TikTok launches real life experience with Westfield shopping centre pop up

TikTok stars and influencers are offering coaching sessions on how to create social media content as the UK’s first TikTok pop-up venue opens its doors to fans as Westfield shopping centre in West London.

The venue allows fans to interact with social media stars who have found success via the TikTok app as they try to create their own mini-films with coaching sessions from influencers charged at £5 a session.

The pop-up venue will be open until August 8th and takes inspiration from TikTok’s homepage which highlights trending clips. 

Influencers on the roster include British teenager Kyle Thomas, comedian Ehiz Ufuah, chef Poppy O’Toole, and freestyle footballers Jeremy Lynch and Ben Black. Their sessions will explain how to make content for TikTok, while parents will be able to learn how to keep teenagers safe on the platform.

The venue will also feature several rooms to provide different backdrops for visitors to film their own content, including a kitchen which will showcase viral recipes and cook-offs. A dressing room will host beauty, fashion, and transformation challenges.

Attendees of the event will be given exclusive TikTok merchandise.

Harita Shah, marketing director for UK events at Westfield’s parent company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, said: “TikTok has become a cultural phenomenon. It’s where many of our visitors are getting their inspiration from, whether that’s fashion trends, the newest home styling, influencer or foodie fads.

“Having a physical space at Westfield London gives TikTok the chance to immerse shoppers and new creators in full 360 experience where the best of the online platform merges with a real life experience.”

Digital food brand Chefclub signs Fashion UK for family apparel range across Europe

The digital food brand developed to inspire audiences into the kitchen, Chefclub, has joined forces with Fashion UK, the leading European textiles and accessories licensee, to launch an officially licensed Chefclub apparel collection for the family.

The new range will launch in spring/summer next year with a cross-generational appeal that promises to be ‘fun, fashionable, and of course gourmet.’ The collection will be initially available to all major European retailers across France, Germany, and the UK.

Established in Paris in 2016, Chefclub is a digital kitchen brand that has seen rapid growth across Europe, the US, Latin America, and China thanks to its regular output of video content across social media platforms. The brand’s mission is to ‘transform the kitchen into a space for sharing and having fun.’

To date, Chefclub content has tallied up more than two billion organic views each month, with 100 million followers worldwide.

Its new partnership with Fashion UK follows the recent deal with Groupe SEB for the production of a range of Chefclub by Tefal cookware. The company joins to strengthen the growing roster of Chefclub licensees as well as its international presence in the licensing arena.

Chefclub secures €14 million in latest financial round and new Tefal partnership for kitchenware

It’s a double-yolker for the Parisian food brand, Chefclub as the firm secures a new financing round of 14 million Euros and the creation of a new cookware line in partnership with the kitchen ware experts, Tefal.

It’s First Bridge Ventures chairman, Adrian Cheng, who leads the round the accelerate Chefclub’s international growth, along with SEB Alliance, Group SEB’s corporate venture arm, as well as existing investors Fleur Pellerin’s Korelya Capital and Groupe Arnault’s Aglae Ventures to bring in the 14 million Euro funding round.

Launched in Paris in 2016 by three brothers, Thomas, Jonathan, and Axel Lang, Chefclub has been able to leverage the power of social media to continually grow, strengthen its brand, and create a large audience while also transforming its video viewers into customers. 

Its recipe videos and fun universe are designed to encourage everyone to cook: women, men, teenagers, and children. 

Convinced that the future of business lies in experiential content and direct contact with communities, the startup has already sold 700,000 self-published books since 2017, and in 2019 launched a series of innovative products for children that has equipped more than 150,000 families. 

The free distribution of content has helped Chefclub form a committed community that the startup can directly involve in the development of its products. All Chefclub products are created based on the requests, tastes, and opinions shared by the community throughout the product development process.

Meanwhile, as viewers’ attention shifts from television to social networks, Chefclub continues to promote its universe and products through online videos of inspiring and fun recipes seen all around the world. In December 2020 alone, 50 million Americans and more than 15 million French people watched one or more Chefclub recipes. 

In addition to direct sales, the brand is developing its retail presence to allow members of its community to find Chefclub products in their favorite stores. In return, retailers carrying Chefclub products will benefit from the extensive coverage on social media platforms, allowing them to draw in customers who prefer not to order online.

Topping off the good news for Chefclub this week, and the cooking brand has also detailed a new partnership with Groupe SEB for the launch of a range of products under the brand name Chefclub by Tefal.

The new collection will include skillets, saucepans, kitchen tools, and small domestic appliances. Created in collaboration with the Chefclub community, the range combines Chefclub’s expertise in the development of creative recipes with Tefal’s sustainable design.

The new range will be launched in France and across international markets including Germany, Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Canada, Spain, the UK, and Mexico.

The new brand Chefclub by Tefal benefits from unprecedented visibility on social networks and will broaden Groupe SEB’s reach, particularly with Millennials, who are discovering or rediscovering the joys of cooking thanks to the start-up’s content.

By joining forces with Groupe SEB, world reference for small domestic appliances, Chefclub has access to recognized industrial expertise, the renown of the Tefal brand and a broader retail network which will enable its community to discover its products via the Group’s retail channels.

Influencing the future: Semaphore Licensing and the power of the social media star

For the past decade, the US outfit Semaphore Licensing has made a success of bringing YouTube and social media influencers out of their worlds of online clicks and views, and into the wider licensing space developing licensing programmes around some of the biggest names in the digital domain.

Most recently, Semaphore has been developing licensing programmes for Braille Skateboarding, the leading skateboarding channel on YouTube, as well as Blogilates, a female fitness channel that has swept across the social media space over the course of the last few years.

It’s without question that the social media landscape has helped carve out a new dynamic on the world of consumer products and licensing over the course of the last ten years. Throw into the mix a global pandemic that has forced a world’s population deeper into the digital sphere than ever before, consuming and engaging with content to new levels, and it’s small wonder why Semaphore Licensing approaches Influencer licensing with the passion that it does.

For ten years, this is a business that has been at the vanguard of a shifting landscape of licensing. Here, Licensing.biz talks to Semaphore’s VP of licensing, Lisa Berlin Wright about what Influencers are bringing to our industry, how they are fuelling fandom, and where the company takes things from here.

Hello Lisa, could you talk us through the story of Semaphore Licensing – you guys popped up on our radar with the Braille Skateboarding partnerships, and then with Blogilates fitness channel. What do you look for in the brands you work with?

Semaphore has been around for over 10 years as the leading Business Management firm for YouTube Influencers, with over 500 social media influencers as clients in various divisions. We recognized Consumer Product Licensing as a natural business extension for many of our leading Influencers who had shown the ability to develop sustainable brands with longevity.

Semaphore Licensing Solutions was officially launched one year ago this December and represents Digital Media Stars who are true leaders in their niche. Braille Skateboarding is the number one Skateboarding Channel on YouTube, Blogilates is the number one Female Fitness channel, Hyram is the number one Skincare influencer, and every four to nine year old girl wants a playdate with Trinity and Beyond.

We proudly represent a broad range of new media stars and to date, the current Talent Portfolio has a global audience that spans over 50 million subscribers. 

What attracts you guys to these social media grown brands? To what extent do you think brands like these show us the future of the licensing space? 

We believe these brands have the ability to evolve and thrive for many years to come. These new media stars offer licensees built-in fans. As we have seen in the past few years, more and more consumers make purchase decisions based on recommendations from people they are following people on social media. 

There are studies that show consumers are more likely to buy a product recommended by an Influencer than by anyone else.  What better license then the Influencer themselves?!

Mike Bienstock, Semaphore founder pictured with Aaron Kyto, creator of Braille Skateboarding

How have the events of 2020 helped to fuel the audience growth for brands like these? How has it driven the demand for licensing and merchandising partnerships?

While there have been many challenging things in 2020, for our Influencers, their numbers have skyrocketed due to the shelter-in-place restrictions. We have seen all of the key metrics increase: viewers, subscribers, likes – sometimes up over 500 per cent. With more fans and more engagement, the demand for licensed products dramatically increases. 

What do you think YouTube creators and brands bring to the licensing space? How are they disrupting the traditional licensing space? 

YouTube Creators are bringing a very powerful opportunity to licensing. Having worked with many film, TV and celebrity licensed brands in the past, we see a giant opportunity with Influencers. They have an emotional connection with their fans. They have a direct pipeline to fans where they can talk about the products and drive massive traffic to retailers.  A film or TV show can’t feature the product and say: “Go to Target”, but our Influencers can and it’s authentic.

What are the challenges that you guys face in building brands like these? How receptive are retailers, licensing partners etc? How profound has the shift in mindset been towards creators and brands to emerge from social media over ‘traditional’ means?

Some of the challenges that we face are in teaching the difference in how to measure a Social Media Star vs. Traditional Licensed Properties. With Social Media our Influencers “own” their niche. Everyone in that niche will know and follow whatever that Influencer says. But they are not household names and outside of their niche they can be unknown. 

What we try to illuminate for retailers and licensees is that 11 million people as a fan base (in the case of Blogilates) is bigger than an audience for most traditional TV properties. Our Stars’ audiences are deep not wide; you can sell millions of dollars of licensed products without needing to be broadly known. 

Given the nature of social media and content engagement, it’s arguable that brands like Braille and Blogilates are that extra step closer to the core audience. Is that a fair assessment, and how far does that influence the kind of licensing partnerships you secure?

As we mentioned, that is the “secret sauce” of social media star licensing. Our brands are very close to their audience and there is a deep emotional connection. Our licensees can benefit from harnessing the connection.

What are your next steps for both Braille Skateboarding and Blogilates? What kind of partnerships are you looking for these brands?

We are seeking apparel and retail partnerships for both brands. We are also looking for HBA opportunities.With the Blogilates Sporting Goods arriving at Target in January we see a big opportunity for licensed active wear at retail.

What changes to the consumer mindset or to the licensing space do you think have been brought about by the past year’s events? How do you think these will now go on to shape the future of the licensing space? What will Semaphore Licensing’s role be within that?

Changes in the retail landscape in the past year have shown how important social media and a strong online presence is. It is vital going forward for any brand to have an online audience. Since Semaphore has worked with Social Media influencers for over 10 years now, we have been able to translate the digital landscape for licensees that might be new to it.

We also have deep relationships with influencers of all ages and even pets, so we are able to identify up and coming stars in any niche.

Thankyou Lisa, anything you’d like to add?

  • Philip DeFranco is one of the foremost authorities for news and pop culture commentary in the digital media space. His YouTube Channel currently has 6.39 million subscribers, while the content receives 20 million views per month.
  • Hyram is a YouTuber turned TikTok Skincare Sensation who has accelerated into the spotlight by creating new media content that makes skincare approachable – particularly Gen Z. Hyram’s  authentic, informative and humor infused videos have achieved over 232 million lifetime views with 3.85 million subscribers, while his TikTok fan base is in excess of 6.1 million followers
  • Trinity and Beyond have become the best virtual friend next door for girls 4-9, creating wholesome videos showcasing scavenger hunts, fun skits, slime pranks and games for children. Sisters Trinity and Madison have evolved into America’s sweethearts, as seen on their YouTube channel with over 6 million subscribers.
  • Braille Skateboarding is the #1 skateboarding channel on YouTube with over 5.24 million subscribers and over 1 billion lifetime views. The channel is known for its videos that educate all ages on how to learn various skateboarding moves and tricks
  • Blogilates is the #1 female fitness channel on YouTube featuring full length POP Pilates, PIIT 28, and fun Bootcamp Sculpting workouts. The channel currently has 5.38 million subscribers and over 813 million lifetime views.
  • SuperHero Kids features a family unit that captures epic action and comedy videos for all ages with over 6 million subscribers on their YouTube Channel.
  • Maymo is the most popular pet personality on YouTube with the most subscribers of any pet channel – over 9.9 million – with his content viewed 125 million times per month.
  • Ireland Boys Productions is known for its Vlogs and behind-the-scenes look at pranks. The YouTube Channel currently has over 3.9 million subscribers while its content has had 631 million lifetime views.
  • Vat19 is led by a team of creators who channel their inner child to bring videos to life featuring “curiously awesome” gifts, candy, toys, gummy, putty, puzzles, games, and more – with over 6.5 billion lifetime views and 7.5 million subscribers.

TikTok makes biggest push for e-commerce to date in Shopify partnership

The social media giant, TikTok is making its biggest push into e-commerce to date thanks to a new partnership with Shopify that will allow its retailers to begin advertising and selling goods through the platform.

Shopify, which already provides the e-commerce platform for over 800,000 brands, will allow its merchants to connect to a TikTok for Business account and post videos featuring ‘shoppable ads’. This will enable users to click through to a retailer’s Shopify page while scrolling on TikTok, where they can complete a purchase.

The partnership – TikTok’s biggest stride into ecommerce so far – will launch in the US this week, before rolling out across Europe and Asia in the new year. It arrives following the exploration of numerous means in which the social media giant could push into retail outside of China, underscoring a definite shift towards ‘social commerce’ among social media users.

Shopify’s Satish Kanwar said: “It was obvious early on how TikTok was starting to influence commerce trends and trajectories. With direct-to-consumer brands, that relationship between storytelling and entertainment and the product they sell is so close.

“We believe video is the default form of communication online today. We are very eager to see how video and commerce can expand.”

Shopify has seen its sales surge during lockdown, rising nearly 100 per cent during its second quarter to overtake Ebay for the first time.

Going viral after the virus: Fanbytes’ Timothy Armoo talks the new future of toy and brand marketing

Timothy Armoo is the CEO and founder of Fanbytes, a digital marketing business that has shot to success in the three short years it has been plying its trade as a leading light in Gen Z marketing and tapping into the global TikTok sensation early doors. At 24 years old, Fanbytes is Armoo’s third business.

At the age of 17, the young entrepreneur had sold his second business, EntrepreneurXpress, a platform that held open the door for his subsequent success in the world of social media marketing.

Before the coronavirus really took hold of the UK earlier this year, Armoo – working alongside the team at Playtime PR – launched the first TikTok campaign for the global toymaker Bandai and its Yolkies product campaign.

Bandai is just one of five major toy companies that Armoo’s company is now working with, and one of many more global entertainment brands that have turned to the young marketing magician to better tap into today’s younger audiences.

Licensing.biz catches up with Timothy Armoo, CEO and founder of Fanbytes for his insight on the future of toy marketing in a post-pandemic world.

Last time we connected, Fanbytes had just kicked off a marketing campaign with Bandai – how did it all go? What was response like, and what kind of engagement did you guys see with that?

The reception was incredible, the brand Yolkies was a perfect fit for TikTok and working with the team at PlayTime PR meant that we could have a full 360 approach both with media and PR. The content now stands at millions of views but most important are the comments, with a 93 per cent positive sentiment across the comment. TikTok is one of those platforms where it can be very easy to swipe and leave

A lot has happened since back then. How have things evolved at Fanbytes over the last few months? How has lockdown and the pandemic impacted on the social media marketing space in that time?

Pretty interesting. At the start of the lockdown, we brought out the Bytehouse which was the first-ever UK TikTok house which did insanely well. We put 6 of the biggest and most influential creators on TikTok in one house to create content We’ve now clocked over 100 million views on our content and we signed on What Do You Meme as our games partner which did very well and now work with Rubik’s, Gymshark and even helped Government organizations with spreading the word about coronavirus.

I think the pandemic has accelerated some changes in the social media world where agencies who solely relied on client revenue from one service are failing. We’ve had to be nimble in what we do constantly bringing out products and services which are innovative. The Bytehouse for example was featured on BBC News, Sky and every major press article because it was genuinely innovative, taking all the IP and insight we’d used from helping brands reach this audience to then build our own brand.

How far do you think the last few months will influence the future of social media marketing? Will brands be adopting the ‘home made’ social media approach more? Have you guys seen an increase in activity here?

Yes, this was a trend we were already seeing with people not needing the Hollywood treatment of content with “shot at home” becoming more in vogue. It’s clear this works. People buy from people and the less photoshopped and real it looks the better.

Fanbytes is working with some big names in entertainment – Warner, Universal, Paramount and more – why are companies like these now turning their attention to this kind of marketing, and Fanbytes in particular? 

I think it’s because we’ve stayed incredibly true to what we do. Helping brands win Gen Z audiences. Everything we do is centred around that. The insights we share on our socials, the language we use when communicating to clients, it’s one of those things that if you’re an expert in, people will always come to you for.

We often turn down work if we think we can’t do a good job which is quite funny sometimes, try saying to your investors we turned down this six figure deal because we didn’t feel like it hit our sweet spot! But it’s been a good decision for us.

What’s the uptake been like from the toy industry to date? What potential do you think this market has for TikTok marketing – is the industry waking up to idea, and is it being quick enough to react?

We now work with five of the biggest Toy companies in Europe and funnily enough, they’ve all come to us. I think the shift has come because people think that on TikTok it’s just brand awareness, however, when you show clear case studies of being able to drive sales, that always wins.

We’ve developed a framework we use for all our campaigns which works exceptionally well to drive sales and when we can predictably guarantee results that’s very strong. We’re also starting to bring out long term collaborations with these toy brands, rather than just a simple collaboration.

What do you think the next stage of evolution for influencer/social media marketing could be for brands and for the toy industry in particular?

I think it’s going to be deeper integrations between influencers and brands where people will bring out their own collection in partnership with a brand. You see a lot of makeup brands doing this, but I think it will extend to toys where the influencer could bring out their own range of a particular toy. This makes intuitive sense. Most toy manufacturers sell through retailers so with a bit of personalisation you could have the influencer as the retailer, which will drive huge volume and sales.

How did this all get started for you? What does the future look like for Fanbytes in the coming years – any big plans we can be shouting about?

I built my first company at 14 and sold my second company, EntrepreneurXpress at 17 which really got me into the social media world. I started Fanbytes in university three years ago and it has grown well into being a strong force in the advertising world which I’m very proud of.

The future is very interesting for us, using our expertise we are building our own products tailored to Gen Z as well as branding out the agency itself into supporting clients on a whole range of things including paid media + partnerships. Of course, we’re also gearing up for our US launch, we do a lot of business there but no real meaningful presence. That’s going to change soon.

Going viral after the virus: Fanbytes’ Timothy Armoo talks the new future of toy and brand marketing

Timothy Armoo is the CEO and founder of Fanbytes, a digital marketing business that has shot to success in the three short years it has been plying its trade as a leading light in Gen Z marketing and tapping into the global TikTok sensation early doors. At 24 years old, Fanbytes is Armoo’s third business.

At the age of 17, the young entrepreneur had sold his second business, EntrepreneurXpress, a platform that held open the door for his subsequent success in the world of social media marketing.

Before the coronavirus really took hold of the UK earlier this year, Armoo – working alongside the team at Playtime PR – launched the first TikTok campaign for the global toymaker Bandai and its Yolkies product campaign.

Bandai is just one of five major toy companies that Armoo’s company is now working with, and one of many more global entertainment brands that have turned to the young marketing magician to better tap into today’s younger audiences.

Licensing.biz catches up with Timothy Armoo, CEO and founder of Fanbytes for his insight on the future of toy marketing in a post-pandemic world.

Last time we connected, Fanbytes had just kicked off a marketing campaign with Bandai – how did it all go? What was response like, and what kind of engagement did you guys see with that?

The reception was incredible, the brand Yolkies was a perfect fit for TikTok and working with the team at PlayTime PR meant that we could have a full 360 approach both with media and PR. The content now stands at millions of views but most important are the comments, with a 93 per cent positive sentiment across the comment. TikTok is one of those platforms where it can be very easy to swipe and leave

A lot has happened since back then. How have things evolved at Fanbytes over the last few months? How has lockdown and the pandemic impacted on the social media marketing space in that time?

Pretty interesting. At the start of the lockdown, we brought out the Bytehouse which was the first-ever UK TikTok house which did insanely well. We put 6 of the biggest and most influential creators on TikTok in one house to create content We’ve now clocked over 100 million views on our content and we signed on What Do You Meme as our games partner which did very well and now work with Rubik’s, Gymshark and even helped Government organizations with spreading the word about coronavirus.

I think the pandemic has accelerated some changes in the social media world where agencies who solely relied on client revenue from one service are failing. We’ve had to be nimble in what we do constantly bringing out products and services which are innovative. The Bytehouse for example was featured on BBC News, Sky and every major press article because it was genuinely innovative, taking all the IP and insight we’d used from helping brands reach this audience to then build our own brand.

How far do you think the last few months will influence the future of social media marketing? Will brands be adopting the ‘home made’ social media approach more? Have you guys seen an increase in activity here?

Yes, this was a trend we were already seeing with people not needing the Hollywood treatment of content with “shot at home” becoming more in vogue. It’s clear this works. People buy from people and the less photoshopped and real it looks the better.

Fanbytes is working with some big names in entertainment – Warner, Universal, Paramount and more – why are companies like these now turning their attention to this kind of marketing, and Fanbytes in particular? 

I think it’s because we’ve stayed incredibly true to what we do. Helping brands win Gen Z audiences. Everything we do is centred around that. The insights we share on our socials, the language we use when communicating to clients, it’s one of those things that if you’re an expert in, people will always come to you for.

We often turn down work if we think we can’t do a good job which is quite funny sometimes, try saying to your investors we turned down this six figure deal because we didn’t feel like it hit our sweet spot! But it’s been a good decision for us.

What’s the uptake been like from the toy industry to date? What potential do you think this market has for TikTok marketing – is the industry waking up to idea, and is it being quick enough to react?

We now work with five of the biggest Toy companies in Europe and funnily enough, they’ve all come to us. I think the shift has come because people think that on TikTok it’s just brand awareness, however, when you show clear case studies of being able to drive sales, that always wins.

We’ve developed a framework we use for all our campaigns which works exceptionally well to drive sales and when we can predictably guarantee results that’s very strong. We’re also starting to bring out long term collaborations with these toy brands, rather than just a simple collaboration.

What do you think the next stage of evolution for influencer/social media marketing could be for brands and for the toy industry in particular?

I think it’s going to be deeper integrations between influencers and brands where people will bring out their own collection in partnership with a brand. You see a lot of makeup brands doing this, but I think it will extend to toys where the influencer could bring out their own range of a particular toy. This makes intuitive sense. Most toy manufacturers sell through retailers so with a bit of personalisation you could have the influencer as the retailer, which will drive huge volume and sales.

How did this all get started for you? What does the future look like for Fanbytes in the coming years – any big plans we can be shouting about?

I built my first company at 14 and sold my second company, EntrepreneurXpress at 17 which really got me into the social media world. I started Fanbytes in university three years ago and it has grown well into being a strong force in the advertising world which I’m very proud of.

The future is very interesting for us, using our expertise we are building our own products tailored to Gen Z as well as branding out the agency itself into supporting clients on a whole range of things including paid media + partnerships. Of course, we’re also gearing up for our US launch, we do a lot of business there but no real meaningful presence. That’s going to change soon.