The Problem With Tiktok (And How We Solved It When Others Gave Up)

TikTok should be a goldmine for drinks brands. 3.5 billion downloads. Massive engagement. Young, enthusiastic audience.

There's just one problem - alcohol brands can’t advertise on the platform. And so most traditional drinks brands have simply... given up.

TikTok's official policy bans ‘Branded Content which promotes products or services from the following prohibited industries: Alcoholic beverages (wine, beer, spirits, etc.).'

This means no paid advertising, no branded content partnerships, no alcohol-focused brand accounts (technically) and no sponsored influencer posts. Quite reasonably, TikTok doesn't want to be seen promoting alcohol to its young user base.

Most premium drinks brands seem to have looked at these rules and said: "Well, I guess we're not doing TikTok."

Hendrick's? No meaningful presence.

Tanqueray? Basically abandoned.

Bombay Sapphire? Maybe a few posts, but nothing substantial.

The ones who did try created accounts, posted a few polished videos, got minimal traction, and quietly gave up. And even when traditional brands attempted TikTok, they made the same mistakes:

Typically, they tried to repurpose Instagram content. Polished cocktail videos don't work on TikTok. The platform rewards raw, authentic, slightly chaotic content. In any case, TikTok isn't about products. It's about personalities, entertainment, and trends.

And they stayed too on-brand (or what their marketing agency told them was ‘on brand’) but again, TikTok users can smell corporate content from a mile away. The whole ‘tone of voice guidelines approved by legal’ approach dies immediately (and deservedly).

We looked at TikTok's rules and realised that they don't ban showing alcohol. They ban selling alcohol. The rules are about commercial promotion. But if you're creating entertainment that happens to feature gin? If you're documenting a genuine journey? If people are interested in YOU, not just your product? That's a completely different thing.