Singapore Civil Defence Force

The objective

Connecting with young job seekers through TikTok

TikTok has become a go-to platform not only for influencers and other entertainers but also for digital natives who want to get information on a variety of topics and issues. Besides #BeautyTok, #FitTok, and #BookTok, other niche communities have also sprung from the platform, including #CareerTok, a subculture dedicated to career advice and job opportunities.

This presents an opportunity for organizations of all shapes, sizes, and industries to communicate with younger audiences — if they can figure out how to appeal to them. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), a uniformed organization that ensures nationwide public safety in emergencies, wanted to seize this chance to promote their organization to potential millennial and Gen Z recruits and spread the word about their advocacy. They decided to try running an educational campaign to raise awareness of the different roles in the SCDF. They had run recruitment-related advertisements before, but wanted to try a fresh, innovative approach to connect with younger job seekers better.

The solution

Mixing work and play with TikTok’s Gamified Branded Effects

The SCDF used several features of TikTok ads for their educational campaign, but their main tactic involved using a custom Gamified Branded Effect, which they ran during graduation and recruitment season for Singaporean students and young workers.

Gamified Branded Effects are interactive filters that TikTok users can play with in-app. For this campaign, SCDF used a Gamified Branded Effect in the form of a quiz where users can learn about the roles and responsibilities of the various roles in their organization.

With the effect, users were presented with a specific function of a certain SCDF role as well as two officer titles to choose from. For example, users were presented with an unnamed role that “[serves] as the SCDF’s contact point and liaison with external and international counterparts,” and had to choose between a staff officer from SCDF’s International Relations team and a staff officer from the Corporate Planning team.

Users had to match the function to the corresponding role by moving their heads in the direction of one of the two options. The effect immediately told users whether their selected answer was correct. As soon as they finished answering all six items, users were then given a score as well as “officer ranks” within the SCDF based on their performance. A TikTok user who correctly answered 5 out of 6 items would be given the “Major” officer rank, which also educates users on SCDF officer rankings.

The Gamified Branded Effect was then promoted via a Reach & Frequency campaign, which allows organizations to advertise on TikTok through native, in-feed advertisements. Members of the SCDF promoted the effect on TikTok by answering the quiz themselves and uploading these videos on the platform.

The SCDF also used the platform’s Pop-out Showcase feature, an interactive add-on that organizations can incorporate into several types of TikTok campaigns, including Reach & Frequency campaigns. Clicking on the Gamified Branded Effect in SCDF’s in-feed advertisements allowed users to engage with the promoted content and try on the effect themselves.

Lastly, the SCDF also conducted a Branded Lift Study for this campaign to measure its performance on the platform.

The results

Interactive campaigns help groups stand out and get users curious

The Branded Lift Study found that the campaign garnered a 19.8% lift in ad recall for the SCDF, which meant that 1 in 5 users on TikTok remembered the SCDF after being exposed to the campaign—a significant lift compared to other campaigns in the market. The addition of the Pop-out Showcase feature led to a 4.6-times increase in click-through rate, which shows that users enjoyed learning about the SCDF in an innovative way and that the campaign succeeded in creating an additional avenue for user and brand engagement.

Because of its interactive nature, the SCDF’s Gamified Branded Effect had an average playtime that was 4.8 times longer than the average watch time of in-feed ads. This is proof that creative uses of Branded Effects can lead to better engagement on the platform, and in effect, fulfill brand goals. In this case, educating users about roles available in the SCDF.

Organizations like the SCDF can use TikTok’s Ad Manager to launch a variety of creative advertisements for all kinds of campaigns, which allows groups to connect with various audiences through innovative means. Thanks to TikTok’s many solutions, groups and institutions with more formal reputations like the SCDF can effortlessly present themselves in fun and entertaining ways to younger audiences.