OMOTOLA OYINLOLA ORONTI: Using leadership and innovation to shape Nigeria’s marketing landscape

In Nigeria, Omotola Oyinlola Oronti is widely recognised for her innovative marketing approaches and game-changing brand leadership. Omotola is a true visionary who has continuously shown that she can spur innovation by utilising traditional and digital channels to make a significant influence on the corporate environment. With more than ten years of marketing experience, she has worked in a variety of industries, such as sports betting, entertainment, and social responsibility. This has made her a trailblazer in Nigeria’s cutthroat marketing scene.

Early Career and Establishing an Innovative Legacy (2014–2016)

Omotola has been a superb marketer since the beginning of her career. She has a gift for seeing gaps in the market and using them to create chances for brand expansion. During her early career at Bet9ja, she worked directly with Tunji Meshioye, who was then the Marketing Manager to grow Bet9ja’s offline network which expanded to an astounding 20,000 agents, solidifying the brand’s position in the industry.

Omotola also made her foray into the world of content marketing during this time, launching Soccer Parole and Reward Your Passion, two radio shows. These programs brought in a novel, interactive method of engaging with customers, increasing sign-ups, brand loyalty, and Bet9ja’s exposure across the country. Omotola’s capacity to emotionally connect with clients and generate quantifiable outcomes was showcased in both projects.

Market leadership and strategic alliances (2017–2018)

Omotola established vital alliances and projects that helped Bet9ja achieve market leadership, and her contributions to the company developed into highly strategic endeavours. This is demonstrated by her work on the Bet9ja X NYSC partnership in 2017; by using the extensive network of NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) camps around Nigeria, she created a long-lasting recruitment platform that still attracts sign-ups today.

During the FIFA World Cup in 2018, Omotola showed off her talent for impactful ads once more. She oversaw a revolutionary strategy that, at the time, was unheard of in Nigeria’s gambling industry and involved sending online clients and agents by plane to Russia. With over 10,000 new sign-ups, the campaign was a huge success and solidified Bet9ja’s status as the industry leader. Her work with Wande Coal, where she oversaw the whole Wande Coal Live concert and integrated the “More than a Bet” campaign at its core, further demonstrated her ability to seamlessly combine entertainment and brand messaging. Through this innovative marketing strategy, Bet9ja was able to reach a wider audience than just sports bettors by entering the entertainment and lifestyle sectors.

Redefining Views: The Breakthrough of Big Brother Naija (2019)

As she and Senior Marketing Manager Femi Osobajo worked together to create one of Bet9ja’s most talked-about collaborations with Big Brother Naija in 2019, Omotola’s imaginative leadership was evident. Through the DSTV Decoder Campaign and the Merchandise Campaign, two incredibly successful campaigns, Omotola changed the way that the general public views sports betting. Throughout the show, her marketing not only attracted a wider audience to Bet9ja but also produced over ₦750 million in deposits.

Through this historic collaboration, Omotola demonstrated her capacity to successfully combine popular culture and brand engagement, propelling Bet9ja to unprecedented levels of consumer engagement and visibility. Her work with Big Brother Naija transformed sports betting from a specialised business into a popular, socially acceptable activity in addition to increasing revenue.

Handling Emergencies and Promoting Involvement During the Pandemic (2020–2021)

Every industry was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bet9ja was no different. Omotola changed the marketing strategy to concentrate on brand interaction through by introducing significant charitable activities including donations to health organizations and support for front line workers.

Because of Omotola’s skill in handling crises, Bet9ja came out of the epidemic stronger, closer to its clientele, and with an even wider social media following.

Campaigns that Break Records with an Emphasis on Corporate Social Responsibility (2022–2024)

Leading the Bet9ja FIFA World Cup campaign in 2022 and developing an outstanding content engagement strategy that generated over ₦2 billion in stakes allowed Omotola to achieve new professional heights. Her leadership in this crucial campaign demonstrated her capacity to create creative, effective marketing strategies even in fiercely competitive international events like the World Cup.

In parallel, she kept pushing the creative envelope by overseeing the creation of Bet9ja’s 2022 TVC, “Football Our Thing.” And 2023 “Made for the Moment” TVC, both campaigns solidified the brand’s connection to football and established Bet9ja as a company that is closely linked to the culture and fan base of the game in Nigeria.

Omotola’s leadership skills went beyond business; she oversaw social responsibility initiatives working with the Bet9ja Foundation. She started an online channel for the foundation in August 2023, and in the first six months, it saw a 60% growth. As part of the foundation’s CSR project. Also, she led the partnership between the Foundation and the Para Powerlifting team of Nigeria for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, showcasing the significant impact of funding on both sports and human development.

Her efforts on the drive to raise money for undergraduate scholarships also showed how dedicated she is to promoting education. With user numbers rising by 271.8%, pageviews by 291.4%, and event attendance by 290.5%, the campaign produced noteworthy engagement metrics that cemented the scholarship page’s position as the foundation’s most popular platform.

An International Powerhouse in Marketing

The hallmarks of Omotola Oyinlola Oronti’s marketing career have been her unwavering dedication to excellence, inventiveness, and strategic vision. She is a prominent figure in Nigeria’s marketing scene thanks to her ability to combine digital innovation with conventional marketing strategies. Her contributions, which have included leading high-profile marketing and CSR initiatives, have had a significant influence on the brands she has worked with, most notably Bet9ja.

Her marketing expertise is demonstrated by her spearheading of the #Bet9jaQatar2022 campaign, which raised brand visibility across social media by 186.4% and increased customer interaction by 95.9%. Omotola’s commitment to achieving outstanding outcomes has never faltered, whether navigating crises or launching multi-billion-naira initiatives.

Omotola is not just a national asset but also a marketing leader with the potential to have a big impact on the international arena because of her impressive resume of accomplishments, leadership skills, and capacity to implement innovative marketing techniques.