Watler heads up TikTok’s Creative Agency Partnerships, North America division, which was launched last summer as a way for the growing platform to help creative agencies and their clients better understand how TikTok works — something that has become increasingly important given TikTok’s status as the current social media darling.

Watler, a 40-year-old, New York native, has been described as an amazing networker and a hustler by those who have worked with her, which are attributes that come in handy when streamlining relationships between TikTok and the creative industry’s countless shops.

“Because TikTok is so new, in the sense of engaging the agencies and especially the creative agencies this way, they are leaning in,” said Alan Parker, chief innovation officer at Energy BBDO. “Krystle’s leadership and how she’s doing that is setting the standard for how we lean in to do it.”

Music to creatives’ ears

Watler’s team is small, but mighty. (TikTok declined to offer further details on the Creative Agency Partnerships’ team makeup.) It has clients from independent creative agencies, like Fable.works and Zulu Alpha Kilo, to creative agencies at holding companies, including Publicis’ Saatchi and Saatchi and Omnicom’s Energy BBDO. Recently, the team launched CAP (Creative Agency Partnerships) University, an educational resource for creative agencies that focuses on everything from collaborating with creators and pitching TikTok strategies to clients.

TikTok gained steam during the pandemic and has become a more permanent fixture in marketing budgets across the industry. Earlier this year, eMarketer reported TikTok’s ad revenue is expected to surpass Twitter and Snapchat combined, raking in more than $11 billion. By 2024, experts forecast TikTok’s ad revenue will reach $23.48 billion, giving YouTube, which is expected to take in $23.65 billion, a run for its money.

TikTok caused a major shift in how users were consuming content, forcing advertisers to adapt their creative strategies from polished, Instagram-ready videos to authentic, culturally relevant content. ( on that change here.) Watler and TikTok’s Creative Agency Partnerships team are there to be a beacon of light in the sea of changes.

“We will never do the work of a creative agency,” Watler said. “But we will always guide, consult and provide any and all resources that the industry needs to come up with great ideas that’s going to move culture forward, and move a brand’s business forward.”

Watler came to TikTok last July from Virtue Worldwide, the creative agency powered by Vice Media, and with more than 15 years of experience at creative agencies. Upon her arrival at TikTok, she hit the ground running, sparking a relationship with Parker and the Energy BBDO team.

“She was like music to my ears,” he said.

Training started almost immediately, with Watler’s team …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron