2010: All Eyes on You (1)

It is indeed gratifying to know that you are there reading this column after absence occasioned by the Christmas/New Year holidays. Do you say ‘but you overshot by one week? Yes you are right! If I am allowed to plagiarize our friends on the government side, I will say it was due to “some urgent state matters”. In any case my unreserved apologies.
Last year was an eventful year both on the agencies’ and the clients’ sides but if the signs are right, it appears the industry this year will be hyperactive, including landmark pitches and business reviews, revolutionary product launches and great career achievements by practitioners and agencies.
My preview of the year 2010, I tag “All Eyes on You Series”. This might run for some weeks, covering the entire industry. It is so titled because the industry actually expects some shifts from the usual including putting fire. Yes “fire” in the butt of some agencies who sit on their fat asses. Read between the lines and some juicy opportunities might just stare you in the face. So come along!
MTN Brand Communications Business: The MTN business especially advertising might attract a lot more attention and interest in 2010. One: the brand is a World Cup sponsor. That means a lot more action for the brand’s custodians on both sides of the divide. The budget for marketing communications will definitely shoot up like never before. Reason to jubilate you will say!
On the other hand however, there is likely to be a review for the business this year as the subsisting contract lapses around April, 2010. While the FIFA World Cup may provide some respite for the agencies concerned to hang unto the business for a while longer, there is bound to be scheming and an eventual review sometimes after the World Cup. DDB has been outstanding running the business single handedly until recently when Insight Communications was saddled the responsibility for the youth market segment.
Therefore, at the appropriate time, the lead agency and incumbent (DDB) will have Insight Communications, Prima Garnet, SO&U, BatesCosse and some other major operators to contend with in this yet to declared great pitch but pronounced by Shopfloor. So all eyes on MTN and DDB in 2010.
Nigerian Breweries Advertising/Media Businesses: This is another money spinner that has continued to be the dream of every agency worth its salt in the Nigerian marketing communications industry. The last pitch for the business was about four years ago. Precisely, the media pitch which held after the advertising reviews took place in 2005 though it was concluded in 2006. The final battle was between the eventual winners – Media Perspectives and city rivals Initiative Global. Like the MTN business, the contract which was for an initial two-year period has been renewed. Ditto for the brand advertising agencies Insight Communications and Lowe Lintas. While all have been able to prove their mettle within the period a review is also imminent.
Although, the Client Nigerian Breweries – is one of the most stable in the industry, for instance it has retained Lowe Lintas for over 60 years working on its Star Lager brand. The fact that the leading brewer has no substantive Marketing Director and might get one this year all the more suggests that the new Marketing Director, most likely another import form its Heineken partners might put up a pitch where the incumbents will have to prove themselves or shape-out of the business. All eyes on Lintas and Insight as the agencies to beat.
Etisalat’s Simplicity and Innovation: One million US dollars prize money does not only hold the Nigerian record as the biggest ever but it is indeed the biggest in Africa. And the mode of making its millionaires follows its “simplicity and innovative” way. Will Etisalat beat its own record in 2010? All eyes of the consumers and the industry are on the brand. Perhaps the most important is the brand’s legendary achievement of two million subscribers in a market purportedly saturated at the point of its entry. The challenge in 2010 for the Abu Dhabi brand and its marketing egg-heads is to convince the industry that its achievement of the past year was not a fluke. All eyes on your team.
The story is that Etisalat is splitting the account (advertising business) between the winning team of 141-Worldwide and Udeme Ufot led SO&U. Sources close to the business have not denied the information. So the thematic campaigns are going to be tighter, thicker and do you say more combative? All eyes on all on all concerned.