Creatives in this regard refer to images, videos, audio, and other formats that get delivered to users. Creatives must be added to line items in order for them to serve ads.

Sean Riley, CEO Ad Dynamo by Aleph Group, gave this while discussing issues around raising army of digital marketing talents in Africa, particularly in Nigeria.

Talking about skill, he said a part of it is attitude, “for example in a market like UK it’s not unusual for a brand to spend 30 to 35% of total budget on amazing creative.

Facts & Figures about Digital Advertising in Nigeria

• Total internet advertising revenue is projected to grow from US$73m in 2018 to US$133m in 2023.
• Online ad market has seen an unprecedented growth between 2015 and 2018, By 2023, online advertising is forecast to generate US$133m on revenue
• The market’s largest segment is Video Advertising with a market volume of US$87.61m in 2022.
• 68% of total digital ad spending will be generated through mobile in 2026.
• Just recently, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON no ARCON), the regulatory body responsible for advertising in Nigeria rolled out plans to regulate online advertising in the country in a bid to sanitise the industry and curb inflammatory advertising messages.

“In most African territories brands treat creative as an afterthought, and if they spend 1 or 2% of the total budget towards creative that’s a lot so we need brands to understand that better creative delivers better results, distinguishes your brand from competitors, helps you to stand out. And so as brands adopt that change in perception it will grow the creative part of the industry. When we talk about digital, everyone focuses on numbers and metrics and the hard mathematical numerical part of the role, but creativity is a critical role to the development of the market”.

While stressing that developing talents is strategic to Ad Dynamo, Sean said now the market is developing, the Continent should preserve its army of talented youths with digital skills.

“I think it would be very arrogant to say that Aleph is going to come and close a skills gap in any market. Aleph wants to be a part of skilling up more resources in the local market. But even without Aleph, and without our efforts on Digital Ad Experts, we’ve observed a rapid decline of the skills set.

“Digital advertising world is all about skills available. Anyone can load 100 dollars on any platform and spend it, but optimising that and building great creative, are all critical attributes to achieving performance.

“We’ve seen that skillset developed in Nigeria. And I think the easiest way of assessing that skillset is assessing the caliber of the people we are busy hiring.

“And the caliber of the people we are finding on the ground has been exceptional. If I think back 10 years ago to today, we think that the team in Nigeria is world class and can hold their own compared to any other market. I think we can put all frills on it, but we are a sales business and the one area we need to get better in Nigeria is (and this is not exclusive to Nigeria, it’s the way in very many of markets we operate in), but I still think it’s an environment to achieve good sales results with relationships”.

The Ad Dynamo CEO, continues: “This is an important part of it, but at the same time you have to get to the point where you are achieving results because you are delivering value. If you are showing compelling results and a compelling outcome it shouldn’t matter if we are best mates or not. That is still a transition that we are busy seeing but we are seeing that transition. We are also seeing brands and agencies maturing a lot. In my last visit we had a lot of big brands stating that one of their KPIs is to pay their suppliers within 7 days…”, he said.

When asked how the current trend of mass migration of talents from Africa, digital marketers inclusive, to Europe, America and other Continent, he insisted that “skills development is key; we are absolutely seeing that trend. I think that what reinforces that for us is that a lot of brands are recognising the gap. Whereas a few years ago brands would pretend there was no gap they now see their depth or how threatened by a fast changing world.

“I think all markets are going to have that challenge, not only Nigeria, of young talent wanting to cast their wings and go on an adventure abroad. I think after time a lot of them (young talents) come back.

“A great illustration for me is that if I were to pull out our top 30 clients from 10 years ago to today at least 30% of our top 10 clients didn’t even exist 10 years ago. Which shows us that the change happening in Nigeria is fast. I think that talking about skill, a part of it is not only skill but attitude, for example in a market like UK it’s not unusual for a brand to spend 30 to 35% of total budget on amazing creative”, the Ad Dynamo CEO said.

In January 2022, Ad Dynamo was acquired by Aleph Group, Inc., a leading global enabler of digital advertising, serving as a crucial link at the core of the global digital ecosystem by connecting the largest digital platforms with thousands of advertisers and billions of consumers in emerging and underserved countries.

Now, Ad Dynamo by Aleph has commercial and, in many cases, exclusive agreements with over 30 of the leading digital platforms, including: Twitter, Meta, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, Spotify and Twitch. Through these relationships, the company provides digital platforms with a sustainable and scalable way to monetize their advertising inventory in emerging countries at little additional cost and complexity.

They combine these relationships with an extensive global footprint and an end-to-end digital advertising solution that enables advertisers in 90 countries to reach close to 3 billion consumers and maximise their digital advertising potential.

Over the past few years, Nigeria has seen significant increases in internet access and activity and that growth comes with the potential for a vibrant digital marketing ecosystem.

In a recent chat with the media in Nigeria, Sean Riley, CEO, Ad Dynamo by Aleph talked about the works the digital media company is doing in Nigeria and its plans for the near future as well as the comparative advantages it offers in the local digital marketing landscape.

He started by stating how excited the team is to be a part of the Aleph family.

“I would say one of the really important points to highlight behind this is that we have known the senior leadership team at Aleph for many years; interacting with the guys for 7 to 8 years. We know each other really well which has made transitioning into the Aleph family a very smooth process for us, and knowing each well makes that so much easier.

“Aleph CEO, Gaston Zelerteins, is very passionate about global education and feels that that’s what is really going to accelerate growth across all emerging markets, is by closing the gap of skills available, by introducing more career opportunities to young individuals across all emerging markets”.

Nigeria is really key to Ad Dynamo

Sean described Nigeria as “really key to that”. To explain how important Nigeria is to Aleph worldwide in terms of extending its training program, Digital Ad Experts, “Nigeria is the first market where an English version of the product has been made available. Aleph began where its roots are, Latin America, and Nigeria is the first market outside of Latin America where we’ve opened it up for local candidates.

“Maybe if I can talk to the Ad Expert for a minute, because it’s not always that clear. I think the website is being refined a little to make the opportunity clearer to individuals.

“There’s a lot of free training on the site that anyone can just register and complete free of charge at any time. And you can slowly but surely complete a comprehensive set of tools in digital advertising. But then we also have the online ad degree, a more formal process that takes 3 months. We take waves of students, and this is peer-to-peer learning, there’s a dedicated instructor who guides all Nigerian students through the process.

“The goal is to do waves of 500 at a time. There are two very different elements. The one is everyday opportunities where you can log on and complete courses, and then there’s the other one the online ad degree.

“Something very important about the online ad degree is that Snapchat and Twitter have invested in Aleph. So a part of the process is that you receive a Twitter flight school certification, you receive a snapchat certification as a part of the process. So really for an individual there are a lot of certifications that you gather by going through that process”.

Coming fresh off the back of its recently announced expansion in the country, the programme is designed to equip young Nigerians with the skills they need to succeed in digital marketing.

Hosted on the Aleph Group’s proprietary learning platform, Digital Ad Expert is a peer-to-peer learning programme that aims to educate, certify, and connect thousands of Africans with the digital skills needed to succeed in a rapidly digitising economy, allowing them to compete at a global level for jobs in this growing industry.

“Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and is also digitising rapidly,” says Sean Riley, Ad Dynamo CEO. “With Digital Ad Expert, we want to ensure that young people have the best possible chance of benefiting from the opportunities presented by that growth and expansion.”

It’s estimated that an additional 35 million Nigerians will come online by 2026, meaning that digital marketing will be a significant growth industry. It will also have an important role to play not only in reaching ordinary consumers but also in helping businesses across the country grow and thrive.      

Aleph has set a goal of using Digital Ad Expert to educate 50,000 digital learners worldwide with digital marketing skills, and Nigeria is a big part of this ambition.

People participating in the programme get an introduction to digital marketing, as well as modules covering strategy, analytics, and content creation.

Additionally, they learn the ins and outs of advertising on specific platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok.

The programme also gives participants an overview of job opportunities and the labour market.  

“We have no doubt that Nigerian youth have immense digital potential,” Riley concludes. “We’re proud to play a role in ensuring that they’re given the necessary help to unlock that potential.” 

How to apply

Applications for Digital Ad Expert opened on 27 June and will run until 18 July. The first cohort is then scheduled to kick off on 25 July 2022.

Candidates can apply to complete a free three-month comprehensive digital ad degree here.