TikTok Ad Awards 2025: GCC’s Most Creative Campaigns Celebrated
TikTok hosted the TikTok Ad Awards 2025 at KAFD Conference Center in Riyadh on January 22, 2026, bringing together brands, agencies, and creators from across the METAP region including UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to celebrate the year’s most creative and effective campaigns on the platform. The awards recognized how brands that leverage TikTok and its on-platform tools can tap into cultural moments, build deeper community connections, and deliver measurable business impact.
The G.O.A.T. Award: KFC Arabia’s “Om Bdr – 12th Ingredient” Wins Top Honor
KFC Arabia’s “Om Bdr – 12th Ingredient” campaign, created in partnership with TBWA\RAAD, claimed the highest accolade at the TikTok Ad Awards 2025. The campaign brilliantly transformed food rituals into shareable, platform-native moments that resonated deeply with TikTok audiences. By leaning into local humor, taste experimentation, and remix-friendly creative formats, KFC encouraged users to reinterpret what makes the brand distinctive. The campaign’s success came from trend-based creative execution, lively sound cues, and participation-driven content that amplified community engagement while delivering measurable performance outcomes rooted in authentic TikTok behavior.
“The Ad Awards winners of this year show what’s possible when brands embrace TikTok not just as a media platform, but as a creative canvas. From community-powered storytelling to performance-driven creativity, these campaigns created culture, inspired joy, and delivered meaningful business impact across the region and beyond.”
Shadi Kandil, General Manager, Global Business Solutions, Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Central and South Asia, TikTok
Outstanding TikTok Ad Awards 2025 Winners Across Multiple Categories
The TikTok Ad Awards 2025 recognized excellence across numerous categories. In the Big Branding Energy category, du’s “The Unstoppable Network” campaign earned silver for its innovative 30-hour livestream that broke the Guinness World Record for longest promoted livestream, showcasing 5G network reliability across all seven Emirates. Experience Abu Dhabi’s “Team Chris vs. Team Elsa: The Travel Debate That Broke TikTok” won gold in the Goal Digger category, leveraging celebrity personalities to drive engagement and destination interest through debate-led narratives.
The Community Core category celebrated campaigns that strengthened brand connections through community-led storytelling. Lux’s “My Like First!” campaign won gold by encouraging women to validate themselves first, transforming the meaning of social media engagement into empowerment. The Sound On, Please category recognized campaigns where audio was central to storytelling, with Bugles’ “How I Crunch It” and KFC Arabia’s “Nuggets – Nugg it. Dip it. Crunch it.” both earning bronze for their memorable sonic identities.
Innovation and Cultural Impact at TikTok Ad Awards 2025
Beyond traditional award categories, the TikTok Ad Awards 2025 honored brands demonstrating exceptional innovation and cultural relevance. Mobily and Starbucks received recognition for consistent innovation built natively within TikTok’s creative language. STC’s campaign with Laverne transcended advertising to become part of wider culture on the platform, earning the Best of Cultural Impact award. Pizza Hut’s “Pay With Your Trend” campaign exemplified smart production with maximum creative impact, allowing customers to redeem meals by creating TikTok content using trending formats.
The awards also celebrated brands successfully transitioning from traditional to TikTok-first approaches. Almarai’s Al Matar campaign demonstrated successful brand transformation, while Samsung’s creator collaborations with Nice One showcased organic, native storytelling. Riyadh Air’s campaign earned recognition for visionary marketing that anticipates audience preferences and leads with future-facing TikTok creativity. These TikTok Ad Awards 2025 winners collectively demonstrate how authentic, platform-native creativity drives both cultural relevance and measurable business results in the competitive digital landscape.
