After more than a decade in advertising, working with major brands like Hennessy, Adebayo Owosina, an Adweek 2022 Creative 100 honoree and co-founder/CCO of The Hook Creative Agency, highlighted the overemphasis on surface-level engagement rather than behavioral change in the creator economy.

“What’s the point of having so many impressions, so many people seeing your product, and nobody’s it?” he questions. “No culture is being shaped, no uptake of your product.” 

His solution? Goalr, an app that transforms the creator-audience relationship from passive consumption to active participation through gamified fitness challenges.

With Goalr, users can join challenges where they commit financial stakes that they lose if they don’t maintain consistency. Brands and influencers can sponsor these challenges, adding additional prizes or exclusive interactions. 

“Different things motivate different people,” Adebayo explains. “Even though we started out using just money to motivate people to stay consistent, now community is a big part of what helps people stay consistent. Influencers and creators who come on board are part of what makes people consistent.”

Unlike influencer campaigns, where creators might post content and disappear, Goalr facilitates extended engagements in which influencers and their followers participate in the same activities over days or weeks. 

“We want people to be able to touch the brand for a sustained period of time, not just a post that you pay for and walk away,” says Adebayo.

Impact in Action

The platform has already facilitated several campaigns demonstrating its impact-focused marketing approach. 

Actress Bisola Aiyeola, known from “Big Brother Nigeria” and “Nigerian Idol,” paired with cosmetics brand Brown Girls Magic for a three-week challenge. “We had a walk with Bisola challenge where the top 10 people won packages from a brand,” says Adebayo. The engagement, he adds, was so genuine that participants engaged daily with Bisola in a WhatsApp group, creating real connections beyond what traditional campaigns offer.

Nigerian beverage company Rite Foods transformed their traditional promotion for Sosa Fruit Drink into the “Smooth Walker Challenge,” aligning with their “So Smooth” payoff. “We had over 65 winners. People won 50,000 each. The top five people won 50,000 each. And there was a lot of talkability around it,” Adebayo recounts.

Goalr has also facilitated numerous purpose-driven initiatives, including campaigns supporting autism awareness through the Shades of Life organization, and the “Pad a Girl” campaign, which helps girls in rural areas who cannot afford sanitary products.

A New Business Model for the Creator Economy

Goalr operates on a freemium model with multiple revenue streams. While historically free, the platform is now implementing a subscription model where users must pay to join more than one challenge per month. 

“If you want to join more than one challenge, you’d have to be a paid subscriber,” Adebayo explains. Brands pay to sponsor challenges, creating another revenue stream.

In the upcoming Goalr 2.0 release, which is scheduled to launch within weeks, influencers will be able to create and monetize their own challenges directly. “You are creating your own challenge, engaging your own community, advertising for your challenge, and making money off it,” Adebayo explains.

The platform takes 30% of the stakes lost by users who fail to complete challenges, with influencers receiving a percentage of that amount. “The more people you can get into your community, into your challenge, the better for you,” he notes.

“We have had people come in, start on the app with 20,000 naira (~$12) and right now they’re in excess of 100,000 naira (~$62),” Adebayo says. The platform is also preparing to launch a marketplace where verified influencers and vendors can sell fitness-related products, creating additional monetization opportunities within the ecosystem.

As the platform approaches 3,000 users in Nigeria, it is already expanding into the UK market. “The traction is becoming interesting. We’re launching our first-ever challenge in less than two weeks,” Adebayo reveals. “This continues Goalr’s purpose-driven mission—not just to move, but to make an impact. Participants can donate their wins to support dance therapy sessions for children they personally choose to uplift.”

Redefining Value in Creator Partnerships

For brands looking to partner with creators, Adebayo urges them to stop treating influencers as an afterthought and making money the first topic of conversation.

“The influencer is not an afterthought. The community is not an afterthought. You need to include them in the journey,” he advises. “Even the best brands, thinking they know how to do it best, still have this transactional approach. Even the influencers themselves need to reorient themselves.”

Adebayo emphasizes that real collaboration requires mutual respect for creators’ understanding of their audience. “You can’t go to an influencer and tell the influencer this is the script,” he says. “The influencer needs to be able to speak about your brand the way it should be spoken about in their own way. And you need to include them early in the process of creation, not at the tail end.”

This take challenges practices where brands dictate specific posting requirements without considering whether those actually serve the product’s needs. 

“I know influencers also want to make money, but that shouldn’t be the first thing they discuss,” Adebayo insists. “What is the job to be done, and how do we get that done?”

He argues that brands must recognize that different products have different characteristics that require tailored approaches rather than standardized posting schedules. “A brand has a life of its own. A product has a life of its own. It has a characteristic. It needs to speak when it needs to speak,” he explains.

Measuring What Truly Matters

When it comes to measuring campaign ROI, Adebayo emphasizes outcomes over analytics.

“Until the culture shakes, until the culture shapes, the work is not done. Until there’s take-up, until your goal is realized, the job is not done,” he states. “Participation is very key. Retention is equally as important and shows people are coming back. And when those two align, consistency crowns the journey.”

He values real testimonials over quantitative engagement, stating, “I will choose one person coming to me and telling me, ‘Goalr has helped me build habits over 25,000 likes on Instagram.’”

Adebayo’s approach to measurement focuses on tracking actual behavior change and habit formation rather than digital interactions. “Are habits changing? Are we getting testimonials? Are people coming out?” These indicators of real impact matter more than traditional vanity metrics.

The African Creator Economy and Goalr’s Global Vision

Having worked in Nigerian advertising for over a decade with agencies like Lowe Linters, DDB Nigeria, X3m ideas, and The Hook, Adebayo has seen firsthand how African creators thrive despite practical challenges.

“Looking at Africa generally, I think one of the first words that comes to your mind when you think of Africa will be culture. We are very big on culture,” Adebayo observes. “African creators are very resourceful in spite of the fact that you do not have everything plugged and play. You struggle with light. You’re fighting the biggest demons that any macro economy can give to you, yet you are able to be topical.”

He points to how Nigerian music has gained prominence through Afrobeats despite these obstacles. “Nigeria is making Afrobeats, putting it on the global stage, collaborating with the biggest artists. And everybody’s dancing to it. This is the same Nigeria: the light is still unstable, and the road is still not the best.”

This resilience and creativity inform Goalr’s practical approach to influencer marketing. “African creators are totally resourceful and very wildly innovative,” he emphasizes. 

Looking ahead, Adebayo’s plans for Goalr extend beyond Nigeria. “In two to three years, Goalr is going to be your default platform for purpose-driven movements in Africa and in diaspora,” he predicts.

“Right now we are building a super app where not only are people, individuals getting fit and healthier, influencers are making a lot of money by just engaging, creating a platform where they can actually now engage their people,” Adebayo explains. 

His goal is to create an ecosystem where physical activity translates into clear benefits for all stakeholders—users, creators, and brands alike.

“When the community moves, everybody wins,” Adebayo concludes. “It’s not just about regular influence that people talk about, it’s real impact.”