On every episode of Behind the Scenes, we bring you major marketers across various sectors. They walk us through the hurdles they face in their line of work, the process behind the work, blockers, work-life balance and pretty much anything else that happens behind the scenes of their public work.
Today, Chiamaka Okwara, an audacious resident in the Nigerian marketing and creative industry spoke to us about her stints in the digital marketing industry, how she started and all the juicy details about campaigns she has worked on. She is currently the Lead Digital Creative at a high rise agency in Nigeria. This self-acclaimed Gen Z gave us premium content. You wouldn’t be wrong if you said “Well, dang!” after reading this. Not even Chicken Republic’s refuel meal is this yummy _ just kidding… Just kidding.
PS: If this interview series is not your cup of tea, that’s sad (we can’t say it’s okay). Here’s something else we think you will love:
Hello Chiamaka, could you introduce yourself.
My name is Okwara Chiamaka. It’s why people call me Amy /ami:/, short for Chiamaka. What else is there about me? Oh, I love to read. I’ve been working in the marketing space for about six years now. I’ve worked with agencies for three out of those years. Hmm, I love watching movies, sleeping, and waking up on social media. I literally live and breathe social media. Yeah, that’s me.
You’ve had stints in social media management, PR, Digital marketing, community management, Customer relationship management, content writing. How has each of these experiences helped you get to where you are right now?
I think it has made me a better person both at my craft and personally. In all of these roles, I’ve had to interact with people. For instance, working in social media means running a lot of content and having to know people better. I mean, you have to know people to share relatable content and sell to them. During my time as a customer relationship manager, I was constantly talking to people and for someone who doesn’t like calls, it put me in a “people” situation. And so, because I have worked with a lot of people and managed a number of them too, it has given me better knowledge of how to serve their needs.
On the personal end, I have become a very passionate “people” person. You can put me in any situation, and I will always know how to blend, make conversations with everybody even if we just met. I think that’s how it has helped me.
How did this journey start for you?
It started in 300 level. I was very broke, but I was also very active on social media. I can’t remember who offered it, but this person asked if I could handle their Twitter page. I did, but it was just for fun; I didn’t get paid for it even though the person kept insisting on paying.
It was while on the job that I started to learn about social media marketing, content calendars, and the need to plan stuff because then I just used to wake up and start tweeting. I learned how to categorize an audience, tone of voice, the best time to post, and all that stuff.
Basically, that’s how I started. From managing that person’s Twitter account, my interests grew to other platforms like IG and LinkedIn.
So we’ve got sapa to thank then?
Precisely…
I finished Uni, and after my NYSC service year, which was during COVID, I went to a digital marketing academy for six months. In six months, these guys taught me everything about digital marketing. Don’t forget, I already had hands-on experience with social media management.
Yeah, yeah. So how did that go for you?
It made it generally easier to relate to what I was learning. Not to mention, YouTube was my go-to. I learned SEO, in fact, how to design with Illustrator too. I didn’t just want to focus on content writing. And it paid off because my tutors noticed and they went, “You are very bright; would you love to handle our socials?”
So I started doing that, and because they are incredibly great people, when there was an opportunity to place me somewhere just like what Blurpe does with placing talents in companies that need their services. Well, yeah, that’s how I got my first job.
Where was this?
Magnet Consulting. They have this bookkeeping app for small business owners. I had the best boss, Alex. It was my first official job, even though in my head, I’ve been working since Kindergarten. I did a lot of content, social media marketing, and because it was a small tech firm, I did customer relations as well. But yeah, that’s it. That’s how it started for me.
You’ve led successful digital media initiatives with brands like Burger King, Lord’s Gin, Fair Money, Amazon Prime, this is just to name a few. Walk us through your creative process and how you go from ideas to campaigns that resonate with the target audience?
See, yeah? My creative process is very unique per brand. Why? Because I think that people are at the heart of what I do. I’ll give an instance. Burger King’s “Fired Up for Beef” campaign. When they came to Nigeria, everyone loved it. At some point, there was no beef, and this had people complaining on the streets of social media. And as a brand, we didn’t officially want to say, “Hey, we don’t have beef. We’re sorry,” right?
So I thought, you know what? Let’s do something about this. People are angry at us for not having beef. Let’s get beef and run a “Fired Up for Beef” campaign. The idea was people are angry; how about they come to Burger King with people they have beef with (are fighting with) to squash it over our beef burgers?
That was the campaign idea. I kid you not, it was beautiful to see. We had a couple of influencers like Smallie and Motara come in, but it was also a very organic process as well. So yeah, for me, as always, it is about the people. What are they saying? How would they perceive this better? How can they relate?
Amazing…
Yeah. It was also the same thing for the “Brand Love” Campaign for Chicken Republic. That one had people’s actual reviews on billboards.
Talk about centering your audience
Yesss. You get it! I mean, before then, everyone was doing the regular advertising on billboards and everything. Nobody thought to put actual people’s reviews. Something that very directly expressed brand love, brand trust, brand loyalty. I don’t even want to go into how many impressions we got online. It was crazy at that time. So yeah, the process for me is an intersection of the people and what would work for the brand. The former comes first.
What’s the most unconventional / risky campaign you’ve worked on? And please spill the tea, don’t leave any in the cup.
That would be the “Buy One, Get One Free” campaign. We looked at the economic state of the country, and we wanted to help out. Show love to people who loved us right back. So every Tuesday for a while, we set a “Buy one meal, get one free”. It was really wild because the way we launched it was to first give free food. There was a lot of love in that period. Risky, but it paid off.
Speaking about unconventional campaigns, when running campaigns like ‘Two for Tuesdays’ or ‘Buy One Get One Free,’ how do you balance creating offers that people love with ensuring profitability for the brand?
The thing is, brands like Chicken Republic are established. For Chicken Republic, they’ve been around for more than 20 years. While I may not be able to speak to profit, I can talk about the goals they wanted to achieve with comms and social media. So in the broad sense, profitability is more than currency, but that’s the end goal.
Before this year, there wasn’t so much buzz about Chicken Republic online. Today, it’s easily one of the most talked about places to grab a meal, and this goes beyond social media. Today, it is fondly loved by its customers. All of this, down the line, speaks to profit for the brand.
It takes more than grit to get to where you are, what are some of the notable steps you’ve taken to get here?
I take a lot of courses. Coursera, YouTube. I pay for courses. Even right now, I’m paying for a Meta Creative Strategy Course and a Media Buying course. The goal is to be better. Social media is evolving, and you have to evolve with it.
Another thing would be that for me, the motivation is not fame. I’m not looking for it. People know me by my work. A couple of times, people see posts by big brands and just go, “This is Chiamaka’s work” or “Chiamaka, you’re the handler.” In many ways, that’s my pride. The fact that people know that if it’s bold and audacious, it’s Chiamaka.
How do you push for an unconventional idea when people prefer sticking to tested -and-trusted methods, especially when you’re not entirely sure it’ll work but believe it has potential?
One of the things I’ve learnt to do is to make people see. Your way is better yeah? Make people see it. If you cannot defend your vision then I’m sorry but you’re just dreaming. Apart from that, put it to a test. Try it out in a small focused group or community with similar target audience or the same target audience make up. Record the responses and show management its potential.
This way, you’re not speaking empty-handed. All management wants to see is that your idea ties back to their overall goal, once you have that figured out, you’re good.
What’s your relationship with data and what metrics would you say qualifies a successful campaign or Ad effort?
This is very important and it largely depends on the goal of the campaign. The general ones would be impression, share of voice, engagement which is very important, and followership. The last one is king in this line of business.
Some people don’t care what you do as long as there is an increase in the followers count. But yeah, that’s it. Again, the metrics are largely dependent on the campaign you’re running.
Outside of pulling successful campaigns and being a residential ad girl, what does Amy do to unwind?
I sleep oh! I like to sleep. I’m also the life of the party. I’m the one you have to call so that the party will bang. I think on my TikTok profile, I have “Party girl cosplaying as a creative person” in my bio.
I like to read. I love the sight of books. I will buy books because they’re cute. Oh and movies too. Currently watching Black Mirror and it’s been pretty interesting.
Advice for non-technical talent looking to tour the same path that you have? Drop one or two
What one or two would I drop now? Okay. First, do something you love and get better at it. Be the best you can be at it, such that people have to come look for you.
Second? Build online. You’re learning? Talk about it on your social media platforms. Taking a new course? Talk about it. How you are putting it into practice. Don’t be scared to learn in the open where everyone can see you. If you make mistakes, go ahead and make it there. Learn from it.
Bonus tip? Leverage people. It’s a very lonely world out there if you don’t know people so find your community
This was so good!
I agree. It was such a pleasure!
This was an interesting read. You go, girl! I love your leaving notes, all 3, but especially the last one – Leverage people. It’s a very lonely world out there if you don’t know people, so find your community.
I understand the bonus of having people in your circle, and I agree.
Keep up the good work, and keep jamming.
Very inspiring read
Super insightful! Amy is a star, no doubt✨
This was such an interesting read! I didn’t want it to even end
This is such an interesting read. Kudos to the content writer! Well done.
Amy is my goalsss! Loved reading this
Thanks for sharing sincerely and truthfully Amy
Wow .. so this is the brain behind all these chicken republic ads