Abiola Babarinde has had a hell of a year. She rebranded Inner Circle Strategy, the powerhouse agency she founded that shapes the narrative for brands such as Bianca Saunders, Kai Collective and Netflix, and works across the UK and Nigeria. In November, she also became head of brand marketing for Topicals, the innovative skincare company led by entrepreneur Olamide Olowe, which has been making waves since 2020.
Babarinde may be laser-focused and ambitious, but even that was “not on my bingo card”, she says wryly. She had long been a fan of Topicals for its game-changing, community-first storytelling: “As a business, it was always front of mind”. She remembers going to Los Angeles when it launched and buying all four products in the collection.
@abxola Replying to @Chella take a risk eith your marketing. skincare in the club: an iconic moment from #tooicalsgoestoghana — as you guys have mentioned, seeing people ENJOYYYY thrmselves sold you on the brand. #topicals #dettydecember
At the beginning of this year, she made a TikTok about why she thought the brand was excelling, after a press trip to Ghana: “Take a risk with your marketing” was one of her takeaways. Her analysis went viral, here. Now as we hurtle towards 2025 she’s the brand lead: “It felt like an unmissable opportunity to be part of what I think is an industry- and history-changing brand.” One of her first moves was to secure the casting of musician Krept and his daughter Nala as the UK faces of the business, here.
As a result, Babarinde is perfectly positioned to discuss digital strategy for next year. Here are her observations for essential brand amplification in 2025.
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IRL sales are case studies of your community
The nature of brand activations has significantly evolved over 2024, as consumers look for emotional and financial value in their purchasing and, says Babarinde, “in person experience continues to be essential”. She points to the metamorphosis of sample sales from something of a dirty little secret that contemporary and luxury brands hid or tucked to the side of their marketing calendar to a huge touchpoint in brand storytelling.
Babarinde highlights Kai Collective’s recent sample sales in London and New York as “an opportunity to have a real-life activation with your audience”. With the social content flowing and the customer stories inspiring, here and here, she says: “You have people queuing up at 2:30am to buy their wife a bag in a colour that was super rare; we’ve seen an uptick in terms of all the relevant social numbers that this love for the brand has ignited.”
@kaicollective Came and conquered 💋@Joyce Adewale #samplesale #kaicollective
Babarinde points to the beauty of this content being “you actually see real-life case studies of people going significantly out of their way for this brand. It’s no longer just another place to buy a dress. It’s a whole movement that you’re a part of.” She continues: “You can’t Facebook ad your way into that.” Babarinde also highlights the recent openings of Jacquemus’ London store and Telfar’s New York boutique as examples of brands asking: “How can we bring the online experience offline, and make it feel more meaningful?”
Defend your brand through playful content
Speaking of Jacquemus, Babarinde says the French design house – founded by Simon Porte Jacquemus – is one of several luxury brands that have been able to relax their storytelling, thanks to playful partnerships on TikTok. Loewe, led by Jonathan Anderson another. Jacquemus’s launch in the UK was heralded by Bemi Orojuogun, AKA cult internet figure Bus Aunty, here, and the video went viral. In fact, says Babarinde, TikTok has transformed the landscape: “It’s a huge opportunity for brands to continue to build up their identity.” Loewe has, she says: “A whole year’s worth of Tiktok content that you can point to, which is really fun, with lots of inside jokes, memes, even the talent that they work with, like Ayo Edebiri and Ambika Mod who don’t mind doing trends.”
@omo.oroje The very first London @Jacquemus boutique is opening in 33 New Bond Street this Friday 15 of November, come and have a cup of tea with us #AD
The reason to lean into this style of amplification? “Content is one of the cheapest ways to build and defend your brand, and construct an identity that aligns with what people want.” Babarinde adds: “Marketing, unfortunately, really isn’t about you. It’s about the customer. It’s about how you resonate with someone’s desires or aspirations, fears, hopes, and how that product or service or item fits into any of those needs.”
Babarinde says she has been banging the drum for brands to loosen up a little, despite a fear of not being taken seriously. She suggests: “Finding the element of your brand identity that is playful, or that is tongue in cheek, or that is outspoken, and really lean into that.” Brands such as Chanel, which have decades of heritage may have the luxury of moving slower, but says Babarinde, in this speed-of-light culture: “Everybody else doesn’t have that luxury at all.”
The content series as an essential marketing pillar
On the content piece, consistency is integral “because we all know the Tiktok algorithm is the absolute wild wild West, but if you’re able to create consistency, the platform will reward you for it in many ways.” Babarinde has noted the rise of content series. She says brands should explore “how they can serialise their content.” She believes TikTok is not competing with “the Instagrams of this world” rather it’s an entertainment channel, competing with “Netflix, with YouTube and with Google, to an extent.” She points to the For You Page: “You might remember what the videos were about that you saw. But you don’t really remember who made them.”
@subwaytakes 🇬🇧Episode 219: Nuke Clapham, get rid of Nandos, no more Aussies in London, Radiohead is overrated, Americans should have never been independent, Scotland should be independent, orderly queueing at the bust stop should be brought back, public transport etiquette has been lost, there’s not enough heckling, bring back public booing, no more countryside, brat album was great but the marketing was better, no more drake fest @DJ Love 🚋🚋🚋🚋🚋 Hosted by @KAREEM RAHMA Created by Kareem Rahma and Andrew Kuo Shot by @Anthony DiMieri @Ramy Edited by Anthony Dimieri #podcast #subway #hottakes #subwaytakes #interview #london #england
The outliers are content series that are consistently there, such as Meet Cutes, Subway Takes, Caleb Simpson, and The People Gallery, one format accounts people reliably return to (also Bus Aunty above). Says Babarinde: “They are an interesting case study to learn from.”
Brands should be thinking: “How can I introduce my own version of television into my content? It will become a really critical pillar for cutting through, in the algorithmic world, because you can create a format that you’re remembered for, and you can integrate all sorts of things in there. You can integrate a new product launch, you can integrate education. You can also involve influencers as well, versus paying to be on their feed.”
Get to grips with direct messaging
When thinking about the Gen Z customer, Babarinde points to the rise in direct messaging as the new email or newsletter. She says: “As the Gen Z audience starts to age up but isn’t as ready yet to be on their emails, in the same way that maybe the main workforce are, WhatsApp and broadcast channels are a little bit less saturated than every brand that has a newsletter.”
She highlights beauty challenger Refy Beauty’s Broadcast Channel as being industry-leading: “They have a lot going on there. They speak constantly to their audience.” She also cites Corteiz, the streetwear brand that always sets a high bar for customer relationships as having launched a WhatsApp Channel to talk to its customers about designs and drops. She says: “Instead of trying to drive the sales straight away, marketing is like a relationship. The first day most of us meet someone, you don’t ask them to be your best friend, or you don’t ask them to marry you, right? Sometimes the over-emphasis on ROI tries to skip those steps.”
By Emilie McMeekan, features director for CORQ.
