SEGUN ADENIYI: Before Saka Ports Again!

Ever since MTN outsmarted Etisalat in what has become the biggest brand war in recent memory, I have read some stories which suggest that an unethical conduct took place in the ‘Saka’ saga. I beg to disagree. The simple fact is that Etisalat people were not only careless but disrespectful of the man who brought appeal to their product. Now they are paying the price.

I don’t know if there are people out there who still don’t know who ‘Saka’ (real name, Hafiz Ayetoro) is but in case there are, he is a Nollywood actor, mostly in the Yoruba genre, whose strength lies in the fact that his visage and disposition evoke side-splitting laughter. And he was used in one of the commercials for Etisalat. Although the Network had brand ambassadors, including some hip-hop musicians, for many people, including this reporter, ‘Saka’ was the face of Etisalat. Yet he was not even recognized as an ambassador. Besides, the “ogas at the top” within Etisalat didn’t reckon that such a man should be given some respect and therefore treated him shabbily until ‘Saka’ announced to all of us on television: “I don port o, I don port go MTN. I don upgrade to MTN”.

It all started with the launch of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service across all the four major GSM networks: MTN, Globacom, Etisalat and Airtel. The service allows

subscribers to migrate from one network to another in search of better service quality, while still retaining the original phone number, irrespective of the network the subscriber chooses to migrate to. Instructively, at the launch of the MNP, the National Communications Commission (NCC) Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah said the new service would compel telecoms operators to be more accountable to subscribers who could easily shift to another network if feeling short-changed. Unfortunately, that message was lost on Etisalat which took ‘Saka’ for granted until he decided to ‘port’ to MTN.

From available reports ‘Saka’ was never on contract at Etisalat and was treated almost like a casual, a fact that was confirmed even by the silly defence put up by Centrespreads, the advertising agency handling the Etisalat account. It was all some talk about how the network is “the hip, classy and swag brand” whose image ‘Saka’ doesn’t fit hence couldn’t be given a contract or branded as an ambassador. That perhaps explains why they couldn’t recognise how important ‘Saka’ had become to the brand until he ‘migrated’ to MTN.

All the noise about reporting MTN to NCC or APCON and allegations of ethical violations bla bla bla for me are pure nonsense. I think Etisalat should simply accept that it mismanaged its relationship with ‘Saka’, learn from its mistakes and move on. For the Network, the message from ‘Saka’ is loud and clear: Level don change!