Passion and Consistency Have Kept us Going– Expoze Nigeria Boss
AdemolaAdetona studied Animal Science at the LadokeAkintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State. Today, he is the creative director of EXPOZE Nigeria, a company which claims to be Africa’s first Social Media Agency. The seeming dichotomy between what he studied and what he is passionately into is bridged by the fact that beyond academic pursuits, even as a student, he had always had an eye for trends and taking advantage of them, as he disclosed to this magazine. The company which he and some friends floated in 2008 is growing steadily and waxing stronger by the day. Demola, as he is simply called, was on hand at the recently held MARKETING EDGE Brands and Advertising Excellence Awards putting his company’s competences at the disposal of the organizers and the attendees. Indeed, the company lived up to its claim which it puts in these words: “As the world has become a global village, we are here to keep you in the digital circus”. In a brief chat with the magazine, he spoke on his company and its services.
Tell us about your business and the gap you intended to fill when you established the business?
Because we are a social media agency, online presence had always been our strength, hence our intention was to change the narrative; we wanted to increase revenue and enhance brands’ growth through social media; we wanted to be able to gate-keep and funnel the communications between brands and their consumers. Now, fast forward to 2017, the budget for digital is now competing with TV; Social Media is now a job description, yes we are winning; people are now using social media to drive change, dreams are coming on social media and the list goes on.
From your understanding of the market, what are the challenges confronting the business?
At first, people were not proud to call themselves Social Media Marketers, then came the term Influencers, Strategists and all sorts, now the business of social media is here to stay. Secondly, finding the right content for your audience is a major challenge; nowadays a 50-year old now behaves like a youth on the cyber space.
What is your assessment of the business in Nigeria?
The business of digital is still emerging. Before, the budget assigned to digital used to be minimal, but now digital insertion is competing with orthodox advertising. It is becoming the in-thing in Nigeria right now, the average Nigerian brand wants to be on the digital space and their voices well resonating.
Many start-ups are finding it difficult to cope with the current economic situations. What strategies would you recommend to increase their sales and stay ahead of competition?
Start-ups should be consistent; nowadays start-ups want to break the internet with little or zero budget, leaving out the power of email and influencer marketing.
By the way, what spurred your interest in Influencer marketing and how did you prepare for a career in this field?
Before the internet became the vogue, I had always had an eye for trends and taking advantage of them. I started with a magazine back in my university days; while the magazine business was booming, I had SMEs which I consulted for. I kept on pushing and doing what I love.
What were the challenges you faced at the start of your career and how did you deal with them?
Divided attention; because I was keeping up with the business and academics my grades were average, but I was able to balance both without letting one suffer for the other. Luckily for me, my family members were supportive; my brother donated a camera, my sister assisted with picking the brand name EXPOZE, my mum, too, assisted me very much. Finance was also a major problem. We needed to buy some work tools while starting for which we were not so financially strong. Lastly was location barrier as most of the interviews we needed to run were in Lagos whereas we were schooling in Ogbomoso which is quite a distance from Lagos.
What’s your clients portfolio like?
Our clients include but are not limited to: Samsung Mobile Nigeria, Fidelity, MTN Nigeria, Lenovo Africa, Microsoft Nigeria, Wema Bank, OLX Nigeria, Ford Africa, Google Nigeria, CloseUp, Coca-Cola Nigeria, MultiChoice, etc.
What would you say are the factors that have kept you going despite various challenges?
I will say that consistency and passion have kept us going. We didn’t go in for the money at first. It was gradual; we did a lot of free jobs after which the recognitions came knocking the moment we put a face to the brand.
What are your future plans and projections?
A media school; for this all the skeletal structures are already in place.
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