Source: © Gallo Images Gallo Images Lanre Adisa, Founder/Chief Creative Officer of Noah’s Ark communications based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Adisa was one of 12 speakers at the Loeries International Seminar of Creativity on Friday, 11 October, at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town.

He took the audience through the agency’s journey with Airtel in Nigeria, taking it from the second-last brand in the minds of customers and moving it into a very strong second place.

Airtel, which had changed its name and character over its nine years in the country five times meant that its first-to-market competitor advantage did not materialise. The telecoms company was also behind its competitors in that it only offered 3G and not 4G.

But it wanted to be the most loved brand in Nigeria and tasked Noah’s Ark with this transformation.

Withour data, I will be dead

“We spoke to young people, not about the brand but about their lives, their expectations. One young person told us that they would be dead without data, and this became our sweet spot,” he says.

Their research also showed that consumers did not care about the technology, whether it was 3G or 4G. “Our competitors were celebrating the technology, but as long as consumers had data and the network was reliable, they did not care about the technology.”

Instead of presenting technology and product-based marketing, the agency presented ads that used humour.

Time to be loud

“This was the beginning of a journey. The brand had been silent for so long that now it had to be loud. And every time we told a story, we learnt more.”

The stories they were telling worked so well, that people wanted to weave themselves into the brand. “ We found ways for them to insert themselves into the story that were relatable.”

What they learnt from weaving these stories was that if a story is told well, it can influence popular culture. For example, when the network got 4G, they announced it by creating their own piece of music that was so popular it was played by DJs and at parties.

He also says that to keep your momentum you have to explore new ways to engage. “How can you refresh the message when you are on this journey? How can you use humour to sustain this?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Noah's Ark Communications (@noahsarkcomm)

Decision to move on

After a decade of telling stories, the brand decided to move on. By then it had moved from a weak no 3 spot (out of 4) to a strong no 2 spot in the telecoms ranking and it was one of the most loved brands in Nigeria.

Instead of mourning the loss of this client, the agency displayed the work it had done to say farewell. This gave them two new clients.

“The moral of the story is that it is human connections that lead to great stories that people can relate to no matter what platforms they appear on and that the brand can solve real problems.”