In the influencer marketing landscape in Nigeria, companies seeking broader audience engagement are increasingly turning to celebrities and social media influencers as brand advocates. This new industry, still finding its footing, often sees influencers creatively weaving promotional content into their regular posts to raise awareness for the brands they partner with.
In the wake of this trend, Dynasty Africa has emerged as a pioneer agency playing a pivotal role in shaping and professionalising influencer marketing practices in the country.
As Dynasty Africa celebrated its 3rd anniversary, CEO Dayo Adedeji sat down with Anthony Udugba of BusinessDay Media to discuss the company’s journey, highlighting the challenges of being a pioneer business in an industry with no set blueprint. However, through innovation, strategic partnerships, and a deep understanding of the Nigerian market, Dynasty Africa has overcome these challenges and set a benchmark for others to follow.
Building a Dynasty: What challenges did Dynasty Africa face in its first three years, and how did you ensure the company’s sustainability?
Dynasty Africa is a pioneer agency in the Influencer Marketing industry, and the challenge of being a pioneer is that there is no blueprint to follow. You become the blueprint as you try different things, fail, learn, and set the standard. We’ve sustained the company by building healthy relationships in the team, with our clients and our influencers.
Evolving Landscape: How has the influencer marketing landscape in Nigeria changed since Dynasty Africa’s inception? How has your agency adapted to these changes?
A couple of years ago, Influencer Marketing wasn’t a thing in Nigeria and Africa at large. Only a few knew about it and even the few that knew about it didn’t approach it as “Influencer Marketing” because there was no system to it. Brands were randomly reaching out to popular faces to promote them with no structure, system, or strategy.
There were problems with achieving results both on the client part and the influencer part. Dynasty Africa came in and built a system that made the industry recognisable, with the system Dynasty Africa has built, every party is satisfied because we’ve set a strategic process that benefits every party in terms of results and other aspects.
Future Forward: what are your strategies for ensuring Dynasty Africa’s continued growth and success in the next three years?
We are purpose-driven, we will simply keep building on every aspect and improving on our services. We want to show the world that Influencer Marketing is the most powerful means of marketing and we want to build an ecosystem around it.
How does Dynasty Africa select the right influencers for its clients’ campaigns? Can you share some examples of successful partnerships you’ve fostered?
We are very thorough when it comes to campaigns, we have a thorough process, and every process is strategic including the influencer selection process. One example is our first year of collaboration with inDrive with over 25 Million reach nationwide, millions of engagements, and a high percentage of user growth for inDrive. During the collaborations, we also delivered one of the most viral ad contents in 2023 with one of the influencers, Layi Wasabi who we worked with to achieve over 5M views on his video.
The Powerhouse List: Can you name some of the top Nigerian influencers you’ve partnered with, and how have these collaborations impacted campaigns?
Generally, we work with all spectrums of influencers- micro, macro, and mega. However, when it comes to top Influencers, we work with Shank, Taooma, Real Warri Pikin, Layi Wasabi, Rodney, and the likes. As earlier stated, we are strategy-driven, so we strategically work with these top influencers to impact collaborations, an example with Layi Wasabi was mentioned earlier.
Breaking barriers: Are there any specific campaigns that stand out as innovative or impactful in your agency’s history?
Our first year of collaboration with our international client – inDrive as their partners. Our collaboration with one of our fintech startup clients in September – November was also one for the books with a result of over 250M naira ($300,000 at the time) in revenue, 16,000 users, and 250,000 transactions generated for the client.
Pioneering Trends: What emerging trends do you see shaping influencer marketing in Nigeria in the coming years, and how is Dynasty Africa preparing to adapt?
The trends in the Influencer Marketing industry will depend on the trends that arise in the Influencing industry, we’ve studied and predicted some trends that will arise in the influencing industry among the influencers and we’re getting prepared for them.
What is the agency’s approach to ethical influencer marketing practices in Nigeria today?
Dealing in good faith is always the best approach to any practice in Nigeria, including Influencer Marketing.
What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur navigating the influencer marketing space in Nigeria?
Starting the company and spearheading an industry in Nigeria is something that was and is bigger than me. In the beginning, we had a lot of rejections on both the client’s end and the influencer’s end, people were skeptical to come on board but with time, I learnt that building connections and giving value helped along the way. Most importantly, I believe I have the best team in the world, and we wouldn’t have come this far without them.
What advice do you have for other aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make their mark in the influencer marketing industry?
Find what works for you at the end of the day. The sky is big enough for everyone and you can only learn by trying, so find what fits you and follow it.
Thank you for your time, Dayo. We wish Dynasty Africa continued success as it continues to shape the future of influencer marketing in Nigeria.
