Insight Redefini, an integrated marketing communications group, partnered with Woof Studios Africa to bring brands and creators together at YouTube PluggedIN in Lagos on Thursday, October 22, to explore lasting Brand-Creator Partnerships

The discussion comes as creators play a growing role in marketing, offering brands access to engaged communities and new ways to tell their stories. Yet the opportunity goes beyond audience reach. For partnerships to succeed, brands and creators must understand what each brings to the table and how their collaboration can deliver value to both sides.

According to Babatunde Olaifa, Group Chief Executive Officer of Insight Redefini, achieving this requires bringing brands and creators into the same conversation.

“One of our ambitions as Insight Redefini is we want to bring our brands together with the biggest creators in Nigeria to create magic, but beyond that, we are also looking to work with creators to build sustainable partnerships,” he said.

Olaifa noted that brands and creators often discuss one another without enough opportunities to engage directly and understand their respective ambitions.

“Beyond attention or buying the attention that we earn, or just putting an ad into something the creator has done, it has to be a lot more than that, by telling stories that matter for the brand, to the creators and to the audience,” he added.

The remarks set the context for Insight Redefini’s panel session, Beyond the Post: What Brands Really Want to Build with Creators, moderated by Esosa Osagiede. Brand leaders from TGI Group, Guinness Nigeria, Nestlé Nigeria, Amstel Malta and HI-Malt, and Mondelez International shared perspectives on what makes creator partnerships valuable and what both sides must do to sustain them.

Beyond audience size

For brands, choosing a creator involves more than looking at follower counts. Adeyinka Jemi-Alade, Head of Integrated Marketing Communications at TGI Group Limited, identified audience relevance, the ability to integrate brand messages naturally into storytelling, and the capacity to achieve campaign objectives as key considerations.

“A creator’s audience has to be relevant to the people the brand wants to reach. Beyond that, we look at how naturally the creator can bring the brand into their storytelling and whether the partnership can help us achieve the objectives we have set,” Jemi-Alade said.

Sam Okolie, Head of Mainstream Spirit at Guinness Nigeria also added “Creators need to understand the people who follow them and what they represent to that audience. When you know your community, you are better placed to decide which partnerships make sense for you and which ones may not be right for the identity you have built,” Okolie said.

For creators, this means evaluating commercial opportunities beyond the immediate payment. For brands, it reinforces the need to work with people whose content, values and audiences make sense for the message they want to communicate.

Defining value and building for the long term

Chisom Bikawei, Media Communications Manager at Nestlé Nigeria PLC, pointed to differences in how brands define action and value as one reason businesses may be hesitant to commit to long-term creator partnerships.

“Value does not mean the same thing to every brand. One brand may be looking to build awareness, while another may be focused on sales or a different business objective. If we have not clearly defined what we want to achieve, it becomes more difficult to assess the partnership and make a case for continuing it over the long term,” Bikawei said.

A campaign designed to build awareness may require a different measure of success from one intended to drive immediate sales or strengthen brand affinity. Without clear objectives, brands and creators may judge the same campaign differently, making it harder to build a lasting working relationship.

Francis Obiajulu, Senior Brand Manager for Amstel Malta and HI-Malt, encouraged creators to consider whether their audiences trust them, whether their personalities fit the brands they want to represent, and whether they understand the commercial side of their work.

“Creators should ask themselves whether their audience trusts them, whether the brands they want to work with fit their personality and content, and whether they understand the business side of what they do. It is also important to think about how their audience, ideas and creativity can deliver value for a brand,” Obiajulu said.

Bolaji Popoola, Head of Consumer Experience at Mondelez International, similarly emphasised that a creator’s value cannot be determined by numbers alone. Brands may be looking to build awareness, generate immediate sales or strengthen brand love, and creators need to understand which outcomes a partnership is expected to deliver.

“It is not just about the numbers a creator has. What matters is what those numbers can help a brand achieve. Are we trying to build awareness, drive immediate sales or strengthen people’s connection with the brand? Creators need to understand these objectives because the value of a partnership goes beyond the size of an audience,” Popoola said.

Together, these perspectives point to the importance of agreeing on objectives before a campaign begins. When brands and creators understand what a partnership is expected to achieve and how its performance will be assessed, they have a clearer basis for evaluating results and identifying opportunities to work together again.

The discussion also highlighted the potential to move beyond individual sponsored posts towards original content and recurring collaborations that serve the interests of both parties.

Through its partnership with Woof Studios Africa, Insight Redefini created a space for brands and creators to discuss these expectations directly. The focus was on encouraging a better understanding of what each side needs to make a partnership work, rather than treating creator marketing simply as a transaction for audience attention.

As the creator economy evolves, more sustainable collaborations will depend on shared objectives, audience trust and a clear understanding of commercial value. The conversation at YouTube PluggedIN put these considerations at the centre of how brands and creators can build relationships that deliver beyond a single post.