region, TikTok was still seen as the relatively new kid on the block, so the goal of any experiential activation was to provide a tangible top funnel touchpoint to begin to introduce our products to a growing market. We knew that the novelty of our brand would drive a certain amount of foot traffic, and the goal was to showcase our ability to drive commerce, a proof of concept that would continue to develop into the framework for much of our TikTok Shop activations in the future. We wanted attendees to leave with a concrete understanding of our position as a new player in the field and how impressive our true impact was in memorable fashion as the youngest new company playing in these spaces.
Each year, the design challenge evolved, from establishing TikTok’s credibility in 2021 to refining user interactions and maximizing impact within budget constraints in 2023 and 2024. By overseeing the creative execution of brand spaces, digital assets, and motion design elements, I helped create a unified narrative that reinforced TikTok’s industry leadership. Across all three years, my contributions enabled TikTok to attract thousands of attendees and drive measurable business impact, fostering deeper connections with brands and advertisers while positioning TikTok as an indispensable partner in the marketing ecosystem.
Advertising Week 2021 featured one of TikTok’s most memorable creative activations, centered around the "TikTok Made Me Buy It" visual identity. Collaborating with Mike Hinson, we conceptualized a bold and culturally resonant experience, designing a bodega-inspired activation that merged TikTok’s community-driven ethos with real-world brand engagement. The activation transformed an everyday space into a vibrant TikTok-powered discovery hub, celebrating spontaneity, creativity, and commerce. Down to the subtle details on the coffee cups which featured our very own TikTok branding, we emphasized the power of commerce on our platform.
Attendees were invited to take home fresh bouquets of flowers, a tactile, human moment that reinforced TikTok’s role in driving organic discovery, symbolizing how users “stop and engage” with content that resonates. The bouquets brought color, scent, and surprise into the experience, creating a simple ritual that turned a brand touchpoint into something memorable and shareable. Alongside them, we offered bold tote bags featuring the “TikTok Made Me Buy It” branding, and they quickly became the most visible keepsake of the day. As people carried them through sessions and out into the city, the totes acted like moving billboards, sparking conversations and prompting impromptu photos that amplified our presence far beyond the footprint of the event. Together, these takeaways blended utility with storytelling, extending the activation’s life and keeping TikTok top of mind long after attendees left the space.
Designed to feel like a bustling, vibrant corner of New York, this experience was centered around the idea of discovery, comfort, and cultural relevance, seamlessly blending the “TikTok Made Me Buy It” campaign with a high-touch hospitality approach for top clients. Each morning, the activation space came alive like a New York bodega meets luxury concierge experience. A curated breakfast spread welcomed attendees, offering fresh pastries, artisanal coffee, and grab-and-go breakfast bites, ensuring that early-morning visitors were energized and engaged.
Attendees could help themselves to a selection of individually wrapped croissants, fresh fruit, yogurt parfaits, and energizing granola bars, reflecting a mix of indulgence and practicality for busy professionals on the go. The coffee station was another focal point, featuring high-quality brews and oat milk options to cater to diverse preferences, reinforcing TikTok’s attention to inclusivity and premium experiences. This activation exemplified TikTok’s ability to seamlessly blend culture, creativity, and commerce through thoughtful and strategic design decisions and creative amplification.
At Advertising Week 2021, Chris Eyerman led the Culture Drivers session, bringing both his creative pedigree and vision for TikTok’s place in shaping culture. Before joining TikTok to lead the North America Creative Lab, Chris had worked with legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott, developing a keen eye for cinematic storytelling and cultural resonance. At TikTok, he not only built the lab but also hired me, bringing me on as a key point in his mission to expand creative leadership across the platform. Today, he continues to push that spirit of storytelling forward in Los Angeles, working directly with Luka Dončić and his foundation. This session marked the launch of TikTok’s Group Hug account, a page curated with influencers and creatives to explore the narratives behind the app and highlight the stories that give TikTok its unique cultural gravity.
The activation carried the unmistakable pulse of New York, transforming Advertising Week into a bodega-inspired block party. Custom airbrushed T-shirts were created on-site, drenched in neon sprays of hearts, crowns, and the TikTok logo. They captured the street-level energy of the city, echoing graffiti walls and mixtape covers, while giving attendees something tangible to carry home. The shirts were not just souvenirs but living symbols of TikTok’s blend of community, art, and culture, a reminder that creativity can come from anywhere and belong to everyone.
Despite working within a limited budget, we proved that a strong concept, authentic engagement, and strategic storytelling could deliver high-impact results. Our team further designed intimate meeting spaces for our Culture Driver series of talks which focused on inspiration as an extension of our Creative Lab to supplement the early morning inspiration with a dinnertime bookend to end the day with. The format was so successful that we expanded this portion to extend to four other cities after the initial event to increase inspiration across the nation at our TikTok offices with top clients.
While 2021 laid the foundation for TikTok’s presence at Advertising Week, we opted to skip a physical footprint in 2022 due to strategic commitments elsewhere. However, this hiatus allowed for a recalibration of resources, ensuring that TikTok’s return in 2023 was bigger and more impactful than ever. With fresh momentum and a deeper industry presence, we re-entered the event space with an amplified vision that further solidified TikTok’s leadership in the advertising world.
In 2022 we paused a large build and showed up in a lighter, more surgical way. I supported a focused agenda of partner moments, including a Smartly.io panel with TikTok and Uber that centered on creative effectiveness, shopping ads, and measurement. The year functioned as a calibration loop. We listened to advertiser concerns, refined our conversion-lift and attribution narratives, and pressure-tested messaging around TikTok-first creative. Those learnings shaped the 2023 return, where we scaled the experience with a clearer value story and a sharper path from inspiration to outcomes.
By 2023, TikTok had established itself as an indispensable partner in the digital advertising space. Advertising Week presented an opportunity to showcase its innovative capabilities in creative advertising, measurement solutions, and audience engagement through an expansive series of activations, live programming, and strategic partnerships.
As the media landscape continued to shift, we made it clear that TikTok is where creativity, commerce, and community collide, offering brands an unparalleled opportunity to engage with audiences in real-time. Our strategy was twofold: debunk myths and remove barriers to adoption while showcasing how brands can unlock incremental growth through TikTok’s creative ecosystem and enablement tools and products.
TikTok’s impact in the advertising and content universe lies in how it fundamentally redefined participation. It blurred the boundaries between creator and consumer, transforming audiences into active collaborators in culture. Instead of delivering top-down campaigns, the platform invited brands to join the rhythm of discovery, creativity, and authenticity that defines modern storytelling. In this new ecosystem, influence is not broadcast but co-created, shaped by trends that emerge organically and spread with emotional velocity. TikTok became less a platform for ads and more a stage for cultural expression, where creativity itself became the currency that connects people and brands in real time.
Our 2023 footprint opened with a bold brand beacon and a clearly choreographed flow. The illuminated cylinder acted as the wayfinding anchor, pulling people into a lane of interactive kiosks where CapCut for Business and Creator Marketplace stories lived side by side. Overhead lighting and large format screens established an always-on rhythm, while concise UI-driven panels translated product value into quick, scannable actions. The space felt editorial, not expo or conference, and it set the tone for hands-on creation the moment people stepped off the floorboards and into our world of creativity and entertainment.
You begin at the feature wall, a clear index of the toolkit. Video editing, intelligent features, trending effects, music and sounds, and everything that powers them are spelled out with crisp labels and live demos. It sets expectations fast. This is not a gallery. It is a working environment where visitors can see the stack and choose what to try first.
Turn right into the intelligence zone. The Creative Center surfaces trend signals and real examples so teams can understand what is resonating now. Next to it, the CapCut for Business wall delivers a simple promise to edit like your favorite creators. Together they frame the story from insight to execution and give marketers a shared language before they touch a device within the branded space and just experience it as they walk through.
At the middle of the space the colored lines, inspired by the famous MTA subway map, run across the walls and link the sections visually. This is where the swag station sits, stocked with rows of black totes stamped with the music note. The pickup moment rewards participation and sends the brand back into the city.
Continue into the making area. Vertical stations invite quick, self-serve trials of captions, effects, speed control, and sound selection. Screen prompts keep the learning curve low while visitors capture clips and export them to their phones in minutes. The message lands through use, not slides, and the room starts to feel like a working studio.
Finish at the creator station. TikTok creators hold the floor and speak to their niches, from fashion and food to gaming and finance. They break down their editing stacks, share real examples, and answer practical questions about workflow, pacing, and performance. Guests leave with new skills, a tote on their shoulder, and a clear map of how to move from inspiration to output inside the TikTok ecosystem.
As the experience came together, we had to do a full pre-build two days prior dude to all the vinyl graphics and fabrication needs for the central interactive experience. We had to work closely with our production partners to transform the space at the Manhattan Mall from a former American Eagle retail space into a fresh brand experience.
At the heart of the experience was the Tube Girl activation. We built a transit-energy stage with curved walls and motion cues that encouraged confident on-camera movement. Attendees followed a simple three-step loop: pick a sound, get coached, record. Directional audio, subtle airflow, and live prompts helped even camera-shy visitors hit the mark. We piped templates straight to phones via QR, so a take could become a post in under a minute, complete with suggested captions and safe-to-use tracks. The interior of the activation featured a unique TikTok inspired 3D render of a New York Subway car done by Joy Seet.
Engagement carried through to the exit path where guests left with a clear next step and a keepsake that extended the story in the wild. The queue doubled as a mini education line with bite-size tips on editing and measurement, and the share stations made it easy to publish on the spot. We saw long dwell times, steady reposts throughout the day, and a meaningful lift in trial of creative tools. The simple formula held true: lower the friction, raise the confidence, and the content flies.
With activations like the #TubeGirl Content Creation Booth, live coaching for CapCut adoption, and thought leadership sessions tackling gaming, DEI, and video strategy, we proved TikTok’s value beyond traditional advertising, as a full-funnel solution for brand-building and performance marketing. We wanted to position TikTok as the ultimate content playground for brands and creators alike.
The theme of the year, "Exponential Entertainment," emphasized TikTok's ability to merge entertainment, creativity, and commerce to drive tangible results for advertisers. From the bodega theme, we evolved to more of a subway central transit hub that felt more appropriate in New York having shifted from Hudson Yards to the Manhattan Mall. The message was clear: success in advertising today means prioritizing TikTok, embracing native content strategies, and leveraging the platform’s community-driven momentum to drive meaningful business results.
As the Design Director, I led the visual development of TikTok’s activation space, programming materials, and user experience design with my design team including folks like Crystal Yin and Joy Seet. The activation space drew over 3,000 attendees across four days, with key touchpoints like the Creative Center, CapCut for Business, and the #TubeGirl content creation booth standing out as major engagement drivers. These interactive elements balanced education with entertainment, reinforcing TikTok’s narrative that “creating is easy” and making it clear that brands could seamlessly integrate into TikTok’s ecosystem.
Our entry experience needed a clear heartbeat, so we anchored the floor with a luminous TikTok mark that worked as sculpture, beacon, and photo magnet. It set the tone for the entire space, gave visitors an instant shareable moment, and quietly solved wayfinding by pulling people toward the center before they explored the zones around it.
To keep the energy moving, we designed a swag station that functioned like a transit map. Color lines guided the eye, modular pegs made restock simple, and the totes became moving media once they left the wall. A discreet QR let us convert delight into ongoing engagement.
One of the clearest signals that our presence landed was the sea of black TikTok totes showing up far beyond our footprint. By day two you could spot them stacked under seats at competitor sessions, hanging off chairs in rival lounges, and drifting through the expo like moving billboards. Sofia Hernandez even called it out as a quiet KPI in real time, noting how the bags were everywhere she looked. That secondary spread told us the story had traveled, the brand had stuck, and our activation was still working long after people left our space.
Environmental graphics carried the story from zone to zone. Phone frames, route lines, and creator language tied content, commerce, and culture together, while color lighting washed the edges so everything felt cohesive without competing for attention.
CapCut for Business got its own hands on bar. Clear prompts and live coaching made editing feel easy, and we mirrored the in app flow so muscle memory kicked in fast. The goal was simple, remove friction and turn curiosity into first creations.
We built casual conversation tables for deeper chats with creators, partners, and clients. The setup encouraged quick demos, real feedback, and practical advice, which helped teams leave with ideas they could try the same day.
Programming pylons and large format panels acted like stations along a route. They displayed schedules, case studies, and tool highlights, and the continuous line motif stitched every stop together so the journey felt intentional rather than a collection of booths.
The results showed up in behavior. The logo landmark filled feeds, the Tube Girl booth generated loops that kept attention, and the tote line turned into walking billboards across the venue. Most important, people left with a clearer sense of how to make on TikTok and why it works.
A highlight of TikTok’s presence at Advertising Week 2023 was the exclusive Measurement Lunch at Eataly, an invite-only gathering designed to bring together top marketing executives, measurement experts, and brand leaders for an in-depth conversation about TikTok’s evolving measurement solutions. Held in the warm and sophisticated ambiance of Serra by Birreria, the event provided a relaxed yet strategic setting for high-level discussions on how TikTok is closing the attribution gap and proving the effectiveness of its advertising solutions.
The lunch format encouraged open dialogue, allowing clients to share their needs and concerns while hearing firsthand from TikTok’s product leads about how the platform is addressing industry-wide challenges in transparency, effectiveness, and ROI validation. Notably, Chipotle’s marketing team praised the event as one of the most valuable sessions of the week, citing the depth of discussion and clarity on TikTok’s measurement roadmap as key takeaways. The intimate setting, combined with curated discussions and strategic networking, made the Measurement Lunch a powerful engagement moment that strengthened TikTok’s position as a leader in advertising performance and analytics as a data driven creative platform with the insights to empower creation.
The Tube Girl activation brought a familiar city rhythm into the room and turned it into a POV moment. A curved set with overhead grips, kinetic lighting, and wind fans created a safe, high energy lane where attendees could step in, get coached, and film a confident take that felt ready for the For You Page.
The Tube Girl Content Creation Booth at Advertising Week 2023 was more than an activation. It became a high-impact organic user acquisition engine. We turned a major cultural moment into an interactive, psychologically safe space that helped attendees confidently join the Tube Girl movement in real time. With live coaching from TikTok’s L&D facilitators, guests produced more than 800 Tube Girl videos set to Tate McRae’s “Greedy,” and downloaded more than 200 CapCut templates on site.
Those interactions translated directly into measurable value. Each person who downloaded and used a CapCut video template maps to an $86 user acquisition cost by industry benchmarks, which means the booth created meaningful impact without paid media. By lowering friction, guiding creation on the spot, and embedding our tools inside a trend, we proved that participation can drive adoption and long-term brand lift.
This means our activation delivered a potential equivalent of $17,200 in high-value user acquisition, all done without paid media and just through the activation itself. By removing friction, guiding users through the creation process, and embedding TikTok’s creative tools into a cultural moment, we didn’t just showcase our platform’s power, we demonstrated how community participation translates into real business impact. This activation proved that when you make creativity feel accessible, participation, and brand loyalty will follow.
Tube Girl set the standard for our event activations because it proved how a cultural spark can become a measurable acquisition engine. We built a creator-led space that felt safe, simple, and fun, which turned spectators into participants and linked every moment to a clear outcome. Attendees recorded more than 800 videos on site, downloaded 200 CapCut templates, and generated conversion value that rivaled paid user acquisition benchmarks, all without media spend. The playbook that emerged is now our bar for future builds: start with what the internet is already talking about, remove friction at every step, let creators lead the conversation, and design the environment to capture, publish, and convert in real time.
A major design challenge in 2023 was navigating increasing competition and industry skepticism. Platforms like Meta and Google dominated ad performance discussions, making it critical for TikTok to position itself as a credible, results-driven alternative. This meant product integration which emphasized how creating on TikTok is a frictionless experience such as Capcut or the TikTok Creator Marketplace took center stage from an activation standpoint.
Our design solutions emphasized authenticity and engagement, leveraging modular digital elements, interactive learning hubs, and live demonstrations to differentiate TikTok’s advertising offerings. The efforts paid off, as live programming sessions saw record attendance, and more than 78% of surveyed attendees said they were more likely to allocate ad spend to TikTok within six months. We also hosted an intimate measurement dinner with a focused audience.
I led the Creative Codes Card Deck from idea to rollout, partnering closely with Design Force to turn our platform learnings into a handheld playbook that teams could actually use. Each card distilled six principles of TikTok native storytelling, like opening with a clear hook, embracing camera native editing, letting sound drive structure, designing for comments and saves, using creator point of view for credibility, and ending with a concrete action. We paired every principle with do this or not that examples, script starters, and QR codes that jumped straight to live templates, so a team could move from theory to output in minutes. The deck carried a clean, high contrast look in TikTok Sans to work on a table and on screen, and we pressure tested it with sellers, creators, and performance marketers, then tightened the language to keep it fast and practical. By Advertising Week 2023 it became the thing people reached for in meetings, a shared vocabulary that helped brands think TikTok first, map trends to briefs, structure content for retention, and get more value from sound, pacing, and visual rhythm.
We worked on a sprint clock to get the deck live for Advertising Week, which meant tightening the design system, locking copy early, parallel proofing across print and digital, and lining up a local print partner for quick turn and reprints. We kitted each set with a belly band and a scannable card that linked to a living web version, so updates and new templates could roll in without reprinting. Distribution was mapped to moments, not piles on a table, so sellers used it in 1:1s, our stage team referenced it in sessions, and the booth team handed it off after live demos. The result was real adoption, with over 250 decks in the hands of decision makers who wanted to turn ideas into output that week. Because each card translated strategy into steps, teams could move from learning to making in minutes, which reinforced TikTok as a practical partner and gave brands the confidence to build high performing creative with speed and consistency.
With compressed timelines and ambitious goals, 2023 was also a testament to cross-functional collaboration. Through agile workflows and adaptive design, we ensured that TikTok’s presence was not only visually engaging but strategically aligned with key messaging goals. This set the stage for an even more ambitious and refined approach in the years to come. 2024 and eventually 2025 would have their own sleek executions that built upon this initial success.
Ultimately, Advertising Week 2023 was a turning point for TikTok, proving that its advertising solutions are not only innovative but indispensable for brands looking to thrive in an increasingly digital and entertainment-driven landscape. As Design Director, I am proud to have played a key role in bringing this vision to life, demonstrating that strategic creativity can drive measurable business impact and position TikTok as a leader in the evolving world of digital marketing.
By 2024, TikTok had evolved into an advertising powerhouse, with a major focus on performance measurement, creative commerce, and privacy-enhancing solutions. The event, held from October 7th to 11th, saw TikTok introduce new ad tools and AI-driven solutions, including Smart+, GMV Max, Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs), and Out of Phone: Retail. The arrival of our impressive in-house environmental designer, Tracy Llewellyn, in 2024 was a game-changer for how we approached spatial design and experiential activations. With a keen eye for functionality, aesthetics, and audience engagement, Tracy helped us take our Advertising Week presence to the next level by mapping out and building a detailed 3D render of our activation space that included all of these tools in prominent ways.
Tracy’s 3D previsualization became our control tower for the build. We stress tested routes, sightlines, and crowd pockets, then adjusted wall angles, screen heights, and queuing so movement felt natural and friction free. Simulated heat maps told us where dwell would spike, so we placed demos and content there, widened pinch points for ADA clearance, and set clear approach zones around interactive units. We defined acoustic boundaries to prevent bleed, tuned lighting throws so typography and UI held up on camera, and pre-routed power and data to keep the space visually clean. Walking the digital twin let us dial copy density, motion pacing, and CTA placement for instant comprehension. By the time we went to fabrication, every touchpoint felt intentional and easy to use. Tracy Llewellyn’s environmental craft lifted the entire program and reinforced our approach at TikTok, where layout, content, and experience design work as one to drive longer stays, richer interactions, and measurable business outcomes.
These intentionally placed product launches were designed to address advertiser concerns around measurement, transparency, and commerce integration, ensuring that TikTok remained a top choice for brands seeking to maximize impact. However we always have to ensure we balance product with entertainment and trends on the platform. Building off the timely success of TubeGirl the year prior, I pushed for a creative strategy where we tapped into the trending "Very Demure, Very Mindful" catchphrase started and blessed by the eternally cutesy Jools LeBron.
A major challenge in 2024 was the shifting composition of TikTok’s audience at Advertising Week. The event saw a growing presence of senior leaders, with 28% of attendees at the director level and 12% representing the C-suite, increasing the need for more tailored and sophisticated messaging. The design strategy had to balance accessibility for new users while providing high-level insights for decision-makers, requiring a nuanced approach to information architecture and visual storytelling.
Adding to the complexity, budget constraints required a more resourceful design approach compared to previous years. Despite this, we executed an impactful activation space that maximized engagement through strategic, cost-effective design choices. Interactive screens, modular installations, and QR-code-driven tutorials ensured that the space remained engaging without excessive overhead costs. The Smart+ suite, a flagship launch for TikTok, captured 91% of media coverage, positioning TikTok as a leader in AI-powered ad performance. We also reinforced the Return on Creative branding and messaging throughout as an integrated campaign.
Audience retention and education were key focuses in 2024. Survey results revealed that 72.5% of activation attendees were likely to invest in performance campaigns on TikTok, highlighting the effectiveness of our messaging. Additionally, 80% of respondents correctly identified TikTok’s creative strengths, proving that our educational efforts were resonating with key stakeholders.
Despite tight timelines and increased industry competition, TikTok’s presence at Advertising Week 2024 resulted in over $87 million in touched revenue within 30 days post-event. The event successfully positioned TikTok as a top-tier advertising platform, showcasing its ability to deliver measurable performance while maintaining a strong creative identity.
From 2021’s bold cultural activation to 2023’s expansion and 2024’s strategic refinement, TikTok’s presence at Advertising Week has continuously evolved to meet the needs of brands and advertisers. Through thoughtful design, immersive storytelling, and a relentless focus on engagement, each activation reinforced TikTok’s position as a must-buy platform for advertisers.
The Fit Check Glambot Photo Moment was an immersive activation that brought TikTok’s culture of creativity, self-expression, and trendsetting to life at Advertising Week. Designed as an engaging, high-energy experience, this activation invited attendees to capture their most stylish moments in cinematic slow-motion, mirroring the viral "fit check" trends that dominate the platform.
The Glambot was built as a showpiece and a content engine in one. We paired cinematic capture with instant edits and seamless sharing so every session produced a clip people actually wanted to post. That create watch share loop put Be What Happens Next into motion, showing how TikTok lets brands and individuals set the tone of culture in real time. The experience fused personal style, creator behavior, and commerce signals, so the output did more than entertain. It sparked discovery, drove saves and shares, and pointed audiences to the products and stories behind each look. This is our blueprint for modern brand engagement on TikTok: interactive, visually strong, and powered by community momentum.
As the Design Director, my role was pivotal in shaping how TikTok was perceived in the industry, ensuring each year’s activation was not only visually compelling but also strategically effective. Across all three years, my work contributed to attracting over 10,000 attendees, fostering key advertiser relationships, and driving millions in revenue impact. This required deep partnership with folks on our events team like Maya Seshadri and Micayla Deiner while ensuring our stage panels with folks like Tim Natividad and Rema Vasan carried through the story we were telling in our activations on stage.
Advertising Week 2024’s 20th anniversary was a celebration of the industry's evolution, and TikTok stood at the forefront of that transformation, proving once again that it is the driving force of modern entertainment. As the lines between content, commerce, and culture continued to blur, TikTok led the charge in redefining how brands connect with audiences in an era of infinite digital touchpoints. The event brought out some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Camila Cabello, Terry Crews, Taylor Lautner, Carmelo Anthony, and the indomitable Yara Shahidi, all sharing insights on the changing media landscape, the power of storytelling, and the role of platforms like TikTok in shaping the next generation of engagement. With exponential entertainment at the core of every conversation, TikTok cemented its position as the epicenter of cultural movements, trendsetting content, and innovative brand partnerships.
This journey reflects not only the growth of TikTok as a platform but also the increasing importance of integrated design and storytelling in digital advertising’s future. From our intimate targeted bespoke dining experiences to the larger event space on the show floor as well as the elevated swag items consumers took home, everything had a high touch element to it but also felt intentional and data driven to move the needle on business results.
Advertising Week 2024 was a pivotal moment for TikTok’s continued dominance in the advertising and media landscape, reinforcing our position as the go-to platform for exponential entertainment and high-impact marketing solutions. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, this year’s event showcased how TikTok is not just an advertising platform but a cultural powerhouse driving the future of brand engagement. With immersive activations, thought leadership panels, and data-backed insights, we deepened our relationships with agencies and brands, equipping them with the tools and strategies to thrive in an ever-changing market.
From the Fit Check Glambot Photo Moment to highly anticipated speaker sessions, every touchpoint was meticulously designed to showcase TikTok’s unmatched creative ecosystem. Our messaging was clear: TikTok is where brands must be to shape, amplify, and participate in culture. With record engagement, new partnerships, and undeniable business impact, AdWeek 2024 became a milestone that cemented TikTok’s reputation as the premier destination for brands seeking relevance, revenue, and real results.
Building on our North American success, we scaled the TikTok Co-Working Garden activation for Advertising Week Europe 2024, leveraging insights from our U.S. experiments to optimize impact in a new regional market. I was able to take our US learnings and cross reference that with Alice Beaden and Keelan Duffy on our UK events team to scale. In close collaboration with Cogs & Marvel as our production agency, we refined our approach to maximize engagement, tailor content for a European audience, and ensure seamless execution. By incorporating learnings from past activations, such as enhancing user flow, refining interactive touchpoints, and creating a stronger link between physical experiences and digital amplification, we transformed the space into an immersive, brand-driven environment. The stickers ourstudio team designed and much of the flipboard creative we had created for Cannes in years priors found a place in this execution in a fresh way.
The bold, interactive locker system became a central engagement hub, gamifying attendee participation while reinforcing TikTok’s core business messaging of Get Creative, Get Inspired, Make Impact. This global-to-local execution strategy resulted in record-breaking attendee participation, exceeding newsletter sign-ups and solidifying TikTok’s presence as a leader in the European advertising ecosystem. The overwhelming success of the branded TikTok lockers even led to their upcycling and permanent installation at TikTok’s London office, a testament to the impact and longevity of our strategic experiential design.
Key Collaborators: Tiffany Green, Yvette Banks, Micayla Diener, Maya Seshadri, Dwight Holden, Matt Steele, Elena Robustelli, Ryan Hague, Ishaan Mishra, Christie Ramistella, Tracy Llewellyn, Marina d’Orthez, Joy Seet, Eric Schroeder, Brian Wall, Heliz Mansouri, Jaclyn Fitzpatrick, Kristina Borgwing, Blair Shiffman, Connor Brownell, Ananya Kacker, Alana Tabak, Ashlie Williams, Stacey Pang, Sofia Hernandez, Rema Vasan, Dana Viltz, Alainna Schiano, Michelle Chan, Corianda Dimes, Hunter Mejaly, Kellie Norton, Kate Amery, Misha Rindisbacher, Angelo Miranda, Jordan Thompson, Selina Santiago, Krystle Watler, Allison Miceli, Jordan Randall, Andrea Herskowich, Erica Coven, Ann Nguyen, Bahar Bozdogan, Kim Wu, LuShuang Xu, Nina Skoko, Ilinca Sipos, Mette Miller, Jacob Kim, Ted Fernandez, Joe Schaefer, Taco Zhang, Jesse Barrett, Hannah Tucker, Marjorie Pouyes, Loree Sanchez, Sean Roe, Beau Avril, Diana Liu, Denise Dillon, Michael Fee, Joie Seow, Francis Stones, Dennis Petrone, Gabriel Nicolau, Nandeeta Seth, Keiko Mori, Adria Farrero, Chris Liao, Alex Grignon, Ami Soto, Malia Estes, Danielle Langer, Haley Paas, Sandra Manzanares, Judy Chang, Sloane Humphrey, Grace Theodore, Rashida Still, Ashley Rutland, Gideon E. Moncrieffe, Christopher Chen, Cameron Colan, Lizzy Pettigrew, Hyunjin Park, Crystal Yin, Vanessa Rizk, Kenneth Liew, Macy Tang, Dana Spomer, Wesley Phung, Parris Pierce, Liz Amendola, Lorrie Cartago, Sara McNutt, Chelsea Yu, Justin Ivey, Mike Nguyen, Christina Cowan, Tanya Vandriel, Sloane Winters Holtzman, Sarah Khazzam-Claude
Tools: Adobe Creative Suite, After Effects, Figma, Cinema 4D, and Sketch.
Deliverables: Immersive installations, branded activations, co-branded workshops, executive speaking engagements, and integrated design narratives.