Creative-led TikTok buying for DTC brands, built on Spark Ads and a production pipeline fast enough to keep up with the platform.
We will tell you if TikTok is wrong for your product
Brands launch with four repurposed Meta videos, see decent numbers for ten days, watch costs climb in week three, and conclude the channel does not work. What actually happened is the creative fatigued and there was nothing behind it.
Meta creative reposted, no creator involvement, four assets total. Week one looks promising, week three looks like proof the channel is broken.
Native creative made for the platform, running through creator accounts as Spark Ads, with a pipeline producing replacements before the current batch burns out.
TikTok is a creative operation with a media buying layer on top, not the other way round. We resource it accordingly.
Assets built for TikTok from the start: hook in the first second, on-screen captions, creator pacing, trend-aware but not trend-dependent. Nothing repurposed from a Meta placement and cropped to fit.
We find and brief creators who suit your category, handle authorisation codes, and run their content as Spark Ads so engagement and social proof accumulate on a real account rather than disappearing with the ad.
The same body content tested against multiple openings, because on TikTok the first second decides everything. We track hook rate and hold rate as primary metrics and iterate on the openings that hold attention.
Simple, consolidated structure that gives the algorithm room to learn, with a clear separation between testing and scaling budgets so proven creative is not competing against experiments for the same money.
Where the category and margins support it, we set up TikTok Shop, connect the catalogue, and model the fee structure honestly before you commit to in-app selling.
Server-side Events API, post-purchase survey data to catch what TikTok influences but does not get credited for, and blended MER reporting so TikTok is judged on its real contribution rather than in-platform ROAS alone.
TikTok is more volatile than Meta and these bands move fast. Treat them as orientation, not as promises.
| Metric | Typical DTC range | What we target |
|---|---|---|
| Hook rate (2s / impressions) | 20–30% | 35%+ |
| Hold rate (6s / 2s) | 15–25% | 30%+ |
| Click-through rate | 0.8–1.4% | 1.8%+ |
| Cost per mille (CPM) | $4–$14 | Down 15% |
| Creative lifespan | 7–14 days | Planned for, not fought |
| Spark Ads share of spend | Often 0% | 60%+ |
| Blended MER contribution | Under-reported | Survey-verified |
We would rather turn down the work than take a budget into a channel your product is not suited to.
Tell us your product and price point and we will give you a straight answer on the first call.
Ask usThe media buying on TikTok is comparatively simple. Keeping enough good creative in market is the hard part, so that is what the engagement is built around.
TikTok is the one channel where creative production is the main cost rather than a line item. We are upfront about that split so you can judge the total properly, and you will get specific numbers on the first call.
Account and Events API setup, creator sourcing, and the first production batch. Scoped to how much creative you need and whether TikTok Shop is in play.
The majority of what we earn is tied to revenue generated rather than a flat retainer. On a volatile channel that keeps us honest about whether it is working.
Ongoing creative production is priced by volume, because TikTok needs more assets than any other channel and pretending otherwise sets the engagement up to fail.
What brands ask us most before testing TikTok.
It works, but not for every brand and not the way Meta works. TikTok is strongest for visually demonstrable products with an impulse-friendly price point, roughly $25 to $80. If your product needs a long consideration cycle or looks like everything else in its category on camera, your money is usually better spent elsewhere. We will tell you which you are.
You can, and it will underperform. Repurposed Meta ads read as ads on TikTok, and the platform's audience scrolls past them faster than anything else. TikTok creative needs to look like it belongs in the feed: native pacing, on-screen captions, a hook in the first second, and a creator voice rather than a brand voice.
Spark Ads run through a real creator or brand account rather than as a faceless ad. They keep the likes, comments and shares attached, which builds social proof and usually earns better engagement costs. For most DTC brands they should be the majority of spend, which means you need creator relationships and authorisation codes in place. We handle that.
More than Meta, and it fatigues faster. Plan on 20 to 40 net-new assets a month at meaningful spend. TikTok burns through creative in a fraction of the time, which is the single biggest reason brands try the channel, see costs climb in week three, and conclude it does not work.
If you are in the US or UK and your category suits it, TikTok Shop removes a big chunk of friction by keeping the purchase in-app. It also comes with its own fee structure, fulfilment expectations and content requirements. We will model whether the margin still works for you before recommending it.
Less so than Meta, and view-through in particular will overstate. We install the Events API server-side, use post-purchase surveys to sanity-check where customers actually came from, and manage to blended MER. TikTok often influences sales that get attributed elsewhere, so judging it on in-platform ROAS alone tends to undervalue it.
Around $3,000 to $5,000 a month for a genuine test, over at least 60 days. Anything less or shorter will not produce a readable result, and you will end up with an expensive opinion rather than data. If that is not available right now, we would rather you put it into Meta or CRO first.
TikTok is rarely a standalone channel. It generates demand and creative learnings that Meta and Google both benefit from, and CRO decides whether the traffic it sends converts.
Tell us your product, price point and creative capacity and we will give you a straight yes or no. We turn down TikTok work regularly, and saying so early costs you nothing.
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