In other words: Brands that own the moment, own the market

Jason Hemingway: Welcome to In Other Words, the podcast from Phrase where we speak with industry leaders shaping the future of how businesses grow, adapt, and communicate on a global scale. I’m your host, Jason Hemingway. I’m the CMO at Phrase. And today, we’re joined by Rema Vasan, head of North American business marketing at TikTok. She’s a seasoned global marketer with over twenty years of experience driving growth for some of the biggest brands. We’ll be talking about what it takes for brands to show up in the right moments, why cultural relevance matters more than ever, and how TikTok is helping marketing teams rethink customer experience, content strategy, and global impact. Rema, welcome to the podcast. How are you?

[00:01:35] Rema Vasan: I’m good, Jason. Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

[00:01:39] Jason Hemingway: Absolute pleasure. Thank you for coming. Rema, you’ve led marketing teams at some of the most iconic brands in the world. Can you tell us a little bit about how you started out? I’m always interested to hear how marketers start their career and how you got to TikTok.

[00:01:57] Rema Vasan: I’m going to get slightly personal for a second and tell you that I knew I wanted to be a marketer at age 13. It’s a funny story: I had a huge crush on my neighbor who was a copywriter at Ogilvy. It didn’t work out — we’re still friends — but he inspired in me this notion that ideas and creativity can have a positive impact on human behavior. Even at that age, that fascinated me, and it stuck with me.

My first job was in marketing back in India, where I’m from. I’m what I’d define as a career marketer. I’ve had roles on both client and agency sides across Asia, Europe, and North America — global and local roles — spanning classical advertising, digital marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and communications, all the way to now being at a platform, and arguably one of the most influential platforms today. It’s been an incredible ride, and I’m still loving every moment of it.

[00:03:36] Jason Hemingway: Isn’t that funny? For any marketer, it’s interesting to see where they come from. Yours is a unique story — falling in love with somebody who is a copywriter. Not the usual career path, I’d imagine. But looking at your career history, you have that agency background and then moved to the client side, which is an interesting switch. It happens a lot more in B2C than B2B, I think, but it is an interesting switch. Do you think there is that difference — agency vs client side, B2C vs B2B? As a marketer, do you see a difference or the similarities?

[00:04:19] Rema Vasan: I’ve done both B2C — a lot of B2C, actually — and now my current role is B2B. I really think about it as B2H, business to human. Even in B2B, everyone’s a consumer of some kind, and everyone looks at things through a human lens. The opportunity in B2B marketing is to think from a human-centric perspective: how people behave, what motivates them, what influences them — and that’s where you see success.

[00:05:02] Jason Hemingway: I think you’re right. And the question was slightly loaded because if you’ve got classical marketing training — and you did it agency side and then client side — the principles are the same. As a profession, we don’t always talk enough about the principles and the training. I’m a big proponent of being trained and keeping on learning, especially when technology is shifting so quickly. TikTok is a prime example: it has grown very quickly and moved into the public psyche and now into the business psyche. Tell us a little about your journey — where you started at TikTok and what you’ve seen happen. It’s a phenomenon. I was looking at some of the numbers of users — is it 2,300,000,000 globally or something along those lines?

[00:05:58] Rema Vasan: It’s over a billion globally, around 70 million in the United States, and over 7 million small businesses. The impact is undeniable.

I’ve been at TikTok for over three years. We move fast because we’re motivated to serve our clients, consumers, creators, and the industry at large — thinking about how the evolution is happening and how we stay ahead to meet those needs. My role has evolved significantly: I joined in a North America role, then took on a global role leading gaming, and now I’m back in a North America role. The company and platform evolve so much because we see ourselves as moving at the speed of culture — and culture doesn’t take a day off. Internally we call it an “always day one” mindset. It feels like every day is day one — constantly learning, innovating, and growing to meet client, user, and creator needs in the best possible way.

[00:07:32] Jason Hemingway: Interesting. “Always day one” — that’s a very good concept. You do a lot of research. I saw that you have a complete marketing science team that keeps you abreast of trends. One of the interesting things you’ve done over the past few years is the What’s Next Trend Report — 2025, 2024, and 2023 as well. What kind of things does that discipline of a marketing science team reveal? What is it telling you today? Has it evolved?

[00:08:09] Rema Vasan: This year’s theme — and you’re right, we’ve done it over multiple years — changes based on what we see through deep qualitative and quantitative analysis of behavior on the platform. The macro theme for this year is what we’re calling “brand chemistry,” or BrandChem.

[00:08:37] Rema Vasan: The idea is that the era of marketing as simply driving consumer wants and needs is over. It’s more about listening, adapting, and transforming. In this new era, marketers and brands need to listen to their communities to build brands and even evolve products based on what resonates and drives impact.

We say this a lot: the comment section is the ultimate focus-group gold mine. Many brands have adapted not just their marketing and advertising but also product strategy based on insights they hear there. BrandChem reframes metrics and engagement — it’s about tapping into culture and fostering meaningful connections between brands, creators, and communities.

[00:09:38] Jason Hemingway: How do people build those connections? What should brands look out for? I think you have this idea of cultural moments. Can you explain that for listeners?

[00:09:55] Rema Vasan: We think about not just moments, but how to turn moments into momentum. If we step back: culture on TikTok happens every single day. When brands show up — not just to advertise and monetize, but to genuinely engage — they naturally become part of the cultural conversation, which drives business impact. The real value is showing up consistently, not just during big tent-pole moments like the big game, award season, or Mother’s Day, but all the time, because culture doesn’t take a day off.

According to a study by WARC, 64% of TikTok users say the content is culturally relevant. People come to the platform to understand what’s happening with moments, to get informed, and to decide what to buy around moments. If I had to break it down simply: show up consistently, engage with the community, and do it through video, comments, and our product solutions.

[00:11:34] Jason Hemingway: Customer engagement is built over time. It’s a consistent presence where you build trust. That’s about showing up wherever customers interact with you. On TikTok, that’s very important. You have a massively global user base. One example in your trends report is Vietjet — it’s very current, using AI avatars and multilingual messaging. One of the core things we do at Phrase is multilingual content and how brands manage and generate it. What does that example say about brands being relevant in a global context? In the West, we often think about personalization in English. How do you show up regularly in those moments in a multilingual fashion? Any thoughts?

[00:12:48] Rema Vasan: The inherent challenge with global marketing is how to scale while staying relevant to different regions. From an execution perspective, we have tools — Symphony, our AI-based scaled creative solution — that take the work out of the work: enhancing creativity while enabling dubbing and easy language translation so marketers can imagine, execute, and scale campaigns across borders and cultures.

On bilingual examples: recent research with NRG shows the best way for brands to connect with bilingual Hispanic audiences on TikTok is through mixed-language ads using both Spanish and English. Sixty-six percent of bilingual users appreciate not just the language, but everyday cultural references — not only special occasions.

[00:14:23] Jason Hemingway: Yeah.

[00:14:24] Rema Vasan: Sixty-three percent want to see more ads with creators from their culture. So part of it is language, and part is representation — creators and cultural references. A strong example is e.l.f. Cosmetics. They stepped into the world of telenovelas on TikTok for a new campaign in Mexico — essentially “discover the e.l.f. effect,” a two-episode drama series showcasing how top products at budget-friendly prices integrate into the storytelling.

If I TL;DR it: tools like Symphony help marketers scale, and marketers should customize cultural references and creators for different audiences.

[00:16:02] Jason Hemingway: That’s a fantastic answer. It’s not superficial — you have to really consider the audience, which is classic marketing: you are not the customer. Always put yourself in their shoes. We’re probably mid-show, and we have a segment called “Inbox Confession.” Same question for every guest: what’s the one thing you wish you could automate to make your workday easier?

[00:16:40] Rema Vasan: My calendar. I’m always playing calendar Tetris. An automated calendar that somehow knew changing priorities and could switch meetings accordingly would be incredible. If it could stretch time, even better.

[00:17:05] Jason Hemingway: It’s surprising how many marketers go down the calendar route — then ask, “Can you clone me?” Another one of me to help decide. I’m not going to argue — you’re spot on. Let’s talk more about TikTok as a content-first platform.

[00:17:24] Rema Vasan:

[00:17:24] Jason Hemingway: How do you strike the balance between planned campaigns and reactive real-time content? I can see it for big brands with lots of marketers. But you also mentioned SMBs. How do they balance planned vs reactive?

[00:17:49] Rema Vasan: Be always-on. With an always-on connection to creators and communities, you can engage audiences all the time — not just in big magical moments you can tap reactively. We see effective branded content as additive, not disruptive, to the user experience. People spend a movie’s worth of time here because their For You page delivers. Branded content should build on that and align with what communities want to learn more about — and it must be authentic to the brand.

It’s about marrying brand interests with community interests through brilliant storytelling. Whether you’re an SMB or a large brand, the principle applies: stay true to who you are and engage consistently, not only during big moments. An example: Nutter Butter — a legacy brand.

[00:19:20] Jason Hemingway: I know.

[00:19:22] Rema Vasan: If you haven’t checked out Nutter Butter’s TikTok, please do — it’s wild.

[00:19:29] Jason Hemingway: It’s way out there.

[00:19:32] Rema Vasan: It is, but it’s a long-standing brand that was losing relevance with Gen Z. They use TikTok to write a modern mystery. Their TikTok is filled with ciphers, ominous warnings, and references to a guy called Aiden. They’ve taken storytelling to the next level, moving from niche fandom to blockbuster viewing — multiple videos have hit 10 million views or more.

[00:20:12] Jason Hemingway: They’re not a massive business. It’s interesting — they’ve gone all in on that concept. They repeat it, vary it. It’s very interesting and successful. Going back to multilingual: showing up, being relevant, building chemistry and engagement over time — across different cultures and languages. Do you need multilingual content as a must-have for relevance and reach? You mentioned mixing languages for certain audiences in North America. Globally, and given your global roles, is multilingual a must-have?

[00:21:17] Rema Vasan: Not in every instance — it depends on the brand, objective, and audiences. We build solutions like Symphony to make it easy. Based on the audience, is multilingual critical? In many instances, yes. Is local customization — creators, references, cultural moments — critical? It varies by brand and goals.

[00:22:03] Jason Hemingway: And also size. Some of it can be prohibitively difficult, though technology is evolving quickly, creating more opportunities. You’re right — always start with the audience. Let’s shift to measurement.

[00:22:30] Rema Vasan:

[00:22:31] Jason Hemingway: What does good content mean, and how do you track success on TikTok? What tools do you have?

[00:22:40] Rema Vasan: We define success not just by engagement metrics but by brand business goals. Start with the business problems or opportunities: driving awareness of a new launch, app downloads, movie bookings, auto leads, and more. Because we start with business objectives, we develop solutions tied to them.

Double-clicking into auto: more than half of TikTok users watch reviews and discover new vehicles on TikTok, so it’s emerging as a place where critical automotive purchasing decisions happen. On the brand side, companies like Mercedes use TikTok’s advertising capabilities to drive strong results — e.g., increases in brand favorability and click-to-conversion rate. Seeing this, we launched our Auto Ads product. Nissan tapped into it and achieved their best-ever TikTok performance promoting the Pathfinder SUV — so strong they made Auto Ads a permanent part of their performance strategy.

So, success = the metrics tied to your business goals.

[00:24:52] Jason Hemingway: Interesting — the business can solve for its needs while serving customers. That’s marketing in essence. Thinking about your team and your role at TikTok: how does TikTok market itself? How do you build global campaigns and approach global marketing?

[00:25:27] Rema Vasan: We think in terms of being a full-funnel solution driving business outcomes. Not just a platform partner, but a partner that listens to client, user, and creator feedback, and develops solutions to accomplish that. That’s our North Star globally — in product development, marketing, and client conversations. We’re very receptive to client feedback. We see ourselves as building not just for clients, but with clients.

[00:26:24] Jason Hemingway: You have massive global reach and a ready-made research panel to draw from, which is amazing. What role does AI play in your marketing? It’s a massive topic for marketers. How are you using AI in your marketing team and as a leader? Obviously it’s in the platform — but how do you use it as a team?

[00:27:07] Rema Vasan: Our mission at TikTok is to inspire creativity and bring joy. There’s a lot of discussion about AI and creativity. Our philosophy is to use AI to enhance human creativity, not replace it. Our solutions reflect that.

Back to Symphony — our suite of creative AI tools — it simplifies the work behind the work: content production, enhancing briefs, unlocking new speed and scale. For example, language dubbing. Symphony Assistant acts like a creative partner: helps generate ideas, stay on top of trends, and write stronger briefs. It supports the creative journey from the beginning.

Symphony Creative Studio empowers teams to produce and refresh content tailored to TikTok’s unique style. Whether you’re a brand with a full creative team, an agency, or a lean in-house team, the studio is a great partner. Creative isn’t optional — it’s what enables meaningful brand-audience connections. AI is an enabler that removes friction, especially in global marketing, and it’s core to our product innovation moving forward.

[00:29:22] Jason Hemingway: I think in a platform like yours it has to be a core component. Zeroing in on TikTok’s marketing: how big is the marketing team? I imagine it’s huge.

[00:29:41] Rema Vasan: Without specifics — it’s less about size and more about being fit for what local markets and regions need.

[00:29:55] Jason Hemingway: And those teams — you have local marketing teams around the world. How is that managed effectively? Is it dispersed in management or centralized? How does it work?

[00:30:29] Rema Vasan: We have regional marketing teams. Each region has its nuances, so we operate through a regional lens while maintaining an overarching global vision and mission as our North Star.

[00:30:48] Jason Hemingway: I imagine local teams build global campaigns with global teams, or localize global campaigns. It’s a diverse environment to manage. From a leadership perspective, what’s needed to keep the regions moving in the same direction?

[00:31:15] Rema Vasan: Staying agile and evolving as client needs and the industry evolve. My manager, Sofia Hernandez, is the global business marketing leader. We talk a lot about agility and evolution, and ensuring teams have context on the vision and how we’re evolving to address it.

[00:31:55] Jason Hemingway: Keeping people aligned to the vision is critical. How do you create space for teams to be honest, learn, and learn from things that don’t go right?

[00:32:10] Rema Vasan: Things don’t go right all the time. Having permission to be vulnerable as a leader matters — acknowledging what I’ve learned when things didn’t go right and having honest conversations about those learnings. Give people permission to fail; that’s how you learn. Maintain a test-and-learn mindset, be clear about parameters — where to take risks and where not to — and let people lean into that. Ultimately, it’s about vulnerability as a leader.

[00:33:04] Jason Hemingway: Have you got an example where you shifted to a different approach — more agile, more proactive — and how did that impact the team and strategy?

[00:33:18] Rema Vasan: Across my career, the toughest part is change management. People don’t naturally love change. But when you build a culture that embraces change rather than shies away, it can be magical. Keeping people motivated through change requires context — why the change is happening, for what business purpose, and to what end.

[00:34:10] Jason Hemingway: Context and transparency are key. As we come to the end, if you could leave the audience with one mindset shift around cultural moments and global growth, what would it be?

[00:34:39] Rema Vasan: Communities are revolutionizing how moments are created and consumed, and that’s manifesting on TikTok. This transformation gives brands the opportunity to harness always-on engagement with real-time amplification that creates lasting business impact around culture-defining content unfolding every day on TikTok. People often think of moments as the big ones, but the truth is moments happen all the time.

[00:35:23] Jason Hemingway: That’s true.

[00:35:29] Rema Vasan: It’s everything from National Puppy Day to the big game, awards, or the Met Gala. Reframe what “moments” are, and think about how to harness them. We’re developing solutions to help — like Pulse Premier, which aligns top content with major tent-pole moments, and new sponsorship packages that put advertisers at the heart of cultural moments like Formula One and the Grand Prix.

[00:36:21] Jason Hemingway: Even “moments” are fluid — a stream of moments. Quick fire to finish. Describe global growth in one word.

[00:36:41] Rema Vasan: Dynamic.

[00:36:42] Jason Hemingway: Nice. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career?

[00:36:46] Rema Vasan: Being a lifelong learner.

[00:36:49] Jason Hemingway: Nice. Who should we speak to next?

[00:36:54] Rema Vasan: Jules LeBlanc. She’s an incredible creator on the platform. I know that’s unexpected, but creators like Jules — she coined “very demure, very mindful,” which took over modern parlance — are not just amazing at creativity, content, and community building; they’re incredible marketers. They’re small businesses unto themselves, and Jules is a great example.

[00:37:39] Jason Hemingway: Thank you — we’ll try to get in touch with Jules if we can. Rema, thanks so much. That was brilliant — interesting, honest, and very well put. Great to have you on the podcast.

[00:37:53] Rema Vasan: It was really great to be here. Thank you so much. Bye.