WEBVTT - Joy and Creativity: Why TikTok's Popularity Exploded During the Pandemic 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:12.840 Welcome to Strictly Business, Varieties weekly podcast featuring conversations with 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.680 industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:20.680 Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today, my 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.799 guest is Blake Chandley, VP of Global Business Solutions and 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.760 head of Ad Sales for TikTok. TikTok has been at 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:31.400 the center of the storm around social media. The platform 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:35.320 has enjoyed meteoric growth over the past year. It's Chinese 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.559 parent company, byte Dance, has also been drawn into the 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:42.400 geopolitical tensions between the US and China, but the drama 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.200 hasn't dampened the interest of marketers in using the platform 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.760 and it's many tools that are designed, in Chandley's words, 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:55.080 to inspire creativity and spark joy. In the conversation. Up next, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:01:00.320 the former Facebook executive offers insights into TikTok's rise and 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.720 how the user base and audience has changed during the pandemic. 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.280 Welcome back to Strictly Business. I'm really excited to hear 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.800 from Blake, who is TikTok's VP of Global Business Solutions 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.320 and head of ad Sales for one of the most 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.600 dynamic media platforms that has come along in the in 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.000 the last few years, a time when we have seen 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.440 no shortage of new platforms arriving. But TikTok has made 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.600 quite an impact in a short time, and we're fortunate 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.720 to have Blake to talk to us about the service 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:44.040 and its evolution. Thank you so much for joining us, Blake. Oh, 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.480 it's more pleasure. Thanks for having me. Well, you are 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:52.160 coming on just about your one year anniversary with TikTok, 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.960 a company that has been much in the news and 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:59.280 has made a big impact on pop culture. Can you 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.840 tell us about, you know what, there were so many 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:09.400 there were so many extraordinary circumstances of circumstances and conditions 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.760 that that certainly made a lot of you know, made 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.560 for ripe conditions for people looking for new kinds of 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.960 short form content and new avenues for creativity, which is 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.840 one of the things that TikTok really has inspired. Can 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:25.800 you talk us through sort of what were some of 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:31.440 the accelerants that made such a huge growth here for TikTok. Yeah, 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.440 of course, Well one almost two years now, funny enough, 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.399 and time time flies. I've been with the company um 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.440 and twenty was an interesting year by any measure, as 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.880 you can imagine, um, you know, from our perspective, what 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.200 started out as what we thought would be an amazing 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:51.200 growth here quickly shifted as COVID came in and people 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.959 started working from home, and then we had Black Lives Matter, 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:55.880 And there are a number of things that happened through 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.480 the year, but if you look at overall, I think 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:03.040 one of the things that always surprised us and looking 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.200 back to probably shouldn't come as any surprise given the 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:09.040 platform is you know, content platform, it's an entertainment platform. 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:13.880 Is the universal appreciation, universal kind of adoption of the 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:18.799 platform across all generations. And our mission is to inspire 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.160 creativity and bring joy and I think we did that 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:23.480 throughout the year in a year where a lot of 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:25.440 people really appreciated and needing some of that on a 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.000 daily basis. But what really struck me was there was 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.440 a shift us as we saw the year go on 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.760 in two areas. One was around content, right, so diversity 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.840 and content um and then the kinds of creators that 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.560 were creating content the platform, you know, went from you know, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.680 pretty simple offering to diversity around cooking and d i 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.160 y and education, and we had these amazing creators just 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.920 telling inspiring stories all year long, and that that just continued, 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.560 which then led to the adoption of the platform for 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.920 variety of audiences and so the diversity diversification of our 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.680 audience base. UM went from a relatively younger audience I 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:08.119 gen z to a an audience has spanned multi generations UM. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.400 And I think it's all based around storytelling. And I 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.440 was thinking the other day, is we all kind of 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.240 have our own thoughts going into a new year that 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.120 I remember days when we sit around television as a 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:22.240 family and watch TV, right, and and that was you know, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.880 going back aways, and it was linear TV, and that's 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.280 just what we did, right, UM on a Sunday night 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.360 or dus And night, or whenever we have our favorite 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.440 TV show and we'd all sit around his family and 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.000 we just don't do that anymore. Screens have really fragmented 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.640 that experience. And so you know, my kids have their 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.359 screens and we have all my wife and I have 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.240 our screens, and most of the time they don't connect. Right. 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.680 What we saw a lot of this year, and then 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.800 looking back, it is a phenomenon, was this connection of generations, right, 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.360 and so people were treating TikTok's and younger generations were 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.600 introducing their parents and grandparents the platform, and so there 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.680 was this this unity again around a family, around this 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.800 content that just didn't exist before. And so I kind 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.280 of feel like there's this interesting movement to stake a 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.080 place around You're connecting that family again, which you know, 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:11.919 we we we we feel really strongly is part of 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.240 our mission to really you know, to really aspire creativity 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.560 and bring joy across all different people. It's a different 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:23.040 form of family friendly entertainment on TikTok for sure, much 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.839 of it. What was it that and I'm sure that 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.040 diversification of audience must have been music to your ears, 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:33.039 being you know, in in charge of selling advertising on 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:38.560 the platform. What was it though that in in your experience, 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:43.440 what was it that drove the initial adoption? What was 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:47.320 the I think that I brought people to the platform. Yeah, 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.000 it's a great it's a great question. I think that 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:52.240 a lot of people you associate associate us with being 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:57.320 a social platform, right, and there's this automatic direct association 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.920 with some other players in the space of which role 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.599 intimately familiar. I mean, I think the big difference is 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.279 we're not like we're we're we're interest based for content 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.120 platform UM. And so the ability to people to find 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.159 content that's relevant and interesting in them is really what 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.520 you know, really really what the four you Feed does, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.080 and that's very, very different than the experience people are 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.640 gonna find anywhere else where. It's reliant to on a 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.000 connection to friends and family and so on and so forth. 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.640 And this is really, in my view, the next generation 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.039 of television, right. And it's it's it's short form, it's 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.800 easy digest it doesn't require a huge commitment in terms 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.200 of time, although people do find themselves once they start 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.000 kind of getting sucked into the TikTok like uh, you know, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:39.160 vortex and spending a lot of time. UM. But it's 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:43.080 easily digestible, it's interesting, and it's all designed specifically for 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.560 you based on your interests UM. And that's how the 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:52.359 four you Feed really has generated a lot of positivity. UM. 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:56.520 Of course, TikTok has been in the headlines, you know, again, 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:01.120 coming off of a pretty incredible year for the for culture, 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:05.039 for politics, for certainly for public health. UM. You know, 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.919 TikTok and the parent company, bike Dance have been in 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.560 the headlines. There has been there's been a lot of 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.840 strife at the at the political level in the US 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:19.640 about about the Chinese ownership of bike Dance and how 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.080 how that you know, may or may not be figuring 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:28.000 into larger kind of geopolitical and business considerations. I realized 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.280 that all of that is going on, you know, at 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.640 a step above the area that you oversee. But can 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.560 you talk about how that the impact of the political 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.000 drama and the uncertainty about whether the company had to 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.560 be sold to continue to operate in the US or 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.240 how did how did that impact your growth? Obviously TikTok 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:51.440 is growing apace, but was that was that difficult? Did 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.280 that impede growth at all? And was at a difficult 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:56.920 conversation for you with the marketers that you are selling 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.200 the service to. Ye, It's an appropriate question, and it's 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:02.720 something that's you know, it's not something else spent a 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:04.360 lot of time to go too deep in because we're 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.360 you know, still currently in discussions you know, with the 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.080 governments and the regulatory body about you know, about some 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.520 of that. But listen, we we've been pretty clear that 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:14.640 one there's been a lot of media coverage on it, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.280 right and uh, you couldn't escape it. It's it's it's 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.080 dropped off a little bit in some of the current 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.440 UM media considerations. But one we've been pretty clear that 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.160 we we just disagree with some of the fundamental premises 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.040 that the government put forward UM in terms of security 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.160 of data, access of data. You know, we're TikTok does 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.600 not exist in China. Are data don sit in China, 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.880 It's it's u S data sits in the US. It 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.319 was somewhere doundancy in Singapore. So, like you know, we're 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:43.560 very comfortable with with the with the precautions and the 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.120 things that we've done as a company UM, but we've 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:48.000 agreed we disagree with the government on that one in 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:49.920 many cases, but we continue to work with them like 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.640 we have we have ongoing almost daily dialogue with the 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.199 governments around how do we resolve this because at the 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.280 end of the day, we want to protect our users 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.439 and we want to you know, that's a huge game 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:02.120 and we have u is protecting our user base and 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.560 it's a number one priority as a company. And so 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.120 anything we do to empower our our audience or a 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.439 hundred million plus users in the US, UM protect them, 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:13.120 empower them. It's it's really we feel an obligation to 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.800 protect them in that sid and so you know that 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.120 comes with it. You know a lot of different discussions 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.360 we need to have and and to get people comfortable 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.760 with that. But we're ongoing negotiations, discussions with the objective 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.400 of having an outcome that's positive for our users. Do 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.720 you have a sense that the the administration changed, the 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:35.079 incoming by an administration might have a different view. I 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.280 can't really speak to that right now. I know there's 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.920 a lot of discussions taking places. You can imagine there's 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:44.520 a lot of um dialogue across the aisle everywhere. But 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:46.560 right now, I think I'll just let that be and 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.520 we'll see where things fall over the next few weeks. 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.120 Was it at all? Has it again at the sort 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.760 of Washington drama? Has it hasn't been a damper at all? 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.800 Four marketers? I mean, it seems like the TikTok story 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.720 for the the TikTok itself has been nothing but growth. 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.839 And I'm guessing that that's that that is what what 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.800 people want to hear at a time when it's you know, 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.600 it's reaching audiences is harder than ever. Yeah, we've been 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:15.040 really really surprised surprise of the support I mean the community, 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.720 the advertising community in general, whether the advertisers agencies have 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:21.760 really supported us through this whole process. And we've had 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:26.240 obviously discussions and dialogue around it, UM and but but 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:30.960 the universal support received has been UM really really positive. 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.040 We spend a lot more of our time talking around 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.320 brand safety and community safety and what we're doing not 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.360 only is an individual company, but as an industry to 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:42.000 protect users. Then we have around some of the political 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.079 dynamics that are taking place, and so the vast majority 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:48.280 of our time has spent talking around those subject matters. 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.520 You do a lot of obviously a lot of creative 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.920 things with marketers and sponsorship. How can you talk in 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.600 general about kind of how your your typical how a 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.680 typical market deal with tiptop TikTok works? Is it? Is 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.040 it CPM based, is it time? How do you how 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.040 do you? I said, if you start the highest level, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.720 it's it's a fundamental change, right, we're being a little 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.200 bit I think we'll be a little bit disruptive in 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:18.080 that sense. UM. Digital marketing has gotten very much around 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:22.520 programmatic and it's you know, it's very tech driven. UM, 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.520 it's we've lost the art of storytelling and I think 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.440 that's something that we identified very early on the brands 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.800 one more of and given the inspirational environment and the 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:34.240 storytelling takes place every day with our users and our 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.520 comedy in general, what brands want to do is find 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.760 a voice in that right. And so the conversations we 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.320 have a brand's first and foremost is around what did 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.760 their voice look like? An environment around authenticity, right, how 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.280 do they storytell? How do they how are they quote 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.120 less than perfect? Because at the end of the day, 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.920 you know the concept of going and creating a million 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.439 dollar mini film and then put it onto all these 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:00.200 different platforms, it doesn't resonate as well in the put more. 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.080 People want to see authenticity. Um, you know, they want 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:05.120 they want brands come in and be involved. They want 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.040 brands to invite them to be involved. And so the 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.160 conversation first and foremost is around creativity and the role 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:14.040 the brands play the platform and the roles the brands 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.440 play a really really important role. Um. We do not 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.800 want brands to be perceived as kind of advertising. I 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:22.440 mean I have to watch it in order to have 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.160 access to this free content. We want users look at 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.080 the branding content and say, wow, that was cool, I 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.840 want to watch it again, right, And so we see 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:32.600 that kind of path, we see that kind of passion 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:34.199 of brands to do it right. And there are a 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.800 number of brands that have UM. All year long, we 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.920 saw amazing executions from brands that really inspired people and 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.400 drew them in and and ask people to participate. And 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.240 so that's the first and foremost the conversations we have 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.280 with brands. And then the next question is how do 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.160 we amplify that and how do we you know, kind 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.360 of invest behind that to make sure we get the 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.360 right reach and frequency and the right kpi s or 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.160 measurement that that that they need in order to you 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:06.080 to invests. But would you say that marketers come to 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.480 you do they Are they generally looking kind of in 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:15.320 the age demographic based buying or are they looking for 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.240 we want to be in your anything that involves cooking 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.840 or anything that involves skateboarding or something like by topic 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.760 and more or is it a mix of both. It's 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:26.760 mixed both, Like you have people that you know, certainly 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.280 there are certain audiences the brands are targeting based on 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.840 their brand right UM, and so they're super there's typically 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.719 some demographic considerations as well as contextual um and so 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:44.280 we work with brands on both those parts. We'll take 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:47.680 a quick break before hearing more from Blake Chandley about 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:56.240 TikTok Ad campaigns that move the needle this year. Welcome 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:59.960 back to strictly Business. Here's more with TikTok Ad sales 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.800 chief Blake Channelly. You give us a for instance of 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.000 a of an execution or two that you think really 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.679 harnessed the capabilities that TikTok brings, the unique capabilities of 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:16.960 TikTok Um. Yeah, I think that, I think that, I 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:18.840 think I think there were two that they come up 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:20.520 and I look at I look at it almost in 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:22.560 two seconds. They are the big brands, the ones we 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.640 all know, these national brands that are amazing marketers that 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.000 we have our smaller SMB community which is actually doing 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:34.200 some really in traditional stuff as well. Um the there 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.120 was one there was one campaign by under Armour that 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.680 was done this kind of the holiday period which was 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.800 show up and show off, which we had. They retained 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:44.800 a number of our creators and that was another. That's 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.240 our core premacy work with brands, lars connecting with the 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.760 creators or some people call them influencers, but um to 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.480 help them tell their story and bring their story in 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.840 life from the platform. And so they retained a number 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:58.960 of their athletes to commit and do some interesting things 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.120 with some music in the BA around that were there 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:04.600 were there were great right, whether it be basketball related 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.680 or whatever it might be. And then they basically put 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:08.440 that out there to our community and said, you know, 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.360 show up and show off, and it was around skills, 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:13.480 around different things. And then they allowed the community to 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:15.960 take that and to make it their own right. And 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.240 so it could have been in the basketball space. It 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.920 could have been someone either on a basketball's court doing 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:23.600 something amazing with a trick shot or a donk or 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.760 whatever it might be. Or there were camping. There was 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.080 some creative with someone in a supermarket grabbing you know, 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.160 paper towels off the top shelf. Given all their shows empty, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:34.840 and that was their version of showing off, right, And 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.240 so have you generated? I think there are one point 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.760 four billion pieces of created at one point four million 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.920 pieces of creative that were that were developed by our 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.760 user base in conjunction of the campaign and had eight 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:47.760 billion views. I mean, that was one that was great, 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:49.960 But another one which I thought was really amazing and 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.880 it goes to storytelling. Was Cheerios. Um, I don't know 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.000 if you're you saw this, but you know, Cheerios had 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:59.760 an amazing commercial back in the nineties which was a 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.440 great mother with a baby with cheerios on the on 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:04.640 the on the top and then you know, normally you'd 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.120 be feeding cheerials to the baby and this time the 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.680 grandmother was Christmas time, saying, here's where you live, and 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:11.960 the baby wants the cheerios and she holds it up 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:13.560 and the baby's like, I'm gonna eat it, and then 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.440 they she puts it down because here's your uncle John lives. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.400 Here's where I live, and unfortunately we all camp be together, 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.200 but I'm glad that I'm here with you. And she 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.119 puts two curios together and it was just a very emotional, 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.120 you know, and you know General Mills and Turials, you know, 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:31.080 no family and Christmas and holidays now and so that 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.720 was that was done years and years ago television campaign 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:36.560 while there was a creator on the platform that basically 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.760 came up with an idea that said, you know, General Mills, 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.440 please please please recreate this today, but use zoom and 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.120 usually and so and literally the brand and she tagged 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.080 General mills in and literally the brand brought it back 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:51.360 to life, and they did an incarnation of two thousand 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:54.720 twenty right, which had the same grandmother and the same 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.920 child baby which was now grown up, and they're connecting 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.200 on zoom and they had the whole behind the scenes thing, 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:03.000 but it was very much still this emotional connection for 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.480 the brand to the holiday season. And so like again 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.240 that storytelling can't take place anywhere else, it has to 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.399 take place in a place like this and uh, and 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.320 this is one of those kind of tear jerker moments. 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.520 You go, Okay, that was just an amazing piece of content. 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.560 Forget the fact that it brought to us by it 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.040 by brand. So those are two games. And then on 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.159 small business, there was there's an amazing campaign that was 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.639 done through the through the holiday of the shopping season 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:30.680 by a small business called Two Blind Brothers, and he 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.760 got some national coverage. But there are these two Blind 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:39.040 Brothers um Bradford Bryant who had this concept, you know, 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.560 called shop blind and what they essentially did was a 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:43.920 challenge is said to people in their whole lives they've 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.080 had to rely on others to shop for them or 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.959 read menus or whatever it might be. And they started 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.600 campaigns the Shop Blind meaning come come to our website. Um, 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.320 you know, basically, give us a price point and we're 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.440 gonna send youselfing. You don't know what it is, right, 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.360 um and and and and and all Pro Hunter proceeds 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.960 were going towards you know, retinal retinal research to help 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.919 cure certain forms of blindness little people are affected by. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:13.280 And the idea of going to saying, you know, basically 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.919 saying here's my price point and then stepping back was 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.080 kind of scary, but like tens and tens and tens 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.520 of thousands of people went and shop blind, right, and 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.479 it just it became kind of a universal viral, had 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.280 a viral component to it, which was good for you moment, 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.480 which of course, you know, giving to any kind of 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.080 mount for profit is, but also a brand and a 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:35.600 product and shopping and e commerce and it all tied 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.000 it together in a really kind of magical way. So 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.120 those are the kind of things that we love seeing 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.280 on the platform m M. And for you know, the 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.080 more you grow, the more opportunities you the more opportunities 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:48.840 you have. And as you say, these are these are 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:54.159 fairly unique opportunities, particularly for marketers. The downside, of course, 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.600 of user generated content and having an open platform like that, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.119 is that you know, a content moderation has become a 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.959 huge issue for all social media platforms large and small 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:11.360 with your mission to spark creativity and and create bursts 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.840 of joy, which goodness knows we need more than ever. Now, 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:19.280 how are you going? How are you watching the skies 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.439 to make sure that bad actors don't get into your 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.480 platform and put things on that you know are are 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.960 decidedly less than joyful. Yeah, it's the number one thing 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.520 we think about as you get imagining, especially in days 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:37.080 like we've led up to this conversation. Um, it's an 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.240 industry thing. As an industry, it's it's it's an opportunity 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:42.280 for us to do better um. And we can call 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.560 it issues whichever. It's a challenge UM. And like most 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.280 we use a combination of community guidelines which are very 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:54.080 strict around hate and speech and misinformation and everything else UM, 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.480 as well as technology so machine learning to identify that 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:01.280 as content gets loaded into platform, using machine learning to 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.560 quickly identifying and training the machines to look for content 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:08.600 that falls into a certain pattern or behavior. That's um, 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.000 you know, snonymous with some of these behaviors we don't 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.240 want and pulling that content for whatever reaches for whatever 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.600 reaches the graph. And you know, according to our last 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.360 transparency employee pulled down a hundred million pieces of content, 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.320 of which nineties percent were before whatever you hit the 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:25.600 graph and the rest of simil reactionary. And then we 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:29.960 use human moderation, which is as people reporting content that's 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.959 inappropriate they think should be considered. You know, we use 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.120 the combination of machine learning and human moderators to make 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.240 sure that we're identifying that that behavior, that content and 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.239 pulling it down very very quickly. And then obviously, you know, 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:45.560 on the back end, making sure that those folks that 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.240 are doing that, you know, are pulled from the platform 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:53.080 and so on. Has um has I mean with a 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:56.400 hundred million pieces of content, that's a lot too, that's 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.879 a lot to keep up with. Machine learning can do 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:03.919 so much. Have have you found that they're given the 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:08.600 nature of TikTok, the nature of stuff that is objectionable? 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.439 Does it does it? Is it? Is it political? Is 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.000 it more violent? Or is there like an is there 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.640 like a thread to what you're finding that is objectionable 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:23.520 on TikTok is attract a certain kind of of objectionable 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.119 type of content versus maybe you would see on a 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:30.359 broader social platform. Yeah, I think so many other platforms 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:33.800 have different issues. Like I think these social the social 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:37.040 platforms where people are connected via social kind of like 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:41.520