2013 was quite an eventful year
for many brands. It was one in which regulatory environments, the spending
power of consumers and the rising influence of music had created a market that
would only reward bold, clear and engaging brand campaigns. Some brands came to
the party with big guns while others played safe and will noticeably find
themselves on the back foot.
In this short piece I will
highlight 10 campaigns that I believe stood out in a compelling way.
1. “I don port o” : This Mobile Number
Portability (MNP) campaign by MTN featured “Saka” a popular actor who had been
a regular face in adverts for Etisalat Nigeria. This campaign was widely
acclaimed for the feat that MTN scored of luring away a known face used by its
greatest competitor. Featuring a catchy jingle and a funny video and phrase
that went viral pretty fast, this campaign helped MTN with some strong points
for brand awareness. However statistics coming out of the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) has shown MTN being the net loser in the MNP
war with most of their customers porting to Etisalat. In the light of this, how
successful was this campaign you may ask?
2. The Indomitables: You just have to hand
it to the guys at De-United Foods. This campaign that included stickers of the
“Indomitable” cartoon characters in packs of indomie turned most children into
ardent sticker collectors. Many fridges, walls and even car screens are
currently plastered with the stickers…talk about a brand taking over! This was
a good one, pretty sticky (all pun intended)
3.
“You
need a new bank”: The Diamond Bank brand campaign featuring Bovi the
comedian was a well received campaign in 2013. A clear “sub” at some of the
other leading banks in the land, it helped tell the untold story of Diamond
Bank as a true supporter of businesses and individuals. Any surprise then that
this campaign is reputed to have led to a massive account opening spree across
many of the bank’s branches? That’s a very successful campaign right there.
4.
“Go
Down Low” : Etisalat Nigeria sampled this song by Olamide to communicate a
lower tariff plan. The accompanying TV advert and radio jingles were very well
received and I can confirm helped the speedy adoption of the tariff plan with
considerable increase in the company’s revenue. The massive airplay deployed
for the campaign also helped Olamide’s brand awareness go truly national. Win
win anyone?
5.
“Music
in a Bottle”: The Star brand was on a music rampage in 2013. First they
rolled out a unique mobile app with exclusive video releases, news etc, they
continued with their usual Star Trek music train and then topped the year with
a new bottle design tagged “The Rockstar”. This brand stayed on theme in great
execution. The question though is whether it was wise to put a significant mark
up price on the “Rockstar” bottle over the usual Star bottle. Consumers didn’t
look so enthusiastic to pay that premium in the busy yuletide shopping rush.
6.
“Fall
Yakata Sale”: The good folks at Konga ran this heavy digital campaign
promising massive sales slash on select items to coincide with the Christmas
rush. The sales really went “Yakata”, along with their site! Reports of site
crash and unfulfilled deliveries put a slight dent on this campaign but it was
a good effort and should help them plan better for a future massive sale.
7.
“Live
Lumia”: In the smart phone wars, Nokia seemed to enter 2013 on the back
foot. The guys at Nokia decided to fight their way back and they did it quite
well with the Live Lumia campaign. From hash tag reward campaigns on twitter,
creating short TV commercials with music VJs and the simplicity of pushing just
the name “Lumia”, Nokia scored a hat trick with this campaign in Nigeria in my
opinion, earning its place right up there with the iPhone and Android phones in
perception of “cool” once more.
8.
Mansard
means roof: Yeah, we actually didn’t know Mansard means a “roof/cover” but
the good folks at Mansard crafted a TV campaign that they used to communicate
the name change from GT Assurance to Mansard Insurance. It was clear, not
cheesy and pretty direct in associating making a roof sign (the new logo) as a
stamp of protection in different life scenarios. I have it on good authority
that 2013 has been an amazing financial year for Mansard. Did the name change
or the campaign itself produce these results? Chicken or the egg? ‘All na food’
if you ask me.
9.
“Step Up to VIP”: The Johnnie Walker
campaign was pretty neat. It featured a drive of a lifetime with 2 time Formula
1 champion Mika Kakkinen and some lucky customers in a Caparo Supercar parked
at the Lekki and Ikeja Shopping Malls. They topped this with an exclusive after
party with Wale, a US based rapper and then draws to win 5 BMW’s (the ultimate
driving machine. Whats so special about this campaign? I love when a brand
stays on “theme”…how better to keep moving than in a BMW?
10.
Product
Placement of Life: This year we saw music videos being used to drop brand
cues in form of product placement. From KCee’s feature of a Tecno phone in
“Limpopo”, Sean Tizzle’s “Komole” video that featured bottles of Guinness quite
conspicuously in a party setting to Banky W’s “Jasi” video that featured an “Aristo”
washing his hands in the up market Ciroc brand from the Diageo brands stable. Could
product placement be a trend to look out for in brand campaigns for 2014? In
the ‘band wagon’ times we are in, I can bet my money on that.
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