An informed source in Nigeria has told Comm. that since Etisalat’s launch in the country on October 24, 2008, the UAE-based operator has become the most visible player across the country in terms of branding, visibility and awareness.
Despite Etisalat Nigeria entering as the fifth GSM operator in Africa’s most populous country, the source said that a massive impact had been felt through a strong marketing campaign prior to the launch of commercial services.
Etisalat is targeting a 30 per cent market share by 2011 in Nigeria, a country of more than 145 million inhabitants.
Etisalat Nigeria’s aggressive campaign included a prelaunch promotion offering up to one million customers the opportunity to reserve at no cost their choice of mobile number starting with 0809. Subscribers also received a free prepaid SIM card that included free airtime every month for an indefinite period of time.
The success of the Etisalat brand in Nigeria is of even more significance given the initial fears that it might be lost in all the other branding changes that have occurred in the telecoms sector in the West African country over a fairly short period of time.
“In Lagos, at the time Celtel rebranded to Zain (August 2008), there was a mood that the market had seen so many new brands come in recently that the average consumer was unsure who all these companies were,” commented Michele Scanlon, principal consultant of Cape Town-based telecoms consultancy Green Giraffe.
The introduction of the Zain brand in Nigeria is the operator’s fifth corporate identity change since its inception in 2001. The operator began life as Econet Wireless Nigeria, changing to Vodacom Nigeria, then to Vee Networks/VMobile. The operator was then acquired by Celtel, and finally rebranded to Zain.
Nigerian CDMA operator Visafone also undertook a successful rebranding exercise earlier in 2008, as did fellow CDMA operator Reltel Wireless (Reliance Communications), which changed its brand name to Zoom Mobile.
1 comment so far ↓
This is no doubt that this piece is the work of a very dubious Reporter and an arm chair researcher. How can Etisalat that is so largely unproven and unknown outside the confines of Nigeria’s 5 largest city be the most visible company in Nigeria.
How on earth can anyone claim that Etisalat is more visible or loud than MTN and Zain or even Globacom. You only need to be in Nigeria to know the truth. A Consultant who simply wants to justify why the company paid him millions of naira to prop up its visibility cannot hoodwink us into believing its report. Indeed, it is a shame that anyone will contemplate such a suggestion. It is absurd and absolutely disgusting.
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