As the phrase, ‘I don port’ gradually finds its way into the vocabulary of Nigerians home and abroad, thanks to the new MTN Nigeria commercial on mobile number portability, two more videos of ‘I don port’ have found their way to YouTube.
The new videos are different from the one in which ace comedian, Hafeez Oyetoro, popularly called Saka, played the lead role in the commercial.
One of the videos is with the title, ‘Free style I don port dance contest’ while the other one carries the title, “Group two I don port dance contest.”
‘Free style I don port dance contest’ video, which has attracted 4,159 views, is a 28-second video, shot in an office setting and has 11 people dancing to the rhythm of Saka’s version of the “I don port” commercial.
The “Group two I don port dance contest” has 12 people clad in customised black T-shirts, also dancing to the rhythm of the new MTN commercial-in a 56-second video. So far, 2,856 people have viewed the video.
MTN had asked its customers to form themselves into groups and create their own “I don port” videos to win BlackBerry Z10 phones and recharge cards worth N150, 0000. More of such user-generated contents are expected to find their way to YouTube.
A check on Saka’s ‘I don port’ advert on MTN’s YouTube channel shows that within six days of putting the video on the social media, 97,523 people have viewed it, making the video the telecoms company’s most viewed commercial on the video-sharing website.
The MTN TV commercial that ranks next to this is its commercial on family and friends package of December 2011, which featured Nollywood acts Nkem Owoh (Osuofia) and Patience Ozokwo. It garnered 41,781 views.
Even the MTN ultimate wonder commercial posted on YouTube on August 10, 2012, which announced the telecoms firms, readiness to give away a brand new aeroplane and over N200 million cash only attracted a meagre 2,929 views.
Compared to other Mobile Number Portability TV commercials by the three other telecommunications firms in the country, MTN’s ‘I don port’ commercial currently has the most views on YouTube.
The Airtel commercial trails MTN from behind with 65,398 views while that of Glo and Etisalat follow. But many on the social media have argued that the MNP adverts could be likened to an “advert war” among the four leading players in the telecommunication industry.
For instance, the Airtel commercial featured a young man relocating from an apartment painted yellow to settle down in a red one. Yet, he retains the house number-3.
Also, the Glo mobile portability commercial has in it a group of men pushing a yellow Nissan Xterra to the direction where other road users were “porting” to. However, the Etisalat commercial, with 2,659 views, seems uncomplicated and simple, taking the message directly to the audience.
The mobile portability ad war being widely discussed on various social networks started when Saka, who had hitherto been a face of the Etisalat brand for years, appeared in the MTN TV commercial, last week Monday. It was the day Nigeria Communication Commission’s sanctioned mobile number portability package kicked off.
The commercial now widely known as ‘I don port’ shows Saka leading a music band and clad in a green traditional attire only to transform to a bright yellow attire. He sang and danced in the commercial, saying, “I don port o. I don port o MTN. I don upgrade to MTN.”
A commentator on MTN Nigeria’s YouTube channel, with the name, nigerianguy82, describes the MNP adverts of the different firms as brand warfare.
He says, “This advert should become a case study in universities around the world on marketing communications, strategy and brand warfare.”
But some Nigerians on social networks say the various commercials will have little or no effect on them.
PUNCH
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