Situation:

With Gen-Z craving more independence, the housing crisis has become a prominent challenge. Most young adults couldn't quite figure out how a bank like BNP Paribas could fix this mess... but they sure felt better sharing their housing gripes on TikTok, where their comments get real and heartfelt.

Brief:

We were tasked with promoting the "Jeun'Appart" offer towards French 18-24, whilst initiating the presence of the BNP Paribas brand on TikTok. Our ambition was to harness these candid TikTok comments, transforming them into a cultural artifact that deeply resonates with Gen-Z on an emotional level - akin to what a Creator would craft.

Objectives:

Impressions. Outperform the overall estimation (41M) by 25%.

Engagement. Outperform the overall estimation (50K) by 15% & generate at least 60% positive comments.

Clicks. Outperform the overall estimation (162K) by 15% and be the n°1 traffic source of the offer page during the media period.

Our creative idea addresses the critical issue of affordable housing that Gen-Z faces. Their genuine frustration openly shared through often bitter and cynical TikTok comments, serves as the bedrock of our campaign.

Our concept revolves around converting these heartfelt expressions into a cultural artifact that deeply resonates with Gen-Z's emotional experiences, much like a Creator's approach. To do this, we've chosen rap, a pivotal element of contemporary pop culture.

In collaboration with D.Ace, a TikTok Creator (and rapper) boasting 365k followers, we've translated these authentic TikTok comments into a compelling rap song. The outcome is a powerful track and 9:16 music video that authentically mirror Gen-Z's housing challenges, infusing humor while staying true to their misfortunes.

Our campaign goes beyond advertising; it's the anthem of a disenchanted generation, forging a genuine connection with their housing concerns, fostering engagement that transcends marketing objectives.

Our campaign strategy was crafted to resonate authentically with our target audience: French individuals aged 18-24 who are active TikTok users. Recognizing that TikTok serves as a search engine for this demographic, we turned to the TikTok Creative Center. There, we diligently identified the most relevant flat-hunting hashtags in France and explored associated content and creators. We curated a selection of comments from 18-24-year-old users, representative of the challenges and sentiments of their generation. These comments served as a valuable creative brief for our chosen creator, D.Ace. The selection of D.Ace was based on his perceived authenticity, substantial community engagement, and background in rap writing. Music, particularly rap, formed the crux of our approach, allowing us to deviate from conventional advertising narratives that might have triggered rejection. We made sure our campaign felt as fresh and relatable as their favorite TikTok video, straight from the heart.

Our campaign ran from June 29th to July 27th, 2023, and was exclusively digital. We harnessed the social media landscape of our target demographic, French individuals aged 18-24, which included TikTok, Instagram, and Spotify - platforms with significant user penetration in this demographic. Spotify was included due to its alignment with our creative concept and its broad reach. TikTok played a central role in both the campaign's development and diffusion, accounting for 65% of our total budget, while the remaining funds were distributed fairly across the other platforms (10 to 13%). The campaign was divided into three phases: 1- Build: we initiated the campaign with a 10-second teaser on TikTok; 2- Engage: this phase featured the release of a 59-second video clip and a 35-second challenge on three social media platforms sequentially: 3- Convert: Finally, a 12-second offer video was deployed to drive clicks and traffic to the offer page.

The social component of our campaign outperformed expectations, achieving a remarkable 167% of the initial target (with Spotify at 136%). Key performance metrics include:

Impressions: We garnered an impressive 82M impressions, surpassing the estimated 41M by 67%. This exceeded our objective by 42 points, and we effectively optimized the CPM by a substantial 40%. Remarkably, TikTok accounted for 85% of the total impressions.

Engagement: Our campaign generated 93K engagements, exceeding the estimated 50K by 60%. We exceeded our engagement objective by a significant 45 points. Impressively, almost 90% of the comments on TikTok were positive, surpassing our goal by 30 points. This highlighted the campaign's notable impact and resonance for a generation grappling with housing issues.

Clicks: We achieved a remarkable 446K clicks, surpassing the estimated 162K by 93%, exceeding our objective by 78 points. The campaign's traffic to the offer page outperformed all other marketing efforts.