An interesting debate has been raging on in the
communication and advertising sub-sectors in
the last couple of weeks. It was stirred by the
sudden and dramatic switch of camps by
artiste Hafeez Oyetoro, alias Saka, from Etisalat
to MTN. This controversy is similar to the
occasional hullabaloo that always
accompanied the defecting of a notable
Nigerian political figure from one political party
to another. ‘Saka’ is a popular character that
was specially created to market Etisalat by its
ad agency, and was highly successful in that
regard. But quite suddenly, on the heels of the
Nigerian Communications Commission’s Mobile
Number Portability campaign recently, MTN
cleverly got him to “port go” and thus he
deserted Etisalat in a manner that seems to
have left a sour taste in the mouths of not just
some people in the advertising world but also
many observers.
Yet, the question remains whether any real
breach of professional ethics had been
committed by either the artiste or MTN as a
company, given the fact that ‘Saka’ is believed
to have had no written or verifiable contractual
accord with Etisalat. The lessons that could be
drawn from this include:
(a) the need for written contractual
understanding or agreement to seal important
business relationships between an artiste and
his employer.
(b) The need to remunerate artistes adequately
so that they would think twice in the face of
tempting offers by competitors.
(c) The need to adopt impact measurement as
a vital component of any major or successful
campaign and
(d) The need to avoid the temptation to
underrate any artiste because in a dynamic
world like advertising, the least expected model
may prove the ultimate ambassador of a brand.
But, above everything else, the dramatic
“porting” of Saka and its impact so far on the
latter’s portability campaign and the obvious
shock and tremor it has left in the other camp
count as a big plus for artistes generally who
may henceforth no longer be taken for granted
by those who hire them.
Nevertheless, having made great waves in so
short a period, not a few observers believe that
Saka’s time was really up, because any further
campaign on the side of the same brand would
certainly be affected by the Law of Diminishing
Returns.
All in all, one should salute the regulatory
wisdom of the NCC for wittingly or otherwise
affording Nigerians an opportunity to let off
steam and rewind via a veritable dialogue or
discourse as an unexpected result of the
introduction of the long-awaited Mobile
Number Portability campaign.
In fact, the controversy promises an unintended
consequence of boosting the portability
campaign at little or no cost to the regulatory
body. What’s more, it is all happening at a time
when the players in the political arena certainly
may be tinkering with what they know best:
swapping of political platforms—a situation
which in political parlance they variously term
“carpet-crossing” and “decamping”
There is no doubt that “carpet-crossing” and
“decamping” have offensive or negative
connotations compared with “porting” which
has now crept into our political/business
lexicon, thanks to the NCC.
The point one is trying to make here is that if
for any reason any of our politicians switches
camp , we should be sympathetic and
charitable enough to see the situation as an act
of “porting” and no longer “carpet-crossing” or
“decamping,” in order to make the action
appear less offensive or dirty by de-
emphasising the ugly or negative content. I
have digressed.
But returning directly to Saka’s controversial
porting, one would like to posit that there is
nothing strange because examples of players in
various fields at various times porting forth and
back on grounds of better opportunities or
quest for self-fulfillment abound in history.
Take two cases.
Sir George Taubman Goldie was a professional
soldier in the British Royal Artillery where he
rose to be a captain. In that capacity, Goldie
had toured Sudan and the lower Nile River area.
With his eyes on business, even as a military
officer, Goldie developed a good interest in the
sprawling country to the west of Sudan, and
subsequently played Saka by dumping his
military commission and switching to the
English Niger Company—an association of
English and Scottish merchants spoiling for real
colonial exploits in the Niger Delta territory.
The result of this earliest form of porting by
Goldie was the emergence of the Royal Niger
Company a few years later with the full
complement of royal chatter granting the
company exclusive trading rights up to and
beyond the lower Niger basin.
With that charter, Goldie proceeded to set up a
military outfit with whose help he stamped out
pockets of resistance to the anti-slavery efforts
of the British government and enforced peace
apace with flourishing trade in the territory.
Thus, before the 1885 Berlin Conference on the
partition of Africa, Goldie had on behalf of the
British government secured treaties with many
communities in his area of operation which
eventually helped Britain to effectively lay claim
to the whole territory that finally emerged as
Nigeria.
Almost simultaneously, as Goldie was working
to secure the Niger area for Britain, Major
Fredrick Lugard, another Royal Artillery officer,
was also playing Saka, “porting” and joining
the league of British merchants and colonialists
—an adventure that saw him work at various
times in various places including India, Hong
Kong and Uganda. Lugard finally “ported” back
to the Royal Niger Company in the last days of
the Royal Charter after which he “ported” yet
again to Her Majesty’s service whereupon it
became his place in history to amalgamate
Nigeria.
So, the whole idea of the creation of a great and
prosperous entity like Nigeria under the British
Empire is chiefly a glowing tribute to the
foresight and good business sense of the
British Niger Company which, like in the MTN/
Etisalat/Saka scenario, had encouraged both
captains.
Goldie and Lugard opted to “port go” from a
boring and less lucrative career in the military in
favour of more profitable exploits in the more
rewarding sphere of business and colonial
pursuits.
Therefore, what the heights achieved by people
such as Goldie, Lugard and others tend to
show today is that there is nothing strange or
new in the role Saka played recently on the
marketing or business scene.
In a volatile world like ours, nothing should be
expected to be static or sacrosanct and the
advertising or marketing scene is, to me, part
and parcel of that world—a universe whose
beauty, fascination and essence partly depend
on the extent to which individual players,
playmakers and playmasters can determine the
direction of their worlds.
[Article written by economic strategic analyst,
Adimora]
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