Do you know how animated videos on TikTok can benefit a company’s PR efforts?
For a company to effectively convey its message, it must first capture the viewer’s interest. In today’s world, where free content is everywhere, it’s crucial to make viewers think, “This looks interesting.”
For consumers, free content doesn’t come with the feeling that they’re losing out if they stop watching at any time. In other words, if an animation doesn’t grab their interest, it will be easily skipped.
That’s exactly why “TikTok animations” are a method worth paying attention to. On social media platforms where live-action posts tend to dominate, animations are a rarity and are more likely to catch people’s eyes. They are particularly well-suited for platforms where you need to capture interest in a short amount of time.
Furthermore, by featuring characters, companies—which can seem abstract—can make themselves feel more approachable to viewers and establish an emotional connection.
In this article, we’ll introduce PR methods using animated videos on TikTok, the benefits of animated videos, and some reference examples. If you’re considering a PR strategy for TikTok or exploring marketing using animation, please read on to the end.
When people think of TikTok, they often assume that videos featuring dancing and choreography set to music are the norm, but that’s not the case. In addition to music-related content, videos across a wide range of genres—from education and beauty to gaming, food, DIY, and how-to guides—are uploaded every day.
Many users also use the app to search for fashion, restaurants, and trends, making it a valuable tool for gathering information.
Among these, short videos featuring original animations are gaining attention, and an increasing number of companies are utilizing them for marketing and branding purposes.
How should businesses utilize animations on TikTok?
The purpose of using animation on TikTok is to capture viewers’ interest and effectively convey brand messages.
In a landscape dominated by live-action content, animation stands out and has the power to appeal to viewers’ instincts. In an era overflowing with free content, it’s crucial to make viewers think, “This looks interesting—I’ll give it a watch.” In other words, social media posts on platforms like TikTok need to feature “content that viewers will enjoy” and be designed to keep them watching until the very end.
For example, animation allows you to create content that leverages unique characters and stories, keeping viewers eager to see what happens next.
However, simply grabbing viewers’ attention isn’t enough; the content must be substantial to be effective. It’s crucial to provide the information viewers are seeking and include elements that genuinely interest them.
Animation serves as a powerful tool for companies to catch viewers’ attention and convey their brand message. In this way, utilizing animation on TikTok is an effective method for capturing viewers’ hearts. Companies should aim not only to visually entertain viewers with animation but also to convey meaningful messages.
Why TikTok is ideal for PR campaigns using animated content
TikTok and animated videos are a perfect match, making them ideal for PR and branding.
Furthermore, by continuously building awareness for original characters designed during production on TikTok, it’s possible to create a situation where the characters themselves generate revenue as part of an IP business.
Reduce the perception of advertising to increase viewership
This applies not only to TikTok but to other social media platforms as well: when a product appears in a live-action video, it tends to feel more like an advertisement. Since TikTok users are seeking new discoveries, it is said that their perception of ads tends to be more favorable than on other platforms.
However, posts from accounts that simply repeat the same products over and over again will end up annoying users.
In such cases, incorporating animated videos can help users feel a sense of freshness. As a result, you can create a situation where users are more likely to view your content as something that sparks their interest.
In this way, the benefit of using animated videos is that they allow you to promote your content in a natural way that doesn’t come across as an advertisement to users.
Additionally, by using “Spark Ads”—one of TikTok’s advertising formats—you can distribute the animated video posts mentioned above directly as ads. If you receive a positive response, consider using ads to further expand your brand awareness.
Unlike live-action footage, animation is well-suited for conveying abstract concepts in an easy-to-understand way.
For example, it’s ideal for themes such as corporate initiatives or contributions to society, where you can use animated videos to depict stories like “how employees go about their work” or “the challenges they faced along the way.”
Animated videos allow you to use characters in your production, eliminating the need to show actual faces.
This approach has the advantage of making the content more approachable through the use of characters.
Save on casting costs by creating your own characters
When using videos on TikTok, it can be difficult to gain followers or stand out simply with text or scenery alone. For this reason, casting the right performers is crucial.
With animated content, everything from the background to the characters can be rendered exactly as envisioned, so there’s no need to cast performers whose appearance matches the brand image.
On the other hand, with live-action content, costs and production efforts can escalate due to actor selection, securing locations, and arranging a film crew.
While it’s not guaranteed to be cheaper depending on the cast members’ fame or the animation’s quality, the ability to express your vision exactly as intended is certainly an attractive feature.
Additionally, for animations intended primarily for PR on social media rather than TV broadcasts, we recommend considering “indie animation,” which allows you to reduce production costs by minimizing the number of people involved.
Stand out more easily amidst a sea of live-action content
Live-action videos are easy to create, and with many TikTokers wanting to feature themselves to stand out, the platform is flooded with such content. In this environment, using animation—a style distinct from the norm—is an effective way to grab attention.
Furthermore, when real people appear in videos, viewer preferences tend to be divided. In this context, animations featuring cute characters that don’t exist in reality are likely to be more appealing to a wider range of viewers.
For example, a survey conducted by Macromill revealed the following character rankings:
As this suggests, it seems that “relatable characters that don’t exist in reality” are more likely to be liked by many people than “realistic characters that resemble humans.”
Furthermore, since real people’s appearances change over time, it can be difficult to maintain their appeal for many years. On the other hand, characters created through animation can retain their appearance and be “refreshed to keep up with trends.”
Allow for more detailed editing than live-action videos
With live-action videos, making corrections often requires reshooting, and significant changes cannot be made during the post-production editing phase.
If reshooting is necessary, you’ll have to reschedule the actors’ availability, and when you factor in their fees and staff costs, the production budget can nearly double.
However, with animated videos, there’s no need for reshoots—you can simply edit the digital files.
Editing offers a high degree of flexibility, allowing you to tailor the color scheme and style to align closely with your company’s branding image.
As explained so far, utilizing TikTok animations is well-suited for PR. While live-action footage is effective at conveying realism, making corrections often requires reshoots and involves the hassle of rescheduling.
What you can do with animated videos on TikTok
Using TikTok Animation for Branding
Branding is a PR strategy designed to increase awareness and improve the image of a company or service.
TikTok features a high number of video views per user, making it possible to get people to watch videos in a natural way.
Users end up watching corporate videos without even realizing it, and repeated viewings lead to increased brand awareness.
Furthermore, while corporate accounts can often come across as stiff and formal, using animation makes them more approachable, fostering a sense of familiarity and trust toward the company.
Using TikTok Animation to Drive Traffic
TikTok can be used to drive traffic to both websites and landing pages, as well as to in-person events.
Animated content allows you to efficiently showcase products, services, and event information within short videos.
On YouTube, users are already in the mindset of “wanting to watch a video,” so unless their interest is quite high, they won’t stop watching to click through to another platform.
On the other hand, since TikTok videos are short and easy to break up, the conversion rate to other platforms tends to be higher.
However, since standard posts cannot include CTAs, you need to use Spark Ads to deliver content with CTAs.
CTA stands for “Call to Action.” It refers to buttons that prompt user actions, such as “Learn More” or “Buy Now,” and serves as a link to direct users to other platforms or landing pages.
Using TikTok Animation for E-commerce
TikTok is also highly effective at driving traffic to e-commerce sites and product pages.
Just as people use Google to search for information, they tend to use TikTok and Instagram to check out trends, making these platforms a great fit for e-commerce—they can effectively bridge the gap from product promotion to conversion.
One strategy is to promote products through hashtag challenges while generating buzz.
Using TikTok Animation to Build a Community
Many communities have formed on TikTok through its content. In particular, a physical space called “TikTok Community Base,” designed to support TikTok creators in building communities, opened for a limited time at MIYASHITA PARK in Shibuya starting June 1.
Given that TikTok users are already accustomed to communities—as the platform actively supports real-world connections between creators, as well as between creators and fans—the barrier to entry for community-building is relatively low.
For example, when other creators use original soundtracks, the content spreads further, and through collaborative content with creators, content can reach a wider audience.
Additionally, the formation of fan communities leads to content being shared with even more people, fosters communication among fans, and energizes the comments section—all of which positively influence the algorithm.
Here, we’ll introduce a few TikTok accounts that make effective use of animated videos. What sets them apart is their ability to effectively utilize original characters to foster a sense of familiarity with users and showcase their unique style.
Best known for the catchphrase “The death flag has been raised!”, the highly popular YouTube-born romantic comedy *All-Out Avoidance: Flag-chan!* has also become a huge hit on TikTok.
It launched on YouTube in 2019, and a light novel adaptation was published by KADOKAWA MF Bunko J in 2021.
The creators are posting short videos on TikTok to drive traffic to their YouTube channel.
Marimari Marie, a production group that primarily distributes original animations on YouTube and TikTok, is dedicated to creating a new style of comedy based on the concepts of “emotional illustrations” and “surreal skits.”
Their surreal style—featuring City Pop-inspired animation and a deadpan sense of humor—has gained widespread popularity.
A key feature of their work is the integration of their videos with merchandise, such as selling the clothes worn by characters in their animations through e-commerce sites.
Originally known for posting parody songs on YouTube, this popular animator has been releasing original animations since 2020 and has over 800,000 followers on TikTok.
Their animation videos are notable for their Showa-era style and rapid-fire exchanges of jokes and comebacks.
Summary of PR methods utilizing TikTok animation videos
・Since TikTok allows for natural announcements without making users feel like they’re seeing an ad, animated videos are a perfect fit and ideal for PR and branding.
・While regular posts on TikTok don’t support CTAs, using Spark Ads enables you to display CTAs and conduct PR campaigns that factor in user engagement.
・By continuously building awareness of original characters through TikTok animations, it’s possible to create a situation where the characters themselves generate revenue as part of an IP business.
In this article, we’ve introduced PR methods utilizing animated videos on TikTok, the benefits of animated videos, and reference case studies. If you’re interested in TikTok animation production, TikTok ads, or indie animation, please feel free to contact us.
If you’d like to promote your characters or learn key points for managing a TikTok account with animation, you can access the following materials on our download page. We hope you’ll find them useful.
Vertical short videos are effective for creating an entertaining feel
Today’s viewers have access to free content and can easily skip what they don’t want to watch, so traditional advertising methods that force content on them no longer work. This is especially true on short-form video platforms like TikTok, where you must capture viewers’ attention instantly.
So, how can you create posts that grab viewers’ attention?
In fact, animated videos have an entertaining quality that makes viewers want to keep watching. Furthermore, animation makes it easier to convey stories and abstract messages that are difficult to convey through live-action.
The impact is further enhanced by featuring characters in these animated videos that resonate emotionally with viewers.
However, creating animated videos for TikTok can be quite a challenge, right? That’s where our “TikTok Anime” service comes in—it’s the perfect solution for you. Start by downloading the report below to learn more about its benefits.
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NOKID provides creative planning and production for PR using characters, events, and video content. Effective videos balance business and creative perspectives, e.g., short clips optimized for TikTok, designed to capture attention in the first 2–3 seconds.
For first-time animation or PR-focused content, feel free to consult with us.
Tokuma Kanna
Founder and CEO of NOKID Inc., a premier creative studio specializing in short-form animation and graphic design. With a focus on narrative-driven visual storytelling, he has spearheaded high-profile projects across the global entertainment landscape. His portfolio includes the acclaimed VALORANT: YORU TYPICAL DAYS cinematic, the Hatsune Miku x Seven Premium 15th Anniversary campaign, and Koda Kumi’s music video "100 no Kotoba-tachi e." As a leading producer in the PV and MV sectors, Tokuma continues to redefine the intersection of animation and contemporary digital media.
