Let me first congratulate and celebrate you my dearly beloved reader for seeing not just a new year, but a new decade. Let us thank God Almighty for keeping us alive to see this new epoch, this new beginning, this decade of hope and promise of greater things to come. My prayer is that your ears would hear good news from the Father of lights from whom every good thing comes. Good news is the evidence of God’s goodness. God has been so good.
Talking of good news and God’s goodness, let us all celebrate Glo, the quintessential Nigerian everyday brand that started from zero to hero. The brand that prophetically coined the leadership statement “Rule Your World” and is now ruling the world as a globally acknowledged telecoms brand. Glo, who like the biblical King David, the brave shepherd boy, slaughtered lions and Goliath on his path to achieving greatness, massive market share and followership, such that the women of Israel were dancing on the street, singing his praise: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”
Let us put our hands together for the “Ajantala” folklore hero, born on August 29, 2003, who even as a baby instantly disrupted the market and changed the rules of the game. The brand that introduced all kinds of innovations into our telecoms market space, who at 16 is now larger than life and has grown so big today that it is now glowing on the world stage, basking in glory like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. “You are the light of the world,” the Good Book says in Matthew 5: 14. “A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.” Meaning when you are doing well, your deeds cannot be hidden. It would surely be noticed. Your day of recognition and triumph would definitely come in due season, if you work hard and you faint not. Your story will be like Glo which has finally been recognized as a world champion among brands far older, with long history and pedigree.
You must have heard the good news. That at Kensington Palace in London, Glo was crowned as the telecoms “Brand of the Year 2019-2020” at the 2019 World Branding Awards—the Oscars of Branding—awarded by the World Branding Forum (WBF). Among the winners in other categories are global household brands like Apple, Netflix, Cadbury, Carlsberg, Nokia, DHL, Adidas, Ferrari and Rolex. Now, Globacom has come to join this enviable list of brand leaders based on the monumental feats it has achieved in its short life through its aggressive and innovative marketing, through its world-class telecoms products and services, through its proactive and transformative market leadership in all its ramifications, through its audacious feats like the Glo 1 international submarine cable and digital solutions, through ventures like Artificial Intelligence, robotics and other futuristic products, ideas and trends showing where the world is headed.
The award didn’t come easy. It was awarded to Glo after “after a rigorous assessment, evaluation and judging process,” so says Peter Pek, the CEO of the World Branding Forum—the highest body in the world today when it comes to branding.
Let us join hands to say bravo to Glo. The truth is that the story of Globacom as a company and the building of brand Glo ought to be put into a book for students and entrepreneurs to study and learn from. As a corporate biographer (and historian of sorts) who has written a massive book on boards and is presently working on a new book on Brand Glo slated for this year, I am asking myself: What does this global award mean?
WHAT THE AWARD MEANS
For me, it means the triumph of brand-building and business success against all odds in Nigeria, a country where success does not come easy. It comes with all kinds of challenges that would have unsettled even the likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Carlos Slim and other world billionaires who have not faced what entrepreneurs face here in Nigeria. Don’t talk about electricity and infrastructure deficits. Don’t talk about killer government policies that strangulate business. Don’t talk of the so-called “Nigerian factor” in business. Yet the likes of Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Tony Elumelu, Jim Ovia and other Nigerian business icons all waded through these challenges to be where they are today. This recognition of Globacom shows that a homegrown brand can compete at the global level and win laurels. It means we Nigerians can rule the world—just like the Glo gutsy statement: “Rule Your World.” It is the triumph of the Nigerian can-do spirit. It means there is something we are doing well right here in Nigeria as far as brand-building is concerned. It means we have marketing and branding gurus here in Nigeria who can compete, who can play at the global level.
Glo’s branding success and recognition abroad means that the laws of marketing and branding are universal and immutable. It means that our telecoms are of international standards, not inferior to what obtains outside our shores. From day one, Glo, under the leadership of its founder, Dr. Mike Adenuga, invested in state-of-the-art technology. There was the temptation to go for a lesser technology but he did not fall for that temptation. Even the so-called experts tried to convince Adenuga not to go for the kind of technology that might be too sophisticated for a developing country like Nigeria and might not be easy to manage. The experts tried convincing him to go gradual and expand step by step. They advised against the quantum leap approach of starting with the advanced technology from day one. But thanks to the wisdom, vision and foresight of Adenuga who vetoed the experts and went for the best technology that money can buy, one that can match or even beat the technology available to users on the streets of London or New York or Tokyo. That sagacity paid off, opening the way for the famous “per second billing” innovation which proved to be the game-changer for Glo.
Globacom as a company has achieved a lot in marketing and branding. We all remember with nostalgia the starting campaigns like Glo With Pride and Rule Your World. We remember the adoption of lemon green as Glo’s official colour, a colour close to our green national colour. We remember houses being painted and branded in Glo lemon green—the first among many Glo firsts. We remember the array of celebrities past and present serving as Glo Ambassadors. We remember the innovation of using the Nigerian first Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka in Glo adverts beamed worldwide on CNN. We remember the legendary Village Headmaster TV actress Ibidun Allison alias Amebo, brought back from oblivion to star in Glo ads as the talk-talk symbol. We remember the legendary guitar maestro and Juju music King Sunny Ade bringing back the Owambe feelings through Glo. We remember the Nigerian World Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua strut his stuff and testifying about the Nigerian winning spirit that has continued to motivate him in the ring—even when he was down on the canvas. In all these, Mike Adenuga played a direct leadership role in convincing these high profile stars to work for Glo.
There is no way you can fully write the story of Brand Glo as a global brand without mentioning the man behind it all as the leader, thinker, driver, dreamer, strategist and the inspiration behind the marketing and branding efforts that brought the award. This is the first of a 4-part series on the untold stories of a Nigerian winning brand.
NEXT WEEK: THE MARKETING GENIUS BEHIND BRAND GLO