Celebrities and social media influencers are becoming more and more popular choices for brands looking to reach a larger audience in Nigeria’s influencer marketing sector. Influencers in this emerging field, which is still becoming established, often ingeniously include promotional material in their everyday postings to spread the word about the businesses they work with.
Following this trend, Dynasty Africa has become a trailblazing firm that has significantly contributed to the development and professionalization of influencer marketing techniques inside the nation.
CEO Dayo Adedeji of Dynasty Africa spoke with Anthony Udugba of BusinessDay Media at the company’s third-anniversary celebration. They covered the company’s trajectory and the difficulties of being a trailblazer in a sector without a predetermined path. However, Dynasty Africa has surmounted these obstacles and established a standard for others to follow thanks to innovation, smart alliances, and a thorough grasp of the Nigerian market.
Creating a Dynasty: What difficulties did Dynasty Africa encounter in the first three years of operation, and how did you make sure the business would survive?
Being a pioneer in the Influencer Marketing space comes with challenges, such as the lack of a predetermined path to pursue. Dynasty Africa is one such firm. As you attempt new things, make mistakes, pick up lessons, and establish the norm, you turn into the model. Developing positive connections inside the team, with customers, and with influencers has allowed us to maintain the business.
Changing Terrain: In what ways has Dynasty Africa altered Nigeria’s influencer marketing terrain since its founding? How has this changed your agency’s operations?
Influencer marketing didn’t exist in Nigeria or around Africa a few years ago. Few people were aware of it, and even those who were didn’t treat it as “influencer marketing” because there was no structure in place. Brands had no structure, method, or plan as they approached well-known faces at random to market them.
Both the influencer and the customer had trouble getting the desired outcomes. Dynasty Africa entered the market and created a system that helped the sector become recognizable. With this system, all parties are happy since we have established a strategic approach that is advantageous to all parties in terms of outcomes and other factors.
Looking Ahead: How do you plan to make sure Dynasty Africa keeps expanding and succeeding over the next three years?
Because we have a clear goal in mind, we will only keep developing and enhancing every facet of our offerings. Our goal is to establish an ecosystem around influencer marketing and demonstrate to the world why it is the most effective kind of advertising.
How does Dynasty Africa choose the ideal influencers for the campaigns of its clients? Could you provide any instances of the fruitful collaborations you’ve cultivated?
When it comes to marketing, we follow a meticulous procedure that is purposeful in every way, including the influencer selection process. As an example, consider the first year of our partnership with inDrive, which saw millions of interactions, over 25 million reach throughout the country, and a significant rate of inDrive user growth. In the course of our cooperation, we also produced one of the most popular pieces of advertising material in 2023, working with influencer Layi Wasabi to get his video to get over 5 million views.
The Powerhouse List: Which are some of the most prominent Nigerian influencers you have worked with, and what effects have these partnerships had on campaigns?
In general, we collaborate with micro, macro, and mega influencers. On the other hand, we collaborate with Shank, Taooma, Rodney, Layi Wasabi, Real Warri Pikin, and other top influencers. We intentionally collaborate with these top influencers to effect partnerships since, as previously indicated, we are strategy-driven. Layi Wasabi is one such example.
Shattering barriers: In the history of your firm, are there any particular campaigns that stick out as particularly creative or significant?
Our first year of working together as partners with our foreign customer, inDrive. Between September and November, we worked with a financial startup client, and the partnership produced notable outcomes: the client achieved 250,000 transactions, 16,000 customers, and over 250M naira ($300,000) in revenue.
Trailblazing Patterns: In the next years, how do you see developing trends influencing influencer marketing in Nigeria, and how is Dynasty Africa getting ready to adjust?
The trends in the influencing industry will determine the trends in the influencer marketing sector. We have researched and forecasted some of the trends that will emerge among influencers in the influencing sector, and we are preparing for them.
What is the agency’s current strategy for moral influencer marketing in Nigeria?
In Nigeria, the ideal way to handle any activity, including influencer marketing, is to deal with people in good faith.
What are some of the most important things you’ve discovered when navigating Nigeria’s influencer marketing industry as an entrepreneur?
It was and still is greater than me to launch the business and lead an industry in Nigeria. People were reluctant to join us at first, and we had a lot of rejections from influencers as well as clients. However, as time went on, I discovered that making relationships and providing value was helpful. Above all, I think I have the greatest team there is, and without them, we couldn’t have progressed as far as we have.
What words of wisdom would you want to share with other ambitious businesspeople who want to succeed in the influencer marketing sector?
In the end, figure out what suits you. There is enough space in the sky for everyone, and the only way to learn is to do, so choose what works for you and pursue it.
Dayo, thank you for your time. As Dynasty Africa continues to impact influencer marketing in Nigeria, we wish it more and more success.