LOVOO

TikTok Opens Creative Center and Tools for Advertisers

TikTok has expanded its advertiser-facing toolkit, notably with the desktop-accessible Creative Center launched in December. The Creative Center includes Trend Discovery (showing trending hashtags, songs and creators with time windows up to 120 days), a Top Ads Dashboard (filterable by country, industry and campaign goals) and an Audio Library of business‑cleared sounds. TikTok previously introduced Business Accounts (Oct 2020), a Business Creative Hub (Apr 2021) and the Creator Marketplace (Sep 2021). The article notes TikTok’s high user engagement (Data.ai: ~19.5 hours/month globally, ~26 hours/month in the US) and observes which ad categories appear to convert well on the platform — financial products, beauty/health items and certain startups — while also highlighting copyright limitations for business accounts that restrict access to trending sounds.

Fastic Founder Ben Bak on App Growth and Origins

Benjamin (Ben) Bak, serial entrepreneur and founder of the fasting app Fastic, discusses his personal motivation, product development and growth in an OMR podcast. Bak founded Fastic after a prolonged fasting retreat and built an initial prototype quickly; the app now reports over ten million downloads, is available in six languages and accumulates more than 240,000 App Store and Google Play reviews. Fastic employs about 35 people, uses a freemium/subscription model for monetization, and acquires users both organically and via paid ads on platforms such as Facebook and Google. Bak highlights the US as Fastic’s largest market and names business angels including trivago founder Rolf Schrömgens, Tier founder Lawrence Leuschner, investor Jan Beckers and Runtastic founder Florian Gschwandtner as backers. The episode also revisits Bak’s earlier exit from dating app Lovoo (sold to Meet Group for ~€58M) and his 2016 temporary detention during an investigation that was later dropped.

How Brands Profit from Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories reach about 500 million daily users, offering brands a near real-time channel to capture attention. The format is highly immediate, but about 75% of stories are not watched to completion, with videos typically outperforming static images. To succeed, brands should publish regularly with clear messages, strong visuals, and timely execution, and use interactive features like polls to boost engagement, as demonstrated by Dunkin’ Donuts. Larger brands leverage story frames and paid Story Ads, while smaller profiles can still run Story Ads via the Facebook Business Manager, with external links available after reaching 10,000 followers. Case studies include Lovoo cutting cost per app install by 29% and CPM by 31% through Story Ads. Other examples highlight leveraging influencer partnerships (e.g., Lidl’s #LidlStudio!) to drive engagement. Overall, consistent storytelling, clear objectives, and cross-channel synergy appear essential for maximizing Story-driven marketing impact.