Boomplay's Artist Relations Manager (Nigeria), Deola Jaiyesimi: 'Most days I’m talking to managers & artists, getting a sense of their release schedules, and sharing how I can help'
You probably know a little about marketing professionals in Africa and that's not your fault. That is the gap Noticing is filling.
Welcome to the 4th edition of Noticing’s newsletter. Hope you have had a great week!
Each week, we feature a different African marketer and ask them questions about their journey. You could just learn a thing or two.
This week, we got to have a chat with 'Deola A. — Artist Relations Manager (Nigeria) at Boomplay.
Deola, who is currently Boomplay’s Artist Relations Manager in Nigeria, cut his teeth in content creation & distribution, talent management, and digital strategy at The 400 Media Company Ltd, The zone agency, and Noah’s ark communication respectively before jumping to the streaming side of the business, where he’s now privy to a whole different set of decisions governing the future of song releases, strategy rollouts, and more.
Deola's role at Boomplay is a 'marketing role' focused on crafting unique strategies for promoting artists in alignment with Boomplay's brand objectives. Before he joined Boomplay, he was at Noah's ark (Airtel's creative agency), for about 2 years working with some of Africa's most loved brands. While at Noah’s ark, he worked on Airtel's 444 TVC and other ads as a digital strategist.
Here, he spoke with Noticing about his favorite artist relationships, the starkest differences going from an advertising agency to the number one streaming platform in Africa, his predictions for the trends in music ahead, what he does on a typical day as an artist relations manager at Boomplay, how he's collaborating with up-and-coming and A-list artists to promote their songs, and everything in-between.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity & length.
Let’s kick off with you telling us what it is you do.
Currently, I am the Artist Relations Manager for Boomplay (Nigeria). This is a marketing role focused on crafting unique strategies for promoting artists in alignment with Boomplay's brand objectives. I always find ways to support artists — to help them connect with fans, get their message across, and strategically use Boomplay to do that. And most days I’m talking to managers and artists, getting a sense of their release schedules, the content they have coming, what makes them tick, and what they want to do.
Next question, what first got you interested in a marketing career?
I had been engaging in marketing related activities as far back as my 2nd year in Uni but I wasn't conscious about it. My older sister worked for a media company at the time and I would assist her with social media management, event management and a whole host of things that involved strategy and creative thinking.
Also, while in school, I was actively involved in organizing events and parties in school. Through that, I was like, “Ooh, I think this is it. This is what I’m passionate about. I think I need to try and hustle and get a job in Marketing.” Over time, I became conscious of the inner workings of the marketing world thanks to my sister.
So here we are.
Cool. How did your career journey lead you to where you are now?
Before getting into the world of advertising, I had established myself in the music scene. I had worked as a talent manager, a content distributor as well as a show promoter. I worked for The zone agency and The 400 Media Company Ltd.
In a bid to better myself and increase my value within the Nigerian music ecosystem, I took a professional marketing communications course at 02 academy, Lagos. From there I got recruited by Noah's ark communication where I spent over 2 years as a digital strategist.
So my experience in the music industry combined with my time at Noah's ark made me the perfect fit for my current role at Boomplay.
Noah's ark? I love that creative agency, I love what they’re putting out, especially what they are doing with Airtel. So tell me about some favorite piece of work you were on at Noah's ark.
Yeah Noah's Ark is an amazing agency. A great place to start a career in advertising and grow. While I was at Noah's ark, my favorite works included:
Maltina Own The Flavor Launch Campaign
Airtel 444 ad
Airtel TV launch ad
Data Is Life ads (conditioning and stew)
I loved the 444 ad. My brain usually randomly play the jingle in my head. How do creative agencies come up with something like this? You know, coming up with the idea, execution, talent choice for production, making it culturally relevant etc.
The idea for 4—4—4 started as a joke during the brainstorm session for the campaign. We had just received the brief and were having preliminary discussions on how best to approach the campaign.
We had done research which showed that jingles were the default tactic for promoting USSD numbers (think GTB 737, Zenith's 966 and the likes) to drive recall and awareness on its usage. Then we thought to ourselves, "what would a 4—4—4 jingle sound like" and then it turned into a studio session with everyone dropping different beats and lyrics.
After about 5 minutes of clowning, everyone present at the brainstorm session loved the 4—4—4 is a metaphor line of thinking and we moved from there.
To make the song, we gave our trusted production partner the necessary keywords to use, the 444 is a metaphor hook and the rest is history. Also, the release of the jingle coincided with the Bbnaija season for that year and what better platform to amplify than that?
Definitely no better platform than Bbnaija. Now let's take it further. When people hear the term “artist relations,” they may picture artists throwing temper tantrums and executives calming them down. How much is that a part of your job? And tell me what you do on a typical day as an artist relations manager.
As the number one streaming platform in Africa, Boomplay is committed to promoting African acts in unique ways and assisting them in unlocking their full potential. The music game today goes beyond just being talented.
Artists are now brands.
The same way FCMGs & telcos need to keep being in the face of their consumers and drive top of mind awareness is exactly the same way artists need to ensure that they keep their audience engaged especially when they have new music out.
My key role as an artist relations manager is to partner with artists and labels to creatively promote their content and develop unique strategies that would help them engage and connect with Boomplay's 66 million monthly active users within and outside the app. From established acts to up-and-coming talents, artists are constantly reaching out to Boomplay for support and as such my day to day involves sieving through these support requests and allocating promoting resources based on merit.
And I always try to form really close and genuine relationships with artists. There could be times when somebody is freaking out — maybe there’s an issue with their channel or maybe they’re concerned about how a piece of content is performing. So there is a degree of that. But it’s not so much calming them down. It’s trying to get an understanding of what they are trying to do.
I approach an artist as a person who is trying to communicate a message and is passionate about it. I think if you can relate on that level, it’s always helpful as a starting point.
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As an artist relations manager, are there particular artists you’ve really loved working with?
There have been a few. My standouts are Joeboy, Ladipoe, Mayorkun and Tiwa Savage.
Why?
Artists in general have this bad rep of being "divas" and difficult to work with but these guys mentioned were very very easy to work with. Asides that, they are very very creative.
Any artists you wouldn't want to work with again? I won't ask you why.
Lol for professional reasons, I can't answer this question. I am sure you understand.
No issues. So what’s the best thing about your job?
Discovering new talent. I get to listen to a lot of artists and my favorite is discovering artists that have the potential to become superstars.
Another thing I love about my job is getting to listen to much anticipated content from A-list artists weeks before it's officially released.
The worst?
We literally get requests from 100s of artists. Attending to these requests can be overwhelming especially during peak periods.
What do you tell young people entering the marketing/advertising industry seeking your advice?
Consume. Consume. Consume.
Knowledge is really everything. The more exposed you are, the more flexible your thinking is and this is essential for ideation.
You need to feed your creative bank constantly.
Any advice for up-and-coming artists on driving the bottom line?
Get your roots invested in your brand and craft. At the early phase of an artist's career, it's important to grow a community that becomes evangelists of your craft. Be it faculty mates at school, neighborhood friends etc, it is important to make people a part of your journey.
Wizkid is a proud Ojuelegba boy, Olamide is a proud Bariga boy, M.I is a proud Jos boy. The affiliation with their area of upbringing is why they have very loyal fans till today.
What’s an underrated or nascent trend in the music business right now? From your perspective at a data-rich streaming company, what do you see on the horizon?
There are a number of developing trends in the industry but one I see on the horizon is project creation by non—artists.
Oraimo just released an EP, Budweiser released one a few months earlier.
Brands are starting to have an artist persona and embracing it fully. I see more brands moving toward this route.
I think that will continue.
Interesting. Please pick a random pic from your camera roll and tell me about it.
At the listening event of Mayorkun's recently released album, Boomplay made a photo-booth that brought the album theme to life.
The album is titled Back In Office and portrays Mayorkun as being presidential hence the presidential office themed photo booth.
Brilliant execution there. So how do you fill the gaps when you’re not working?
I love watching documentaries of all sorts. Sports, war, crime etc. You name it, I watch it. Then there's football. Watching and playing.
Which football team do you support?
Arsenal. Save your insults please.
Haha! I know shits have been rough for Arsenal fans. You've my prayers. Name two products you can’t do without and tell me why.
Minus my phone and laptop? I'll say my Headsets and my face cap.
Headset because I'm always listening to music. At home, on the go, at work, you'll always see me with my headset
The face cap because I have very hard hair so it tends to get rough quickly.
Have you discovered jobs at Boomplay you didn’t know existed?
Content acquisition. The role involves acquiring and co-owning content from artists and creators in general.
Who have you worked with along the way who has influenced you?
Deji Adeleke - current deputy group head of Strategy at Noah's Ark
Fred Akinmuyisetan - Head, marketing planning & Strategy. Nigeria Breweries
Bolaji Alausa - Executive creative director, Noah's Ark
Top men. If you were to pick between a community or a mentor, which would you pick and why?
Community.
Mentorship is great but with a community, you are able to have an appreciation for diverse thinking and contribution. With a mentor, there's a limit to what you can learn.
Spot on. If you weren’t a strategist what would you be?
A football coach.
A football coach?
Yep. I had it in mind to go abroad and get a coaching license and all.
What question should I be asking you or do you feel is missing from this interview that you really feel obliged to answer?
Brands I've worked on.
Okay, tell me.
Airtel
Nokia
Maggi
Maltina
Nestle Pure Life
Pay Attitude
Boomplay
A solid portfolio of clients you've got here. Before I remove the shackles, where can people find you online?
@theahmd_ on Twitter
@theahmd_ on IG
Deola Jaiyesimi on LinkedIn
Thank you Deola, it’s always fun talking with fellow marketing professionals.
Phew! You made it. If you read every word I salute you.
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Interview by Lolade Abimbola