To celebrate Latinx Heritage Month, which took place from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, TikTok partnered with Eventique to create an inclusive and informative virtual space for the social media platform’s Latinx creators.
Inside “Familia Latina,” the creators could connect with each other and learn insights and best practices from the app’s employees, as well as catch a chat with George Lopez and watch a performance by Becky G. For each session, the virtual guests gathered in a different area of the “house,” such as the fire pit, kitchen, or pool.
“As we're spending the majority of our time at home, we wanted to create a virtual ‘home away from home’ as a bit of an escape, and ultimately landed on an oceanfront villa with accents inspired by some of our favorite boutique hotels,” explained Eric Wielander, Eventique’s general manager and director of strategy and communications.
He added that "creating a 3D environment of a home also made a lot of sense due to the overarching theme of the Latinx creators being a family, so we gave this family a sprawling home to interact in and be themselves."
The event followed a set schedule of programming throughout the day that included breaks and time for networking. “We were mindful that the creators were split between the East Coast and West Coast, so we landed on a time where the daylong programming was commencing and ending at a decent hour for everyone,” Wielander said. He added that the sessions’ formats, themes, and topics were spaced out to avoid back-to-back programming that was similar.
The creators also received branded merch boxes that included snacks from Central and South America, a blender with ingredients to make a dulce de leche frappe, a custom-designed coloring book with a branded pencil case, a "Familia Latina" tapestry and sweatshirt, and beverages provided by Once Upon a Coconut.
"We made a concerted effort to minimize conventional swag pieces, and aimed to either make the merch box elements in direct correlation with the programming or give the creators something fun, purposeful, and relatable to Latinx culture," Wielander explained.
See more from inside TikTok's "Familia Latina" event.