“After nearly 15 years of working together and building the brand across the continent, Ogilvy Africa and Airtel Africa have decided to part ways. Like any large and long-standing relationship, our two companies have learnt together, succeeded together, grown together, and with time, grown apart. It’s time to go our respective paths.” This was the first paragraph of the obituary notice that announced the death of the 15 year-long marketing relationship between Ogilvy Africa and Airtel Africa. Interestingly, this relatively long epitaph was written and published on their LinkedIn page by Airtel Africa, who, in stating that the reason for the separation remained private to the two organisations, described the relationship while it lasted as “phenomenal.” “The Ogilvy Africa Network wishes our friends...

It must be pointed out that the emergence and eventual rise of the Pentecostal industry that threw up Pastor Chris Oyahilome and a slew of others was the outcome of classical marketing – pure differentiation strategies in a world in which people were bored and fed up with traditional church doctrines, modes of worship and other conservative issues. Just as the birth of the Anglican Communion in the 16th Century happened following the rebellion of King Henry VIII and the consequent birth of the Church of England out of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pentecostal explosion had its roots in the inabilities of the orthodox churches to accommodate the style, marketing and other intangible needs of members of the various churches. Pentecostalism...

Nigerian political leaders and many of their institutions love big headlines and the vainer the real issues are, the more they hug it. It has almost become the expectation of discerning members of the public for public officials and institutions to sidestep serious issues of national social, moral, and economic importance in favour of vanity trips just because of how much headline news the media would make of it. No one cares if, in the end, it makes them look stupid as long as big headlines are delivered, and this has become the preoccupation of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) of recent, particularly with its selective, almost morbid focus on Multichoice Nigeria. FCCPC, and at times, the National...