Read His Long Opinion Below:
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.
5 Comments
Sincerely he is 100% right
ReplyDeleteFake story d'banj is not genevieve's bf...
ReplyDeleteSigning endorsement contract for an artiste is lik boxin himsef to a corner
ReplyDeleteImagine! Becoz if basketmouth tries to anchor dat event, he wil ve serious issues wt glo
ReplyDeleteFor once,Charles Novia u rock
ReplyDelete