The brand endorsements and partnerships that Hilda Baci has been getting before, during and after her longest cooking marathon that broke the Guinness World Record are testaments that social media technology offers a new way of modern and powerful marketing strategy due to its interactivity, popularity and audience reach. The media mileage that the cook-a-thon gave her has also laid for her a solid foundation for brand building.

It would be recalled that Chef Baci, an Akwa Ibom born lady, recently displaced the current world record holder, Lata Tondon, an Indian chef who achieved the feat in 2019 with 87 hours 45 minutes record uninterrupted cooking. She was also the winner of the maiden edition of the Jollof Face-off Competition in 2021, pocketing a grand prize of $5000.

Following Chef Baci’s victory, a Media performance audit was conducted by a Media Intelligence Consultancy firm, P+ Measurement Services. The audit critically examined and revealed the media sentiment, media reach, media share by countries, and sponsorships of Hilda Baci’s Cook-a-thon.

According to the analysis, the positive sentiment garnered 85 percent, which can be leveraged by Hilda Baci to build brand loyalty and increase engagement with her audience; while the negative sentiment of 15 percent suggests that any issues or concerns raised during the event were addressed promptly and effectively.

The analysis of media share by country highlights the top five countries with the highest earned media coverage of Hilda Baci. 67 percent of the media coverage emanates from Nigeria, followed by the USA with 15 percent, the United Kingdom with 4 percent, Ghana with 3 percent, and Canada with one percent. The remaining countries had a relatively lower media share, indicating varying degrees of interest and coverage.

Amore Gardens, the top sponsor, received 18 percent of the media attention, followed by Uber with 14 percent, Baige Wallet in third with 13 percent, and Arla and Woodscope in lower positions with 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

In her words: “It is one of my biggest aspirations and I am glad that I took the bold step to embark on this adventure. I have taken time to prepare for this psychologically and I am proud to finally take on this challenge.”

“The cook-a-thon is also an opportunity to tell some of the positive stories that come from Africa through the meals that we make. This attempt is also proof of the strength young people can exhibit with the right platform and support. I look forward to receiving support from people across the world to achieve this feat,” she added.

Hilda Baci has partnered with Slum2school and Festus Fajemilo Foundation, two non-governmental organizations in a bid to bring disadvantaged children to the event and inspire them to pursue their dreams.

Baci cook-a-thon was sponsored by some notable brands in Nigeria such as Arla Foods, manufacturer of Dano Milk, with product support, Uber, which offered 40% discounted rides to attendees of the event. Other sponsors of the cook-a-thon are GB Food’s Gino tomatoes paste, Ginomax and Bama; Woodscope, Vendease, AfriGlobal, CWAY, Filmhouse, ORIKI, Power Oil, La Casera, Airtel, L’eola Hotel and others.

Other big brands in Nigeria have also taken to social media to show their solidarity with various congratulatory messages, including promises to shower her with more gifts. Some of the brands include BUA, AXA Mansard and Vesti App, a financial service company.

Even though Guinness World Record is yet to certify Chef Baci as the new record breaker because “they need to review all evidence first before officially confirming a record”, that hasn’t stopped businesses from showing support or leveraging Baci’s new success story to promote their brands.