Charles Novia Writes On Genevieve’s Etisalat Endorsement
Two days ago,
Genevieve signed a multi millionaire endorsement deal with telecommunication
giant 'Etisalat' . I n a recent article by Charles Novia, he wrote about the
politics of celebrity endorsements citing Genevieve’s latest endorsement as his
focal point.
A couple of days ago, there was an
excited buzz on social media in Nigeria that Nollywood actress, Genevieve Nnaji,
has been signed on as one of the new Brand Ambassadors of Etisalat, a
telecommunications company operating in Nigeria and sundry parts of the globe.
Amid the congratulatory messages from her fans sent to her on some sites, a few
cynical remarks caught my attention. (By the way, congrats Ms
Nnaji!)
One commentator simply known
as ‘Da Trut’ wrote in one of the comments section in a blog which I reproduce
here;
‘Congrats, Genevieve. But wait o…your
Boyfriend, D’Banj is a Glo Ambassador and now you are an Etisalat Ambassador. It
has been reported that two of you will marry this year after being
live-in-lovers and dating steadily for a while now. Since both of you have not
denied this piece of news, I assume that it is true. With this new deal of
yours, does it mean you cannot attend any show sponsored by Globacom in which
D’Banj is a headliner despite him being your BF and you being expected to
support your beau? And same goes for him too in any of your Etisalat sponsored
shows? Won’t your relationship be strained by this?’
However nosy this comment may seem to
some people, there is an underlying fact which many celebrities and of course
the general public have overlooked when it comes to signing brand endorsements.
Most of these contracts, if not all, are watertight for the artiste. The dos and
don’ts imposed on the artistes could be argued in a civil rights court of law!
But then, most artistes are quick to sign off the dotted lines basically because
of the lump sum being paid to them by the competing brands. Which is all well
and good too, depending on how you look at it.
And don’t get me wrong. I wholly commend
all the brands cashing in on the perceived goodwill and traction many of these
celebs have and investing in their art and to a large extent, the entertainment
industry. These brands have uplifted the creative industries through such
investments and the industry is the better for it. Really, it
is.
However, a glaring reality is coming to
the fore and many may laugh it off right now but it is staring at us in the
face. In 2013, many of the live events and sponsored concerts were tepid in
performance value. Many of the top acts had been signed by one telecom brand or
the other and since the headliners in the music industry have divided their
brand endorsements among various telcos, many could not perform for friends or
business concerns where a competing telco or brand was a major or support
sponsor. This was basically because of watertight caveats in the artistes
contracts which forbids them from attending such shows. Thus, most of the live
concerts in 2014 in Nigeria were either lacking in major star power or just
repititive in talents signed on by the brands. And the performance value of such
events were basically average. Many of the brands which had campus shows
suffered this fate.
In October 2013, the Nollywood Movies
Awards held at the posh Intercontinental Hotel, in Lagos. Comedian Basketmouth
had been hyped as the compere of the evening, supported by Dakore Akande. I was
standing at the red carpet lobby, interacting with invited guests as we had
cocktails when one of the organisers, Alfred Soroh, came up to me. He whispered
to me that there was a problem and it had to be solved urgently. Apparently,
immediately Basketmouth came out of the lift and saw a huge backdrop with
Etisalat written on it, he quickly dashed back and refused to compere the show.
His reason was that he was a Glo Ambassador and could not be seen on an Etisalat
sponsored show. It makes sense. When I asked the organisers if they didn’t think
it out before deciding on Basketmouth as the compere, they explained that
Etisalat came in just a few days to the event. Segun Arinze, a tested and
trusted hand, had to be drafted immediately to co-compere the
event.
The example above is one of many others
which are a usual occurrence. My gut feeling is this; the business will grow for
the brands but the whole performance and event industry may very well suffer for
this. For example, if a movie awards event had MTN as the major sponsor and 50%
of the nominees are Glo Ambassadors, only an idiot would need explanations on
why half the nominees would not be present at the awards even if they eventually
won. Same goes for music awards events. This cycle is becoming predictable. And
the performance value suffers for it.
But there may be those who would argue
that the brands are capable of sponsoring their own events with only their brand
ambassadors as headliners. I concur but for every show such brands sponsor, it
becomes predictable. I would know that any MTN show would have Wizkid, KCee,
Davido, Don Jazzy and other ambassadors as performers just as a Glo event would
have MI, Bez, Lynnx, Omawunmi, Burna Boy, D’Banj etc as performers. Truth be
told, when you watch them once, you have watched it all. Bring them up again in
another sponsored show, even for free and many would reluctantly attend just as
many would not. Performance value.
Brand Managers reading this may well
snigger at this but I would advise that they meet with their counterparts in
other companies suffering this same problem and iron out a few of these issues.
Artistes must be free to attend other shows of competing brands as long as they
don’t endorse the sponsoring brand nor endorse their own brand in such shows.
Harmony is needed. The entertainment industry should not be cannon fodder for
the corporate wars. In 2014, we all must enhance the performance value. (By the
way, that phrase is my coinage and I think I like it.)
The artistes themselves must step up
their game. There is too much emphasis on the cars they buy or the shoes they
wear by their publicists, which is not bad by itself but it gets overdone and
sometimes come out in bad taste. Artistes should be seen to be adding value to
their lives and the society through more of personal social responsiblity
programmes rather than personal ‘I don buy am’ publicity stunts. Granted, how
they spend their money is entirely their business but the people out there don’t
really know how they MAKE their money most times. And it’s not from shows or
endorsements only as they are made to believe. Story for another day. What I am
saying is; how many of these new generation artistes have impacted positively on
the moral conscience and inspirational equity of the youths? Very few. In music,
almost none. In Nollywood, just a cosmetic impact. Story again for another
day.
But I am not going to knock anyone in
this write-up. I commend the dedicated efforts we all have put over the years to
build the entertainment industry to this level. But the level is still in a
pre-foundation stage. The structures are lacking. As we like to say all the time
‘ but we will get there!’. Where ‘there’ is is as good your guess as
mine.
And my opinion is basically, my opinion
No comments
Disclaimer: comments on this post are expressly those of the writers.
For enquires, adverts, sponsored posts and more contact us :
* 042express@gmail.com
* +2348031528097