SITUATION
Nigeria had less than 700,000 operational telephone lines in January 2001 when the auction for Digital Mobile Licences was conducted by the NCC. The granting of Licence to four operators pointed to a transformation of the marketplace, as the operators prepared to launch later in the year. In an environment of technological parity, it was felt that leadership will derive from network quality, coverage, superior marketing, and customer service.
TASK
C&F Porter Novelli, then Corporate & Financial was retained by MTN to provide support in ensuring that the MTN brand remains #1. The identified objectives were to build and sustain excitement around the MTN brand, project, and gain acceptance of MTN as the GSM network of quality and value, dominate mindshare on GSM in Nigeria, and project and gain acceptance of MTN as a good corporate citizen of Nigeria.
APPROACH
A three Phase campaign was developed with pre-launch focused on generating excitement about MTN’s entry into Nigeria and positioning as a leader; launch geared towards shaping perception of MTN as the leader through launch celebrations, and post-launch on sustaining perception of MTN as the leader.
RESULT
The perception of MTN as a market leader was sustained over a period of seven years, with state launches, sponsorships, sales promotions, CSR, public affairs engagements and thought leadership GSM, amplified by storytelling via media relations. The media was constantly drip- fed stories on the milestones achieved. MTN enjoyed over 90% of ICT reports in the first 7 years of operations. After 6years on the account, MTN became the undisputed telecommunications company in Nigeria, with an enviable reputation as the primary provider of GSM services.