Glo Brand Ambassador Programme: between marketing and altruism

Globacom, Nigeria’s second largest telecoms operator, is a wholly-owned Nigerian company belonging to the massive business empire of Mike Adenuga, Nigeria’s second richest person, with 100% of its shares held locally. It is an international brand with about 35 million subscribers, 24% share of the Nigerian telecoms market, and majority of Nigeria’s internet users.

This is one brand that is very strong, now even beyond the south-west of Nigeria and prides itself as the king of data, evidently. And it has made a lot of things easy and possible in Nigeria. It charged the least for SIMs; and Glo it was that paved the way for per-second billing in Nigeria after MTN and Econet had made it seem impossible.

However, in marketing the Globacom brand, or Glo Mobile, if you like, it embarked on a gargantuan Brand Ambassadorship programme, more than any other brand in Nigeria, or in Nigeria’s history. It is Glo that has spent money the most on non-glowing brand ambassadors. The strategy for this programme, and the tactics adopted to run it are the issues at stake here. 

Glo currently rules the world of 29 brand ambassadors, at the last count, all picked from the showbiz industry; actors, musicians, comedians and one delectable veteran broadcaster make up the lot. They include Wizkid (now dropped), AY, Bovi Ugboma, OC Ukeje, Patience Ozokwo, Odunlade Adekola, Korede Bello, Reekado Banks, Hadizah Blell, D’Banj, P Square (now dropped), Chinedu Okoli (Fkavour), and Jude Abaga (MI). 

Wizkid, Glo Ambassador

Others are Wande Coal, Omawumi Megbele, Bez Idakula (now dropped), Burna Boy, Ego Ogbaro, Sammie Okposo, Sani Danja, Basketmouth, Ini Edo, Funke Akindele, Helen Paul, Ime Bishop Umoh, John Okafor (Mr. Ibu), Chiwetalu Agu, and Bimbo Oloyede.

 

Basketmouth, leading Glo Ambassador

Reference books say the primary function of any Ambassador Programme is to get the word out about the company, recommend its services, and foster brand awareness, pronto! By hosting events, taking to social media, and being a brand resource, your ambassadors are planting deep roots within their community, catchment and other areas of influence for your brand, and company.

Whether Glo’s brand ambassadors have satisfied the foregoing expectation leaves much to be desired. Too many of them jostle for attention, and retention in our minds. In fact, the social media are increasingly making ambassadors irrelevant and redundant as brands today can have direct interaction with, and immediate response from their fans, subscribers and consumers without the aid of any intermediary.

 

Funke Akindele, Glo Ambassador

It’s hard to tell if there are specific briefs for, or expectations from these ambassadors. Beside appearing in a few TVCs, showing up at product launches and serving as attraction points for other Glo activities, they are hardly seen representing the brand in the foregoing capacity, especially with their primary responsibility yet unfulfilled. 

So how do the agencies managing this huge African brand creatively deploy their skills and specialties to achieve an ample return on Globacom’s investment on the ambassadors? Are they obliged to help share Glo content or messages through their huge fan base, through their various areas of influence, and over the digital space particularly, where Glo reigns supreme? 

Do the ambassadors facilitate any real social engagement with Glo’s target? Do they, for instance, tweet Glo activities, brand themselves, their persona, their show apparels, homes, offices, vehicles and milieu? In essence, do they live the brand? This is all about marketing first of all, don’t forget, not altruism. And don’t we all know how philanthropic Bella’s daddy can be? His credentials and antecedents in that regard glow all too well.

I also always wonder how having this multitude of ambassadors aligns with, or enhances Glo’s business goals. What is the essence of an ambassador endorsing my brand by noon, and doing the same for another brand by afternoon, even if we aren’t both in direct competition; in today’s marketing where people make choices between buying a bottle of mineral water and airtime?

Well, in fairness to the ambassadors, maybe they help the reach of the Glo brand, enhancing awareness for it, but does their activity impact directly on the precious brand's revenue base? If so, how has Glo been able to track and confirm all of that?

Of all the telecoms companies, Etisalat appears to be the one that has made the most judicious use of this tool. Saka’s porting was a good coup, but did the MTN brand no lasting good. Etisalat benefited even more from that situation, arguably.

 

When Saka ported

Francis Odega is now unambiguously associated with Etisalat and gets top-of-mind awareness whenever the Etisalat brand is mentioned. And whenever you see him at a venue, you can bet an Etisalat event is in tow, and a flash of the brand image in mind. He lives the brand! And the company didn't have to take on too much.

 

Francis Odega and Etisalat

But give a pencil and a sheet of paper to any employee of Glo’s, from executives to non-executives, and even Executive Directors, and ask that they list out the ambassadors for the brand they work so assiduously to build and protect, and the answers will be as indicting as you may not want to believe. 

Indictment on how close they are to the brand, yet how little they know about it. But the situation is too overwhelming to be their fault. Won’t it then be unfair to expect that subscribers and potential subscribers will know? I have conveniently left out the chairman who’s reputed to have a clockwork brain, and who undoubtedly will know all those he has signed up, signed out, or about to sign-in. 

Some of the Glo ambassadors even come across first as ambassadors for other brands. Bovi is undoubtedly more prominent for Diamond; Flavour is as visible for Onga as he is for Glo; so is Wizkid with Pepsi; and Mr. Ibu almost got lost among that campus crowd.

Bovi with Diamond Bank

 

Flavour with Onga Food Seasoning

Guinness it is that has made the best use of this tool, with the Michael Power example. Michael Power is a personification of the Guinness brand, living it, and carrying out well-designed brand strategies, some of which I was privileged to have worked on. Ask 10 people, and most of them will ready associate Michael Power with Guinness. The memories of his association linger, but the same cannot be said for a lot of other brands.

 

Guinness' Michael Power

Some Nigerian brand ambassadors do not only flirt with a lot of other brands who can pay, they actually practise polyandry, literally. Brand ambassadorship is less about the quantity and more about the quality; not just quality of the subject matter but of their output, their enhancement of brand equity, and their fulfillment of expectations and marketing objectives.

Your quintessential ambassador is not the one you see associating with every other brand; this can be quite confusing to the average target. It is sheer waste of money when you list an ambassador whose association with your brand can’t be exclusive, and whose representation is full of ambiguities. Some ambassadors have been known to inadvertently mention the name of a brand while representing or speaking for another.

 

Singer Tiwa Savage with a real Pampers Mom

Not many brands yet think of turning their customers to their ambassadors, not even Insurance, or Pensions brands. The stories are better told by those who have experienced and romanced the brands than unconnected, and unconcerned celebrities. And a satisfied customer is always a willing, guaranteed, and more believable ambassador.

Written by ‘Dele Dele-Olukoju, Marketing Communication consultant and publisher of the online Marketing Communication Digest. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.