Growing Local Brand via TV Streaming

In its 18 years of operation in the nation’s telecoms industry, Globacom has not only demonstrated the can-do attitude, but has also changed the game to attain a ‘Global brand’ status, Raheem Akingbolu writes.

In the last two decades, the ambition to become global brands has remained a top agenda among African brand owners. Over the years, international brands have extended their business models into Africa, and set up shops. With such a move, they have invested in infrastructure through supply chains and distribution networks, creating employment, and relentlessly driving their brands in the market. Until recently, they enjoyed unbridled access, competing majorly with themselves. But not anymore! In the Telecom sector, Banking, Manufacturing and others, there are an array of African brands, jostling with and challenging the autonomy of the existing foreign brands.

For adapting global best practice in various sectors of the economy, African brands are today being regarded by their foreign counterparts as serious contenders. To this end, some of the African brands are now raising the stakes in many fronts and being invited to participate in global awards and exhibitions. Besides, many of them have appeared on the global rating list as among the best in the world.

Deepening penetration

As part of the activities lined up to commemorate its 18 years in the market and in line with global trends whereby brands explore the market in unique ways to strengthen bond with patrons, Globacom recently launched television streaming service on its network, to boost customer experience, while on the move. Beyond its relevance to boosting brand-consumer experience, many analysts have since described the novel act as a strong positioning move that would give the brand an edge in the marketing place.

At the launch of the new product, the telecoms company admitted that the desire to offer subscribers premium television content for viewers of all ages, informed its decision to launch Glo TV, a first-of-its-kind mobile television app on Android, IOS and the web.

Globacom’s Head of Web Sales, Ugochukwu Ibe, who spoke at the event in Lagos, explained that the app was designed for watching live linear TV, Video-on-Demand and catch-up content, which will cater to the preferences of Nigerians across different socio-economic groups and offer them an exclusive opportunity to experience best-in-class TV content.

“This exciting product is designed to ensure that access to television programming graduates from computer and television to mobile devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and is available on the go and in real time. It can be considered as part of our 18th anniversary delight to our over 50 million subscribers,” Ibe said.

He also assured subscribers of a delightful experience on Glo TV service, adding that, “we are aware that fast and reliable internet is required to enjoy mobile TV contents. If the internet is slow, it takes more time to load the video contents and this can be annoying to users. With Globacom’s 4G data powered by Glo 1, subscribers are assured a pleasant streaming experience”.
According to him, “Globacom is a network that is constantly re-inventing itself with innovative yet affordable products and services and promised that it will not rest on its laurels.

Larger-than-life Imagery

The story is that of not giving up despite all odds. But the greater story of the Glo brand is never told by those who promoted it, but the alternative it gave to the ultimate owners of the brand; the subscribers. Part of what has made Globacom a global brand is its engaging larger-than-life imagery. The brand has successfully established itself as ambitious, bold, daring and endearing. It has come to be regarded as a behemoth in Nigeria’s telecom space.

Right from launch, it demonstrated its intention to be a big player on the continent with a telling vision statement, “Building Africa’s biggest and best telecommunications network”.
Its mission statement was equally ambitious: To be the largest, most successful entertainment, information and telecommunications solutions provider, in Nigeria and Africa.

The two statements were fashioned in the mould of the company’s Chairman and Founder, Dr Mike Adenuga, Jr. Although a self-effacing billionaire, his business accomplishments in virtually every sector of the economy are legendary. He is known to think and dream big – a very tenacious and dogged entrepreneur who likes to grow his businesses to dominate the sectors he operates in.
Those who knew him well knew he meant business when he unfolded the mission and vision statements. It was not surprising that Glo quickly established itself as the pacesetter in the industry, despite commencing business two years after MTN and Airtel (then called Econet).

Brand Promise

Starting with the pay-off line, Glo with Pride at launch in 2003, Glo promoted and built a sense of pride in every Nigerian by providing a world class indigenous telecommunications network which offered Nigerians the enablement platform to succeed in different fields of human endeavor.

The company later followed up with Rule your World, a message of empowerment that helped build confidence in Nigerians that they can achieve their dreams, rule their world and be the best that they want to be.

To mark its 10th Anniversary, Glo unveiled a new strap line, “Unlimited” which was meant to reaffirm the Glo brand promise to its various stakeholders as Glo journeys into its next 10 years of operation, the new strap line heralded a brave new world, a world in which subscribers and other stakeholder could achieve anything at all if they believe in themselves.

These slogans have helped in endearing the Glo brand to its subscribers and the general public as they inspire to dream, work hard, achieve their life objectives and rule their world.

Industry’s Game Changer

Globacom became a game changer when it launched on per second billing which the older networks said was not possible. In doing that Globacom became the first network in Africa to launch a per second billing platform. Its Chairman, Dr Adenuga, became known as Mr. Per Second. The company became a household name in Nigeria and within 9 months it made history as the first network to amass a million subscribers in that space of time.

Globacom also made history by crashing the cost of SIMs from N20,000and N50 a minute respectively to as low as N200 and 5 kobo per second. The company has thus ensured massive telephone penetration in Nigeria. By making telephony accessible to the common man, Glo has accelerated national development. That over 170 million Nigerians in both urban and rural areas today have access to the telephone is attributable to the network’s intervention. The International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the United Nations, had in 2004 commended Globacom for playing a critical role in the revolution in the Nigerian telecommunication industry.

Globacom is reputed as the innovation leader in the industry in Nigeria and Ghana. It pioneered Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), mobile banking, mobile internet, vehicle tracking, prepaid roaming, in-flight roaming, etc.

Technological Revolution

Beyond advertising and brand promise, if there is any other thing that has worked for the brand, it’s in products offering. For instance, Glo was the only operator in Africa to launch its operations on the superior 2.5G network which enabled the convergence of voice, data and multimedia technologies. Besides, the introduction of the 3G Plus technology marked the second time that Globacom has been in the forefront of pioneering the latest transmission network in Nigeria, having introduced the 2.5G technology at launch in 2003 when other operators were running on the 2G platform. The 3G Plus technology enables a much faster transmission of data, voice, broadband internet and multimedia services over a range of frequencies. It allows customers to do video call, video streaming and high-speed mobile internet access, amongst others, from their 3G mobile handset.

Also, the Glo brand was the first network to launch a nationwide coverage of the 4G-LTE network in Nigeria, thus availing its subscribers enhanced data transfer rates, unmatched mobile broadband experience and high data speeds and reliability.

It also has the most extensive fibre optic backbone across Nigeria. The facility was built to further enhance voice and data transmission for mobile and fixed telephone operations in the country.

The brand has also contributed to boosting international connectivity in Nigeria by building and launching an international submarine cable, Glo 1. It was the first time a single company would implement such a massive undersea project in Africa. In addition to boosting the provision of services to telecom end users, the facility is currently providing the much-needed connectivity to critical sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, commerce, education and health, among others.

Network of Stars

Glo has come to be regarded as a network of stars. No corporate organization has had the kind of constellation of entertainment heavyweights as its brand ambassadors as Globacom. All through the years, the cream of the country’s musicians, footballers, actors and comedians have either been signed on as brand ambassadors or featured in the company’s commercials. The long list includes Prof Wole Soyinka, Yusuf Maitama Sule, Osita Osadebe, Oliver d’Coque, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezar Obey. Nelly Uchendu, Mikel Obi, Victor Moses, Osaze Odemwingie and Emmanuel Emenike. Others are MI Abaga, D’Banj, PSquare, Rita Dominic, Ini Edo, Flavour, Wizkid, Davido, Basketmouth, Gordons, I go Dye, Juliet Ibrahim, Matter Ankomah, Joselyn Dumas, Michael Essien and, very recently, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Anthony Joshua.

While the commercials that featured these stars became popular among the general public, the stars themselves further spread the popularity of the Glo brand among their millions of fans.

Glo as disruptive service provider

Since Globacom commenced commercial operation in Nigeria in August 2003, it has carved a niche for itself as a pioneer of innovative products and services. The first and, perhaps, the most memorable was the introduction of Per Second Billing (PSB) of calls. Until the arrival of Globacom, the other operators insisted that PSB was not feasible. Globacom disrupted the models that pre-existing operators intended to run for another couple of years, forcing them to switch to PSB, ahead of their plan, in the overall interest of telecom consumers. This was a major plank in the strategy of Globacom’s founder, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., to liberalise access to telecommunications in Nigeria.

The brand followed up by crashing the cost of GSM SIM and tariff from N20,000 and N50 per minute respectively to as low as N200 and 5 kobo per second, thus helping to aggressively boost telephone penetration in the country. It was the first operator to introduce Blackberry service to Nigerian consumers at a time Blackberry was the undisputed king of business devices. It instantly became the compulsory companion of upwardly mobile business men and women and professionals in Nigeria. This service made it possible for telecom consumers to have access to their mails on the move through the then novel feature called ‘push-email’. It also gave telecom consumers access to flat-rated internet anywhere they went within Glo network coverage. Other operators immediately jumped on the bandwagon.

In a related development, the brand also pioneered intelligent vehicle tracking device it christened GloWatch, making it possible for vehicle and other mobile assets owners to monitor their vehicles or mobile assets anywhere from the comfort of their offices or home. While other tracking devices had existed before then, GloWatch was the first device that made it possible for mobile asset owners to not only track, but also listen in to conversations in their vehicles, monitor speed or stop the vehicles’ engine remotely.

In 2010, the operator moved the banking sector a step higher when it launched mobile banking, making it possible for telecom users to check their balances and conduct banking transactions on their GSM handsets from the comfort of their homes without having to spend time and effort in traffic and banking halls. The service was flagged off by the then CBN Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, who commended Globacom for being the first to introduce the revolutionary service among telecom operators.

Globacom was also the first to accomplish a nationwide launch of 4G-LTE network in Nigeria in 2016. Other operators were content staying in the three major cities of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. Only recently, the company scored another first by introducing the novel concept of creating a dedicated path in its 4G LTE network for enterprise customers. This aligns with the company’s promise of delivering best-in-class solutions to its corporate clientele to enable them optimise efficiency.