By Tolu Onile-Ere
In the coming years, we envision Playhouse as a leading force in the digital marketing landscape, known for innovative and impactful campaigns. We plan to expand our reach globally, forge new partnerships, and continue pushing the boundaries of digital creativity. Our focus will remain on delivering value to clients, nurturing a creative and collaborative work environment, and adapting to emerging trends in the industry.
The organisation is marking its 12 years anniversary with the launch of the digital creative economy initiative named ‹The StoryStoryHub›.
The StoryStoryHub centres around storytelling, much like the tales by moonlight that were passed down to us by our forefathers, generations ago. Culturally, storytelling serves as the conduit through which history is passed down from generation to the next, fostering community building and knowledge sharing. Historically, these stories were not recorded in writing, but with diverse technological discoveries, we can now capture and preserve our stories on digital-enabled storage platforms, such as cloud storage and other digital repositories. Despite these advancements, at the core is still the fundamental concept of sharing stories through the art of storytelling – ‹The StoryStoryHub›.
As the anniversary and campaign concludes, Playhouse has ignited a tsunami within the digital space, inspiring the younger generation that if strategically leveraged, the digital media can make an unknown individual, or a small business a brand to be identified with. This is the power of digital media, a veritable financial dynamo, for the creative economy of Nigeria.
StoryStoryHub serves as a platform not only for sharing our experiences but also for encouraging others, especially the youth, to share their stories in the digital creative economy.
He explained that by providing a space for diverse narratives and insights, they aim to inspire, educate, and empower the younger generation to explore and contribute to the digital space.
According to him, “I think there is a lot of potential in the digital economy, and we are just beginning to explore it. It is vast. We can see the impact of digitals, accessibility and the democratisation that it offers. It is enough to pick up your phone and become a content creator and you see a lot more people being able to be self-sufficient and become new business owners on their own. From there you will see a lot more businesses, their potential especially from the creative digital, to the reach and impacts, and the cost effectiveness that digital economy offers.
The StoryStoryHub initiative involves getting people to share their stories. It is about encouraging people in every walk of life, whether they are content creators, individuals using digital platforms, or businesses. By simply asking people to share their stories, we have used that to show the positive impacts that the digital industry have and, hopefully, inspire others who are looking for ways to help grow the Nigerian economy.
We consider success to be measured in terms of benefits beyond money. The encouraging stories we selected and the platform’s good reception are proof of the value it offered to our audience. StoryStoryHub has not only enhanced the reputation of our brand but also opened up new avenues for growth in the future.
To sum this up, our definition of profitability has a broad perspective that takes into account, monetary stability, customer happiness, team fulfilment, and the beneficial effects of projects like StoryStoryHub. We are dedicated to long-term development, meaningful endeavours, and leaving a legacy of significant contributions as we negotiate the ever-changing terrain of the digital creative economy.
What we are pleased with is the positive response to the stories we have so far been able to curate. The overwhelming response has been that the stories shared are inspiring.
In the coming years, we envision Playhouse as a leading force in the digital marketing landscape, known for innovative and impactful campaigns. We plan to expand our reach globally, forge new partnerships, and continue pushing the boundaries of digital creativity.
Our focus will remain on delivering value to clients, nurturing a creative and collaborative work environment, and adapting to emerging trends in the industry.
Digital storytelling is a powerful tool used by influencers, bloggers and celebrities to share content and connect people. Through this method of storytelling, these social influencers are able to share their life experiences, challenges through life and the motivating factor behind the contents they create. They share everyday stories that resonate with their audience, and this creates learning outcomes and motivation for the audience.
One of the social media influencers who shared his story on the StoryStoryHub platform was Samuel Animashaun Perry, popularly known as Broda Shaggi. Broda Shaggi is one of the big names in skit making in the Nigeria social media space with a large fan base. In his interview with StoryStoryHub, he said: “I started off in 2018, but before then I had different characters when I was trying to break into the market such as Akanni Ibadan, and Inspector Perry, I had series of characters because I just like to mimic people. Everything started from University of Lagos, where I studied Creative Arts. After school, I will go for auditions, but I became tired of going for auditions because I was always getting supporting roles. I don’t blame the producers, because they need frontliners and known names to sell their market.
«Supporting roles wasn’t what I wanted, so I decided to start my own thing which is the online skits. My online skits started in 2018 and it became popular, and people started enjoying the character and contents”
Another social media influencer, who shared her story on the platform is Jenny Frank. She said: “I started two years before lockdown, and gained popularity. I remember I started in the university precisely; it was between 100 and 200 level then. I started not because I had the mindset of being a content creator, I have always wanted to be an actress, and a model. I have always wanted to be in front of the camera for some reason that I don’t know why. So, I will always pick up my phone and record myself doing crazy things. From childhood, I had this desire for acting, I will wear my mother’s clothes and dress like a pregnant woman, then ask my brothers to come and join me. All those things were built for me, and in the University, I started modeling and recording for photographers in the university then, I even walked on the runway back then. So, entertainment is something I love doing. It comes naturally.”
The Playhouse initiative achieved remarkable success, surpassing its initial projections by reaching double its estimated audience. This exceptional result is attributed to its high impact on the social media space, positive reception by known influencers, and the campaign›s impressive performance. In the metric of engagement, the campaign documented 50 million media reach, 131 million impressions, 13.3 million video views, 204 thousand clicks, along with impressive average view-through and click-through rates.
As the curtain closes on the three-month long campaign, the StoryStoryHub which started as a celebration of the talents in the creative industry has now organically transformed into a dynamic movement. One that urges every creative to share their stories because unknown to you, your audience could be eagerly waiting to read your unique story. Do not forget that although the campaign officially ends now, the timeless art of storytelling continues. The question remains: If not us—every creative out there—then who will share the stories that captivate hearts? Take the plunge, tell your stories, and use the hashtag #thestorystoryhub as our stories continues.
*Onile-Ere writes from Lagos