Submitted by Billion Dollar BoyAgency IPI Score 83/100

Pass the Sunshine

Influencer Marketing

Billion Dollar Boy helped Lipton Ice Tea reach 100% of 18-35 year old Australians on TikTok via a creator-passed sunshine anthem, driving 40M impressions and a reported 15% sales lift.

£1.93cpm
11creators
40Mimpressions
9Mtotal views
68Khashtag views
14content pieces

About the campaign

Lipton Ice Tea, the number-one ice tea brand globally with more than 60 years of heritage, was failing to connect with Gen Z in Australia through traditional advertising, and it needed cultural relevance on TikTok as part of a broader ambition to become a global top-five beverages brand. Billion Dollar Boy built the 2023 campaign around a device with participation baked in: Pass the Sunshine, a bespoke sunshine anthem written and performed by Australian comedic music creator Matt Storer, which a curated Sunshine Squad of 11 creators passed between one another through duets, remixes and original posts, each expression locally relevant but connected by the same sound.

In total the squad produced 14 pieces of content, while a large-scale digital out-of-home billboard experience in Melbourne extended the idea beyond the phone screen. The media plan was test-then-scale: a small TikTok Reach Objective test drove two million impressions before Spark Ads amplified the proven creator content, optimised for video views, helping hold the CPM to a reported £1.93 with a 23.9 percent view-through rate.

The campaign reports reaching 100 percent of 18 to 35 year old Australians active on TikTok, 40 million impressions, 9.2 million views and a contribution to a 15 percent sales increase during the period, and it won Best Food & Drink Campaign at the Global Influencer Marketing Awards.

Case in 60 seconds

Lipton Ice Tea, the number-one ice tea brand globally with more than 60 years in business, was failing to connect with Gen Z in Australia through traditional advertising and needed to become culturally relevant on TikTok as part of a broader goal to become a global top-five beverages brand.

Gen Z engages with content that feels native to the platform and to their communities; a repeatable, ownable audio device can travel across creators and formats while staying authentic, as Billion Dollar Boy's TikTok case study outlines.

Pass the Sunshine — a bespoke sunshine anthem written and performed by Australian comedic music creator Matt Storer that a curated Sunshine Squad of 11 Australian creators could pass between one another, each building locally relevant content connected by the same sound.

Eleven creators produced 14 pieces of content — duets, remixes and original posts on their own channels — while a large-scale digital OOH billboard experience in Melbourne extended the idea beyond the phone screen. Paid distribution started with a small TikTok Reach Objective test that drove two million impressions, then scaled via Spark Ads after optimising for video views.

The campaign reached 100% of 18-35 year old Australians active on TikTok, generated 40 million impressions and 9.2 million views at a CPM of £1.93, and contributed to a reported 15% sales increase during the campaign period. It won Best Food & Drink Campaign at the Global Influencer Marketing Awards.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Gen Z Australians aged 18-35 active on TikTok were the primary audience. Lipton had been active on TikTok via @liptonicetea for around 16 months before the campaign but traditional advertising was not breaking through with this group.
A 60-year-old global brand carries category heritage but risks feeling out of step on a platform where Gen Z gravitates toward content that feels created for and by people like them. Branded content that looks like advertising is ignored; content that participates in platform culture is shared.
Non-alcoholic beverages compete heavily for social attention. Lipton's stated goal was to become the most talked-about non-alcoholic beverage brand on TikTok in Australia, within a broader ambition to reach a global top-five beverages position.
Lipton acted as curator and enabler rather than broadcaster, assembling a Sunshine Squad of creators and commissioning the central anthem, then allowing creators to express it in their own voice. Digiday's reporting frames this as part of a wider shift toward using local creators as on-the-ground social teams rather than building large in-house departments.
A shared audio asset lowers the participation threshold for creators and viewers alike. TikTok's duet and remix mechanics mean a single piece of music can generate a chain of derivative content while each piece stays native to its creator's community, as evidenced by the 14 content pieces built from a single anthem.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Bespoke sunshine anthem written and performed by Matt Storer (TikTok for Business)
  • 14 pieces of creator content across 11 creators' TikTok channels (Vendry)
  • Brand TikTok channel (@liptonicetea) (TikTok for Business)
  • Digital out-of-home billboard experience in Melbourne, described as Australia's biggest (Vendry)
  • TikTok Spark Ads for paid amplification (TikTok for Business)
  • TikTok Reach Objective for initial paid test (TikTok for Business)

Partners

  • Billion Dollar Boy (lead agency) (Hello Partner)
  • Matt Storer (lead creator / anthem composer and performer) (Vendry)
  • Sunshine Squad — 11 Australian TikTok creators (names not individually disclosed in sources) (Vendry)

Participation mechanic

  • Creators posted duets and remixes using the bespoke anthem on their own channels (Vendry)
  • Viewers invited to participate via the branded hashtag (Vendry)
  • Creators showcased their own versions of joy, passing a moment of sunshine to their community (Vendry)

Creator role

  • Matt Storer: original anthem creation and lead creative performance (TikTok for Business)
  • Sunshine Squad (10 additional creators): locally relevant content production and community distribution via duets/remixes (Vendry)
  • Creators also featured in the Melbourne digital OOH activation (Vendry)

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Total impressions40 millionReachAgency reported
Total video views9.2 millionEngagementAgency reported
Branded hashtag views68,000EngagementAgency reported
Target audience reached100% of 18-35 year old Australians active on TikTokReachAgency reported
CPM£1.93EfficiencyAgency reported
View-through rate23.9%EngagementAgency reported
Initial Reach Objective test impressions2 millionReachAgency reported
Sales increase (campaign period)+15%CommercialAgency reported

Awards & Recognition

Award showYearCategoryResultSource
Global Influencer Marketing AwardsPost-2023Best Food & Drink CampaignWinner—
Global Influencer Marketing Awards2025Creator Collaboration of the YearWinner—

Why Billion Dollar Boy's strategy worked

  1. 1

    A single bespoke audio asset gave every creator a shared device while allowing individually native execution. The anthem by Matt Storer functioned as both a brand signal and a TikTok participation prompt, making duets and remixes a natural next step rather than a forced mechanic.

  2. 2

    Starting paid distribution with a low-cost TikTok Reach Objective test before scaling via Spark Ads let the team identify what was working at minimal cost, which appears to have contributed to the reported £1.93 CPM.

  3. 3

    Combining TikTok with a large-scale digital OOH moment in Melbourne gave the campaign a physical anchor that reinforced the online activity and provided an event for creators to participate in beyond the feed.

  4. 4

    Using 11 local creators as distributed content engines meant Lipton could pursue cultural relevance across different Australian communities without requiring a large in-house social team, a model Digiday later reported Lipton formalised more broadly.

  5. 5

    The tight brief — a single creative device, a defined squad, a clear platform — appears to have enabled fast execution despite what Content+Technology describes as tight timelines.

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