How Airtel’s Come Alive Campaign reconnects Nigerian youths

Emeka Ibemere

The lightening effect inside the hall was colorful. The background music renditions echoing from the giant sound boxes were easy on the ear; as the sprawling hall of the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos State comes alive while adorning the beautiful colo

ur- attire of the 4^th globally largest network in the world.

Then the vibes from the echoes of the oldies set the mood of the audience and quests filled to the capacity of the hall ignited up alive. This is the only way to describe the launch of Come Alive Thematic Campaign of the Airtel Nigeria on Wednesday January 8, 2014.

The motley crowd of journalists and brand gurus including entertainment industry faces that greeted the event made it a worthwhile epoch-making that really spiced the dry January.

The event started when the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya presented a new brand iPhone 5 for any journalists that has followed the Airtel network since its Econet days for grab.

He stated also that the subscriber must have been active all through those days to the present Airtel. Ogunsanya also said that the subscriber must state the date and the exact year he or she subscribed the network.

This simple gesture later turned out to be a herculean competition as most of the journalists had forgotten the date of their subscription.

But to make the event come alive, according to the Airtel event, Airtel Nigeria boss later asked the 10 journalists that marched out for the customized phone to write their names and their phone numbers while promising to give all of them, each iPhone 5 phones the next day after ascertaining the active numbers.

 However, a woman journalist was given the iPhone 5 phone at the event after she was nominated by another woman.

With this melodrama, the event-the launch of Come Alive thematic Campaign kicked off with the speech of the Chief Executive officer, Ogunsanya.  

“Today marks the beginning of a new journey in our quest to become the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians; but before I go deep into my speech, please permit me to express my profound gratitude to you all, on behalf of the management and staff of Airtel Nigeria for honouring our invitation despite your extremely busy schedule”, he said.

“We certainly appreciate your consistent kindness and assure you that on our side as an organisation, we will continue to discharge our duties towards all stakeholders with all sense of responsibility”.

According to Ogunsanya, Airtel Nigeria has a history of being in the lead in innovation, blazing new trail, redefining the moment of the game and revolutionizing the telecom sector. He stated that since the network brand came into existence in Nigeria four years ago, the network has recorded several firsts in its portfolio. “It is on record that we democratized the tariff landscape in 2010, with the launch of the revolutionary 2Good tariff offering. And since then, we have never looked back”, he said. “And we will not look back; we will continue to be the positive CHANGE AGENT and the true partner that will enable telecoms consumers in the country COME ALIVE.”

The Airtel boss claimed that as pace setters, it was obvious that it’s in the network’s DNA, to be innovative and bold adding that it’s the Airtel’s culture to be lively, and be the first to enable it lead, inspire greatness and be different.

Speaking further, the telecom guru said Airtel wasn’t just a telecoms operator alone but also a mobile internet provider of choice. Beyond that, he said, we are a reliable friend that enables the dreams, aspirations, talents, hopes and desires of telecoms’ consumers come alive wherever they may be”, he further claimed.

“As a brand, we are Red, bold and jazzy. Yes! Jazzy! We are a lively brand. We are a lively company. We are young; very energetic and driven by the desire to enable telecoms’ consumers in Nigeria to realize the full potentials of their dreams in whatever they do and wherever they may be.”

It was gathered that two years ago, the network took a bold step in redefining the way it connect with the stakeholders by announcing the launch of their revolutionary and ground-breaking brand campaign tagged padi Na Good Thing popularly known as the Airtel’s friendship campaign.

According to the Airtel Nigeria boss, two years down the line, Nigerian youths showed excitement and love about the campaign and that the youth of Nigeria rated Airtel as the best network. On Wednesday 8 at Sheraton Hotels and Towers, the Airtel Nigeria made another milestone by trying to reconnect with Nigerian youths on yet another campaign that will place the network above its competitors in the telecoms industry. “Today we are set to make another history again as we reposition as Nigeria’s number one mobile internet service provider. Today, we will take the journey of connecting with Nigerian youth and stakeholders to a different level as we announce a special programme”, Ogunsanya stated.

 He further disclosed that Airtel Nigeria still has the largest 3.75G Network in the country. Explaining, he said Airtel has a very robust and resilient network despite multiple challenges and harsh operating environment. Speaking on the targeted audience of the campaign, Ogunsanya said Airtel is committed to empowering young Nigerians with the latest and most innovative package with exciting digital experience. He disclosed that Nigerian youths are highly talented, resourceful, innovative, hardworking and resilient people adding that Airtel is well-positioned to enable young Nigerians and the youth-at-heart to create success stories for their ambitions.

“We have come a long a way in preparing for this moment that Nigerians can be proud of; as a youth- focused, mobile internet network, actualizing dreams can only be more realistic with us”, he said.

However, Ogunsanya said the network is committed in increasing their investment portfolio by improving in their network in line with their brand’s vision and mission; to be the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians.

The Airtel boss used the occasion to acknowledge the supportive role of the Nigerian media in giving life and support to the Airtel brand.

 “Today marks for us all, the beginning of another phase of the journey to realising our brand vision of becoming the most loved brand in the country, and Africa at large. I ask for more support from you as we continuously work to give Nigeria the best telecoms experience”.

Also lending his voice, the Airtel Nigeria’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Deepak Srivastava, re-emphasises the company’s commitment to providing innovative, exciting and pocket-friendly products and offerings that would further allow subscribers on the Airtel radar to achieve success in all areas of interest. Srivastava reiterated that Airtel has matched its leading role as the customer-centric network with a bouquet of bespoke voice and data products, services and offerings including their 3.75G network, the 2size SIM, which he described as a first of its kind in the country. Others are talk More, Bid and Get, Facebook Bundle, WhatsApp and Airtel My Business among others.

Before unveiling the Come Alive Campaign, General Manager, Brand Asset, Obinna Aniche shared the details of the very exciting package.

According to Aniche who summarizes the new campaign, the brand was designed to empowering Nigerians to realize their full potentials and dreams.

He said that it was meant to enable the youths and the youth-at-heart to come alive and stay in touch with their family, loved ones and friends with the latest and most innovative mobile internet and digital value offerings. The product was also planned in such a way that it would excite telecoms’ consumers; create the right digital environment for the consumers, in order for them to succeed. It was also planned for the teaming Nigerian youths’ empowerment for them to express themselves, share their stories, connect with the rest of the world, inspire other people and practically set the pace in their respective chosen professions in life.

“the new campaign, which rides notably on the crest of Airtel’s 3.75G data network highlights the company’s role as an enabler for an enriched digital experience and in assisting young Nigerians and telecoms consumers actualize their dreams by staying connected with the right community of friends, families and associates anytime, anywhere and through a robust bouquet of mobile internet package and innovative digital value offerings”, Aniche stated. Other top management team who graced the event were Inusa Bello, Chief Sales Officer, Emeka Oparah, Director of Corporate Communications and SSR; Adebayo Osinowo, Lagos Regional Operations Director; and Obinna Aniche, General Manager Brand Assets, Airtel Africa. Others are Nollywood Actor, Mike Ezuruonye; Empire mates Entertainment (EME) Artiste, Shadrack Folarin Adeboye (Shaydee); Lee Samuel Mahmud, a k a (half Dollar) and Explicit Dance Group. The event was spiced up with dance performance show delivered by the Explicit Dance Group members and the unveiling of the commercial of the new product.

What you should know about the network:

Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications Services Company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa, and the Channel Islands.

Airtel has a GSM network in all countries in which it operates, providing 2G, 3G and 4G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the world's third largest mobile telecommunications company by subscribers, with over 275 million subscribers across 20 countries as of July 2013. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 192.22 million subscribers as of August 2013.

 Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom.

Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. It offers its telecom services under the "Airtel" brand, and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve Cisco Gold Certification. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.

Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its business operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model of low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been copied by several operators. Its network—base stations, microwave links, etc.—is maintained by Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network whereas IT support is provided by IBM, and transmission towers are maintained by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates of 1/minute (US$0.02/minute). During the last financial year (2009–10), Bharti negotiated for its strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the tele-media business. On 31 May 2012, Bharti Airtel awarded the three-year contract to Alcatel-Lucent for setting up an Internet Protocol access network (mobile backhaul) across the country. This would help consumers’ access internet at faster speed and high quality internet browsing on mobile handsets.