MTN Nigeria On A Pulsing P Ad Campaign – Good Marketing Or Not? – By @thatMBAguy
So MTN have decided to put out a TV commercial (TVC)
to promote their iPulse rate/service (See Commercial - MTN iPulse TV Commercial) with some of the hottest artists in the Nigerian music industry; Praiz (That Stupid Song/Rich
and Famous), Iyanya (Kukere crooner), Wizkid (Omo Jaiye Jaiye) & Kcee
(Limpopo master) and Casey Kerry all who also happen to all be MTN brand
ambassadors except Casey. So what makes this commercial different and how will
it create value for the MTN brand?
Audience
With the tagline/hook ‘On A Pulsing P’ it shows MTN is targeting the Generation Y/the Millennial Generation i.e. demographics from
the early 1980s to the early 2000s. Is MTN trying to tell Nigeria something or
is this just a coincidence? Only time will tell but I do believe a big brand such
as MTN will not spend major bucks to have no clear targets or objective. In my
opinion, the commercial targets that demographic who have keen interest in entertainment (an industry which has tremendously grown over
the last decade).
The Message
What story is MTN telling/selling in this TVC? Basically MTN is trying to
sell its iPulse service/rates which is evident in the lyrics from most of the
artists. These include;
Praiz: MTN no loss, I
connect the whole naija, with the same flat rate all day
Wizkid: See I don port (another service provided by MTN)
to good connection, I dey pulse chat my
baby, she sef dey for good connection, getting 5mb daily.
Kcee: oya pulse make
we talk, free caller tunes subscription (oya Limpopo on a pulsing p).
Basically one can get an idea of the the iPulse offerings (it’s
countrywide, flat rate of calls, free caller tunes subscription etc)
Delivery, Appeal &
Significance
Is the story
appealing to its audience, and delivered via the right medium? Yes and yes. The
reason being as mentioned earlier the audience is the generation Y but I
believe this demographic are the ones who value entertainment the most in the
country and are most likely to use/buy MTN’s VAS (Value Added Service – such as
callertunes etc, although only MTN will have the data to back this up). The TVC can be accessed via the internet, TV and radio which
targets the masses. One might think this is not very targeted but MTN will not
want to specifically cut off other demographics/users hence to counteract this,
they have positioned the commercial on most communication media which pretty
much covers most of the relevant entertainment avenues accessible by most
Nigerians.
With regards to
significance, MTN have pretty much brought together some of the biggest names
in the music industry as at 2013.
Oh, MTN are also
promoting this commercial as a SINGLE. This means it is likely to get played in
clubs, bars, restaurants etc. It also means the single can be sold as a caller
tune or even ringtones which is extra revenue for the BRAND (talk about killing
two birds with one stone).
So far, MTN seem
to be tapping into the power of the entertainment industry (especially the
music sector) in promoting its service. It is also is tapping into the
potential fan base of its brand ambassadors (just going by the Twitter numbers
of all acts on the iPulse TVC, the artists collectively have over 1.1m
followers which might not seem large but if this generates conversations, the
impact for the brand could be huge).
MTN have also done
other commercials which include ‘Saka – I Don Port’ and ‘Saka & Don Jazzy - MTN
Songstar’
Will this campaign
be contagious? Will it create conversations (online and offline)? Will it
increase the popularity of the service (iPulse)? Will it help
position/reinforce MTN as a market leader in the telecoms sector? Is it the
best use of the brand ambassadors? These will all be reveled in the coming
months.
Disclaimer: This is not intended to be
an exhaustive marketing review rather just some
thoughts at the time of writing. J Please share
yours.
