Joy of Digital Award: Twinings brews up a winning TikTok campaign

Winner of September’s Joy of Digital Award, Twinings’ creator-led campaign ‘A New Way to Tea’ promotes the launch of its new sparkling tea on TikTok and marks its debut on the platform.

In collaboration with creator agency Whalar, the heritage tea brand, ventured onto TikTok for the first time with a creator-led campaign to tap into communities and capture the attention of people experiencing the afternoon slump.

With the hashtag #ANewWayToTea, the brand enlisted a diverse group of creators - including a female weightlifter, home renovators and countryside explorers - to share how they incorporate Twinings Sparkling Tea into their daily routines.

“This campaign absolutely fizzed with creativity,” said Joy, the IAB’s Chief Digital Cheerleader and Chair of the Joy of Digital Awards.

“By harnessing TikTok’s product discovery algorithm, the campaign boosted visibility and helped this 300-year-old brand tap into new audiences via ingenious TeaTok activity (is that a thing? I’m not sure. Well, it is now!) This new approach from Twinings is fresh, fun and full of flavour. No wonder it’s my Joy of Digital winner for September - a true toast to tea done right!”

Sam Hicks, UK Managing Director of Whalar, added: “It’s exciting this iconic brand is leaning into the creator effect by launching with these authentic voices into niche communities in such a timely way. ‘A new way to tea’ is a blueprint for audience engagement as the marketing industry starts to tap into the potential of creators.”

Joy created the Joy of Digital Award - which is presented monthly - to celebrate campaigns that embody the joy of digital and harness digital channels in innovative ways to enhance creativity, demonstrating a dash of something extra special when it comes to the execution.

Find out more about the Joy of Digital Award and past winners here.