I Luv Zed: The MTN Zambia Better Campaign

MTN Zambia just launched a new branding campaign today themed “I Luv Zed” and we’re breaking it down for you. It appears that they are going hard on this campaign but just how hard is the question. Many times we’ve seen ambitious campaigns from the Zambian telecom companies which soon afterwards fizzle out without really leaving a lasting impression on anybody. The reason why our title says the “better” campaign is because you will notice the thematic message being communicated in the promotional materials by MTN Zambia. So relax, we didn’t make it up.

Better ways to work and seize opportunities. Caring is good, sharing is better. Create new possibilities, become better. Those are what’s out there for now. The campaign also has a video, although, we are not sure why it has only been posted on MTN Zambia’s Twitter Page and not Facebook.

The video is quite uplifting and makes me almost believe in the ad if I wasn’t such a cynic. The voice over is powerful enough to pull at the right heart strings and squeeze a little patriotism from within. The nationalistic approach might work especially now that the country is all about Zambianisation.

The date stamp at the beginning of the video is April 3, 2014 but it has only been released today. So why did MTN Zambia wait this long to execute the campaign? One plausible explanation could be that they were waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S5 funfair to die out and then have their day as well. Nonetheless, 3 weeks is a long time to sit on a completed advertisement. And then the question is why bother to show the date?

Perhaps, we can decipher what Zambian values are important to MTN Zambia from the “I love Zambia” poster and ultimately the campaign. The colours of the poster are green, black, red and yellow while orange is missing to make the Zambian flag colours. So we assume, the vegetation, the black people, and solidarity are important. Yellow is obviously the MTN colour. The symbols depicted are maize, a sim card, and two cellphones with some Kwachas sticking out. So, agriculture, connectivity, and mobile money. The video complements the poster with connotations of encouraging social media/networking, buying local, and e-commerce.

From this, we can safely assume the above values are what are on MTN Zambia’s agenda pushing for a digital new world in 2014 or should we say the month of May. The promo video highlights smartphones, tablets and laptops which are all essential devices to propel technology on-the-go.

A new territory in marketing has been opened up and we wonder whether Airtel Zambia or Zamtel can match or beat MTN Zambia on their new campaign. True to their word of creating a digital new world, MTN Zambia is diving head first into digital media advertising sphere by utilizing social media such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

Feel free to let us know what you think of the video or the posters. Share your reactions with us on our Facebook page, Twitter, or even below this article in the comments box.