OYA
Paid Ads Campaign
Project Intro
OYA had just launched in Tanzania, entering a delivery market already dominated by two established platforms.
The paid media strategy needed to do more than generate visibility. It had to help OYA break into existing customer habits, drive installs from relevant audiences, and move new users toward their first order without burning budget on low-intent traffic.
Context + Problem
The biggest challenge was behaviour, not reach.
Most customers already had delivery apps they were comfortable using, which made switching difficult. Tanzanian consumers also tend to be cautious with newer digital services, especially when existing platforms already feel familiar and proven.
That meant awareness alone was not enough. The product needed to feel understandable, practical, and worth trying from the first interaction.
Paid media was only one part of the launch mix. OYA was also using offline and direct communication channels, including leaflet distribution, vendor co-branding, cinema activation booths, SMS campaigns, and email marketing. The paid strategy needed to connect with that wider activity rather than operate as a separate channel.
At the same time, there was very little historical data to guide decision-making. Audience behaviour, offer performance, creative direction, and conversion patterns all had to be tested while campaigns were already live.
My Role
I managed the paid campaigns from setup through optimisation, including campaign structure, audience targeting, creative direction, reporting, and budget allocation.
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Campaign Strategy and Setup
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Ad Copy and Creative Direction
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Audience Segmentation
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Reporting and Optimisation
Approach
I split the Meta activity by job: introduce the brand, drive installs, then retarget warmer users toward their first order. The structure also had to support the wider launch activity happening around it, from vendor co-branding and leaflet distribution to cinema booths, SMS pushes, and email marketing.
The awareness phase introduced OYA inside the main delivery zones and helped build familiarity before pushing harder for installs and orders. It also created warmer retargeting audiences early, instead of relying only on cold acquisition.
Install campaigns focused on offer-led messaging. Creative used recognisable local food settings, app interactions, and everyday ordering behaviour to make the product feel familiar to first-time users.
The main launch incentive was free delivery alongside Tsh 5,000 off for new customers, designed to reduce hesitation around trying a new platform for the first time. Seasonal campaigns during Ramadan and Eid later introduced broader promotional offers, while vendor-led discounts helped create additional conversion moments throughout the campaign period.
Retargeting focused on users who had already interacted with earlier ads, visited landing pages, or shown intent around restaurants and promotions. These ad sets used more direct calls to action and conversion-focused messaging to move users closer to placing an order.
Ramadan and Eid campaigns were layered into the strategy when food ordering and promotional engagement typically increased. It gave people a stronger reason to pay attention and made retargeting more useful during a period when food demand was already higher.
Performance was monitored daily. Budgets were shifted toward stronger-performing audiences, creatives, and offers as results came in, while weaker ad sets were paused, refreshed, or reworked before overspending.
Results
The campaigns reached more than 1.2 million people and contributed to roughly 3,900 app installs.
Paid activity generated more than 600 food delivery orders. After cinema booking was later introduced into the product, paid campaigns also supported early ticket sales through targeted promotional campaigns.
Several retargeting ad sets delivered strong efficiency metrics, including conversion costs as low as $0.04 and Instagram restaurant retargeting reaching a 6.38% click-through rate.
Ramadan campaigns also performed particularly well, helping increase both engagement and conversion activity during a key seasonal period.
The bigger value was that OYA now had a paid media structure that worked alongside the rest of the launch system: SMS campaigns, email marketing, leaflet distribution, vendor co-branding, cinema activation booths, and referral pushes. Paid became the scalable layer, while offline and direct channels helped build local visibility, trust, and repeated launch reminders.
