Upstream Scores with MTN World Cup Campaigns

Mobile marketing firm Upstream is completing a series of successful localised mobile marketing campaigns across W. Africa for Africa and Middle East telco MTN, as part of the Group’s official FIFA World Cup sponsorship activities. MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications provider, with its core operations in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Upstream worked with MTN to create large-scale ‘Mega Promotions’ for three of the group’s W. African markets – Nigeria, Ghana and Benin. The campaigns, which were timed to leverage the build up to the World Cup, were launched at highly-publicised events in April.

With World Cup activities ending and the campaigns drawing to a close, Upstream says the campaigns have generated an “overwhelming” response from users, boosting ARPU and generating a high level of excitement from MTN customers in each country after creating instant big winners. 

Though launched simultaneously, the three campaigns were carefully constructed to fit unique consumer behaviour and demographics in each of the three countries. Upstream says this demonstrates the ability of its mobile marketing communications suite to deliver optimised, relevant, communications that engage and create positive and profitable interactions with each of MTN’s participating customers.

“Mobile operators like MTN do not want a cookie-cutter approach to how they market to their customer base, particularly for significant regional campaigns such as MTN’s World Cup promotions, but they also want low risk solutions,” says Nikos Moraitakis, VP business development at Upstream. “For MTN, Upstream produced sophisticated CRM campaigns which have enabled them to deliver strongly-branded and aligned competitions that were nimble enough to support their massive Africa-wide World Cup activities.”

Harriet Muchu, chief marketing Officer at MTN Benin, says the operator was amazed at how effortlessly Upstream grasped the needs and preferences of its subscriber base and formulated a customised promotion strategy. “The MTN Benin/Upstream partnership was a great commercial success and we look forward to more profitable projects in the future,” she says.

The Campaigns:

MTN Nigeria

MTN 2010 World Cup Naira Splash Competition is a 90-day campaign launched in April, running until after the World Cup. Prizes include  20,000 Nigerian Naira (£87) every hour, N2,000,000 every day, N20,000,000 every month and 120 Tickets to the World Cup.
 
MTN Benin

MTN 2010 World Cup Competition was a 60-day campaign when it launched in April. Due to the success of the campaign, however, it was extended to 90 days. The SMS promotion is being executed in local versions of French. Prizes include daily giveaways of Sony flat-screen television and Hyundai cars.

MTN Ghana

MTN 2010 Win 90 cars in 90 days is a 90-day campaign launched in April running until the end of the World Cup. Prizes include daily giveaways of Hyundai Cars, Sony LCD TVs and MTN airtime vouchers.