Genesis

The objective

Expanding luxury reach through innovative placements

Genesis, the luxury automotive brand known for EVs, sedans, and SUVs under its "No Old Thinking" philosophy, wanted to reconnect with audiences on TikTok after a campaign pause. Their challenge was reaching consumers with a strong affinity for luxury—a segment not easily isolated through TikTok's existing targeting.

When TikTok launched Custom Pulse, Genesis saw the chance to test a new solution to align with "Luxury Disruptors" for their MY26 GV70 campaign. Their goal was to increase awareness and consideration among high-value audiences through adjacency to premium luxury content on TikTok.

The solution

Harnessing Custom Pulse to engage Luxury Disruptors

To meet Genesis's challenge, TikTok proposed a Custom Pulse lineup, built around luxury content adjacencies tailored to its Luxury Disruptor audience. This provided targeting precision unavailable in other Pulse offerings, while ensuring ads ran alongside content that resonated with luxury-oriented users.

The campaign ran May through June under the Reach & Frequency buying type. Genesis used existing creative assets—cut-down TV spots—that performed strongly thanks to adjacency with relevant luxury content.

Key elements of the activation:

• Ad Solution: Custom Pulse, aligning Genesis with curated luxury content lineups.

• Measurement Solution: TikTok 1P Brand Lift Study

• Message: Highlighting the GV70 SUV and the brand's "No Old Thinking" design innovation.

• Audience: Luxury-interested users aged 25+, a proxy for high spending power.

• Creative: Short-form adaptations of TV ads, optimized by running against luxury adjacencies.

Genesis committed to Custom Pulse content for its next GV80 campaign, adding a Family + Parenting layer to reach luxury family buyers.

The results

Outperforming benchmarks and building brand momentum

According to TikTok internal performance data, the campaign surpassed expectations. It delivered over 12 million impressions across all assets and achieved a 98.94% increase in 2-second view-through rate compared to TikTok Pulse benchmarks, indicating strong early engagement.

The "No Old Ideas" asset recorded the longest average playtime at 3.08 seconds, while the "Headlights vs Bulbs" creative delivered a 53.02% 2-second view-through rate—more than double the benchmark.

Brand Lift Study results confirmed the campaign's impact. Ad Recall increased by 4 points, supported by strong brand cues and adjacency to premium content. Awareness rose by 4.1 points, showing that the "No Old Thinking" message resonated with the audience.

Beyond numbers, Genesis learned they could successfully tap TikTok’s luxury audience through curated content adjacencies.