Ukonwa Ojo is the CEO of Zaia Holdings and former CMO of Amazon Prime Video.
Her career has seen her lead the likes of Coty, MAC Cosmetics and Amazon Prime Video as chief marketing officer.
Ojo took to the stage at AANA RESET earlier this year to share her insights with Australia’s leaders in marketing and advertising about marketing effectiveness. Her talk centred on the subject: “Only the brave. Only the humble.”
Mediaweek spoke to Ojo about how bravery and humility can drive lasting business impact, balancing AI with the human expertise and the importance of being different in the industry.
Ojo on how uncertainty is a fertile ground for creativity
The essence of Ojo’s discussion explored how, as a society, we are living in unprecedented times.
“There’s so much volatility geopolitically financially. There’s so much uncertainty. We have institutions that have existed for decades and centuries, in some cases crumbling overnight.
“As consumers and as marketers, it can feel overwhelming at times. But uncertainty is a fertile ground for creativity. With unprecedented times, comes unprecedented opportunity for unprecedented creativity.
Ojo noted that to tap into that creativity, marketers need to be humble enough: “to know what we don’t know and to learn new skills, new capabilities and to adapt, and then brave enough to take advantage of new ideas and new insights to tackle the new challenges.”
Ojo shared that she sees a “positive side of the rainbow”. She said: “There’s a lot of opportunity there. But we must be brave enough and courageous enough to go after it, and humble enough to learn what we don’t know.
“Like artificial intelligence, as an example, how do we start to pick up the skills that are going to be necessary for success in this next frontier.”
Ojo on how bravery and humility can drive lasting business impact
While people may think being brave and humble is an oxymoron, Ojo noted that both are “strange bedfellows”. She explained: “The more you learn, the more courage you’ll have to take advantage of the opportunities. The more you experiment, the more courage you have, and you make bigger and bigger and bigger bets.”
Ojo said that the way to embrace bravery and humility is to be open-minded to learning and seeing opportunities and courageous enough to take the first step.
“When you take the first step, you learn a little bit more, and then you have courage, then you take the next step, and then you learn a little more. Then you have the courage to take an even bigger step.”
Ojo added that the key to courage, humility and bravery is the constant willingness to learn.
“If you’re always willing to learn, you can continue to grow. If you’re willing to continue to grow, you have the opportunity to experiment. One of those things that you experiment with has the potential to be a big idea.”
Ukonwa Ojo
The importance of adapting to new technologies
While there are many important and current issues in the industry, Ojo highlighted feeling intimidated by new frontiers in technology, such as artificial intelligence, as something people need to work on.
“They tend to be scared and intimidated by it, and there is reason to be. We have to make sure that we manage through any downsides in terms of misinformation and disinformation, and IP protection.
Ojo noted that it is hard to create a truly personalised experience for customers in a human way because the need for content and assets is so significant. She added: “We’re always caught on the back foot, and we can be very overwhelmed by that.”
As a solution, Ojo said technology and automation should be embraced and added: “We can figure out the assets and the content that we can do with technology and then create capacity for new original thought.”
For Ojo, it is an exciting opportunity that requires bravery to see what can be done with such technology and to be okay with giving people space and boredom to develop new ideas.
“Breakthrough ideas don’t come from a prompt; it comes from human ingenuity and intelligence,” she said.
“I’m excited about what that could mean for our industry, function, and categories,” she added.
Ojo on how using your difference can help one stand out in the industry
As a woman of colour who has achieved incredible success in the industry as a leader and received well-deserved recognition, Ojo noted that people who identified with her journey to recognise their right to be in their place in the industry.
“If you get into your power, when you are there, really be there. Be present. Be bold, be courageous.”
“You are there because you are different, and your difference stands out. What I hate for us is to get into spaces where we’re different and feel like we have to assimilate.”
Ojo noted that feeling the need to assimilate defeats the purpose of proudly being different and standing out.
“You’re going to see things that nobody else will, and you’re going to see whitespace that just glosses over everybody else. When you see that and your difference gives you a unique perspective, speak up, go for it, and do it.
“Be brave, be bold, go for it,” she encouraged.
Ojo shared that it hugely paid off for her every time she leaned into that energy.
“Everybody, in hindsight, says ‘we would have always done that,’ but at the moment, nobody else had that idea. But you did because you have a very unique perspective. I would say fully embrace that,” she added.
Finding the bravery to “go for it”
Ukonwa Ojo said that she hopes attendees take away the idea of being brave enough to “go for it” from her session at AANA RESET.
It’s very tempting to be overwhelmed, fearful and insecure. In unprecedented times of insecurity, it’s an unparalleled time for creativity and bravery.
“Go for it. That’s something that we know technology cannot do still. We still provide the original thought.
“Create the space to have an original thought, and when you have it, go for it,” Ojo concluded.
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Top image: Ukonwa Ojo