We’ve been tracking the possible TikTok ban in the United States since early January, and the most recent update regarding this topic is that the measure is being analyzed in the plenary of the House and the US Senate to determine what the next chapters will be. 

In the meanwhile, life seems to happen normally within TikTok, and this whole ban situation in the United States did not hold them from releasing new features for their users. On March 27, the Company released the Effect House Branded Effects – a new solution that allows brands to work directly with TikTok effect creators to produce custom Branded Effects. 

According to their statement, this release aims to “empower innovative storytelling and expand creative possibilities for brands on TikTok.” But, how will the Effect House Branded Effects work, and what does this mean for brands moving forward? Let’s dive a little deeper into this in this article. 

What is TikTok’s “Effect House Branded Effects”? 

It all started on April 2022, when TikTok launched the Effect House beta, a platform that allows anyone to build Community Effects for TikTok. At that time, the focus was on building a community of effect creators and allowing them to explore their creativity. 

Going a step further, the “Effect House Branded Effects” is an extension of this existing Effect House, but now focusing on bringing brands to the game, too. So, in other words, “Effect House Branded Effects” is a long name to say that brands will be allowed to work directly with TikTok effect creators to produce custom Branded Effects, highly customized with branded elements and possibilities for CTAs (call-to-actions), custom audience targeting, and campaigns. 

And the “creativity” speech reminds me of the same as before. The Effect House is a place to explore creativity and build cool things for TikTok’s audience, and now the idea is to bring brands to this environment, like a two-way street: TikTok has the effect the creators community has already built, and brands have the work demand they need. 

But, you may be wondering how it will work, or even what the possibilities with the Effect House are. Well, the news looks promising: the platform offers tools to develop AR effects from scratch for the ones with brand-new ideas, but it also has a library of existing templates for the ones who need a drop of inspiration before starting a new project.

It’s tough to overstate how much this opens up for marketers who spend more time behind spreadsheets than in front of a lens. There’s a pretty wide spectrum—from interactive games to subtle branded overlays—that can pop up in feeds and, honestly, mess with people’s expectations in a way most pre-roll ads can only dream of. It’s not hard to imagine a coffee brand letting you digitally “stamp” your morning mug, or a shoe company dropping a mini-game on your screen.

There’s a little bit of theater here, obviously, because TikTok wants brands all-in while skepticism’s running higher in 2025 than it was even two years ago. Still, if you’re a small-to-midsize brand and feeling boxed out by the high production bar, these tools might finally give you something that feels approachable—or at least a way to hitch a ride on some creative bandwagon instead of watching from the curb. The pace of feature releases, even with political winds blowing, suggests TikTok is trying to signal stability, or at least enough momentum that marketers hesitate to step away.

And the possibilities are many, such as Segmentation, Face Masks, Head Tracker, Face Stretch, 3D Faces, different textures, materials, lighting, shadows, and more. The sky (or at least creativity) seems to be the limit on this platform. 

And what can you – as a marketer – expect from Effect House Branded Effects moving forward? 

We can not deny that the whole ban situation in the United States caused a buzz in TikTok land. It is still a critical moment for the company since a growing number of brands are hesitant to experiment with ads on the platform. 

Could the Effect House Branded Effects be an attempt to circumvent this scenario and try to make TikTok even more attractive to brands? Well, I believe that this option is quite possible. But, regardless of the reasons behind this announcement, it’s very clear that TikTok just opened a door full of possibilities for brands. 

A study from Neuro-Insight shows that brands on TikTok see higher engagement and receptiveness to brand messaging and call-to-actions. Thus, TikTok is already a great environment for brands. In addition to that, another study says that 79% of users agree that TikTok is a place to demonstrate their personality and express themselves, reinforcing the demand for creativity that we mentioned earlier – which Effect House aims to promote. 

But, developing custom effects and exploring creativity in depth is not for everyone – this demands a qualified team, dedicated to doing so, and not all companies have the capacity to make this kind of investment.

Now, with the Effect House Branded Effects, this job can be outsourced to qualified people who already work with it daily. To try it out, TikTok is redirecting people to fill out an interest form. Will you give it a try?