MTN Nigeria may have spent up to a
whooping N500m in the last 16 months on
brand endorsement deals and related
campaigns, according to investigations by
Nigerian Entertainment Today .
MTN Nigeria is the biggest spender in the
market, but this is the first time they’re
spending heavily on brand endorsements – an
area hitherto monopolised by competitor
Globacom.
In a pleasantly- surprising switch in policy, the
telecoms giant is handing out ambassadorial
roles to some of the biggest pop artistes in the
country, organizing competitions and shooting
award deserving TVCs.
What’s responsible? A strong determination to
survive the Mobile Number Portability war,
which pundits say is, for most of the players in
Nigeria’s lucrative telecoms sector, a ‘do or
die’ affair.
MTN has the largest subscriber base in a
market that is apparently very juicy. But the
coming of MNP presented competitors like Glo
and Etisalat an opportunity to close the gap.
MTN threw out their first endorsement deal in
April 2012 when they hired the services of
then 19-year-old Pop singer Davido as the
ambassador for ‘ MTN Pulse
‘, a new marketing campaign for Nigerian
youths called ‘MTN Fun Link‘. The deal was
reportedly worth N30m.
It took 13 months for the next set of
endorsement deals to come, this time to three
past winners of Project Fame, a show solely
sponsored by the telecoms company. Singers
Iyanya (N40m), Mike ‘iMyke’ Ayansodo
(N10m), Chidinma (N20m) and another
vibrant contestant Praiz (N20m).
The deal came shortly after MTN had poached
actor Hafeez ‘Saka’ Oyetoro who made a
famous move from another telecom company
Etisalat, in a sensational deal reportedly worth
N25m.
MTN then went on an endorsement spree –
signing on some of the biggest contemporary
Nigerian artistes – Wizkid (N45m), Tiwa
Savage (N30m), KCEE (N25m) and later on
Don Jazzy along with younger brother
D’Prince .
‘It was a good feeling getting endorsed by one
of the biggest telecommunication company in
Africa when my carrier as an artist was just
picking up. I didn’t even have an album back
then ‘, Pop singer Davido who extended his
endorsement deal this year tells NET.
It looked like a full swoop from MTN but
Nigerian tech buffs will tell you that the move
from the ‘Yello!’ team is reminiscent of a
recent move by another telecoms company –
Globacom.
‘You see, GLO made a full swoop, signing close
to 10 relevant contemporary acts in just one
week and played it up‘, Sola Fanawopo of
Financial Technology Magazine tells NET.
‘Just imagine if GLO had offered Iyanya or
Chidinma or Praiz irresistible, mouth-watering
deals? It would be ‘Saka saga’ all over again‘.
MTN however stepped it up – delving into
other multi-million Naira projects, the most
publicized of which is the recent ‘MTN
Songstar Competition‘, offering subscribers a
chance to win a brand new Porsche Cayman
worth about N10.4m and a recording deal with
Don Jazzy (worth about N10m also).
The competition allows users to download an
app ‘MTN Songstar’ which enables subscribers
convert their mobile phones into a digital
karaoke machine. The cost of building an app
(this includes brainstorming and strategy
development, prototype design, programming
and development, quality assurance and testing
and finally, marketing and promoting) N4.5m.
The app, MTN says will be delivered on six
different platforms. Doing the math, this totals
into N270m.
With this huge investment, experts are
wondering if there’s guaranteed ROI in a
market as unstable as Nigeria.
‘In as much as this helps the lives of Nigerian
artistes and their respective labels, these
companies will surely be getting their money
back, maybe on the long run’, President,
Association of Music Artiste Managers of
Nigeria (AMAMN), Sijuade Adedokun tells NET.
The General Manager, Consumer Marketing at
MTN Nigeria, Kola Oyeyemi seems to have a
more direct answer to that question. ‘No brand
is a charity and if you think it’s a charity then
you have to think again. When a brand engages
in anything, they try to see what value is
coming to them either in direct sales benefit or
visibility and attractiveness of association ‘,
Oyeyemi said in a paper presented at the
inaugural edition of the Nigerian Entertainment
Conference held April, 2013
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