Olaitan Ademola, popularly known as Demo UK, is a celebrated writer, storyteller, content creator and a brand influencer. He has worked for a number of brands and corporate bodies, such as Pepsi, BBNaija, Dominos Pizza, Dodo Pizza, Ufitfly travel agency, Kampala Int’l Uni, Irasa Clothing, Kenny Blaq among others. He talks to Tosin Clegg about growing his brand, early stages and its challenges, works so far, future projections and a lot more
I was born into a small family with two siblings
I grew up with my parents in a one-room apartment in Surulere, Lagos. Growing up was quite difficult for me. But with the help of God and my lovely mom, I endured what life gave to us. I attended Kraus Nursery and Primary School in Surulere, and then did my secondary school at Jubril Martins Memorial Grammar School. Then, I went on to study Mass Communication at Lagos State University. My childhood dreams have always been to be a footballer, but life happened and I found interest in other talents I have. One of them is writing comics.
My journey started in 2010
And that was from the emergence of Twitter. I created trending and hilarious memes with my face. Which many celebrities fell in love with and always reposted. At some point, when social media wasn’t really paying like it does now, I deactivated my account to focus on real life. That was around 2013 when I finished my University. My mom told me she wasn’t going to be responsible for me anymore that I have to go fend for myself. Then, I thought to myself that to become something in life I had to get rid of distractions, and social media was the main distraction. And since it wasn’t paying me as at that time, I deactivated all my social media accounts in other to get a job and focus on life.
My brand is very unique as it deals with storytelling
I created a genre called ComedyJournalism, which main goal was to make people read news in a comic way. This was what I infused into the content for brands to come up with comic adverts that capture the attention of many on the internet and, most importantly, get them their target audience or customers. No one was doing that when I started. So, I can say I am the pioneer of that. And now many people are following my footsteps. This I think is what sets me apart from others.
My challenge back then was getting heard
I deleted my social media when I needed to focus on life then came back to the scene. It was difficult to get heard again after a long time off social media. I came back in 2018 when there were brand influencers and content creators everywhere. So, breaking into the scene was pretty difficult and that was why I came up with something different from what others did on a daily basis. I did a comedy-journalism piece on Linda Ikeji. It was a summary of how she became a baby mama. I summarised the story in memes. It was really hilarious that it went viral and since then I became an internet sensation with storytelling.
What inspires my content
Well, real life situation is what inspires my content. I create my content on what people can relate with. What is happening or has happened in people’s lives then make it a form of comedy with matching memes to go. My phone gallery is full of memes. I save memes a lot on the internet. I practically have memes for every situation. That’s why it is always easy for me to put them together in my write ups.
Some of the successes I can recount over time
Having my work go viral is one of the greatest successes of a content creator. It’s good to see people sharing and talking about your work every time. The best part of it is when I pitch my work to clients and I introduce myself as “Demo Uk”. They don’t get to doubt what I am up to. It is a household name already. I joked about losing my job on my platform, by writing a fictional story on it. I had a number of media companies reaching out to hire me immediately. And it’s also a good feeling when people work up to me to ask if I am “Demo UK”, telling me they love my content. All of these for me are my success stories. I worked for Naijaloaded at some point, created some of my comic contents for them. Currently, I am working for Krakstv and Boomplay as a content creator and creative writer respectively.
How I approach working with clients
As I said, I have created a brand for myself. So, most of the time, when I introduce myself as “Demo UK”, they already know it’s that buzzing creative don. That has made things easy for me to a large extent. My thought process is coming up with something catchy, funny and profound around their brand, product or services to get their targeted audience.
An artiste or anyone in general needs a good image branding, which is pivotal. We are in the world of digital marketing. Everyone sells themselves through the internet and a good PR is all they need to brand themselves to the public.
The wrongs people in showbiz and entertainment do that affect their brand
Oh well, this is a conversation we have on the internet almost all the time. Objectifying women is one of the wrongs that trigger and upset the female audience. Religious joke is another one. People get sensitive over the slightest thing, forgetting it could be a satire or just rants. And if we are being honest, any joke from any angle upsets a particular group of people. Many people are joking about Coronavirus but, trust me, a family that has a member battling with COVID-19 wouldn’t find it funny. So you can’t tell what joke can affect your brand but whatever it is, you just have to have the audience in mind.
My upcoming projects and plans
I’m coming up with my own book titled “Book of All Memes”, Boam, for short. The book will contain new hilarious stories and some of my old stories; all in one book. The motive behind my book is to reach people that haven’t heard about me. That is, people that really do not use the internet. And it is also an avenue for my fans to get access to all my comics anytime. This is a book they can give to visitors to entertain them at home.
