Last week, I was in Accra to meet with an old friend. It was my first visit to Ghana. Immediately on landing I was greeted by the familiar GLO hoardings. “Rule Your World” was all over the airport.
That sent me down the memory lane and I thought about my first encounter with GLO.
Circa 2004
I first arrived in Nigeria on the 31st December of 2004. After checking in at a small hotel in the posh Victoria Island, I asked for a GSM line.
Now the hotel may have been small with limited amenities (no proper gym or a swimming pool) but its staff seemed to have the warmest and the most genuine smile, I had seen in some time. Give me a small place with happy staff anywhere and I am happy. As a customer, I don’t demand much- a medium-sized room with squeaky-clean bathroom and the noise-free air-conditioner.
The girl at the desk informed me that there were three GSM operators to choose from and that the salesrooms of all the three were within half-a-mile distance from the hotel. I asked her which one of the three was the second largest in terms of customers and she said that it was Globacom GLO. I opted for GLO.
Beyond the Number Game:
I have this strange affinity for supporting the runners-up brand, the one that is the second largest, at least initially. As a student of advertising, I have always loved the tagline of Avis Rent a Car campaign. Avis in 1962 ran an advert, which boldly declared that, “We Try Harder”. Avis went on to explain that since it was not Number 1 in the car renting business, it had to try harder. This was a seemingly humble but an adroitly aggressive attack on Hertz that was the number one in the car renting business.
The number 2 man always tries harder and harder and the number one man unwittingly becomes carelessly carefree. I always supported Jimmy Connors and rated him higher than Bjorn Borg, even though the latter consistently won at Wimbledon. Jimmy was the fighter whose career outlasted that of Borg by a good four to five years and eventually Jimmy did go down as the man who won the highest number of ATP tournaments, a record even King Fedrer may never get to break!
I always go for the Number two brand since I always know that it would go out of its way to woo customers and retain them in an effort to overtake the number one brand.
I was also enthused by Globacom bold positioning of itself as a challenger brand to the Number One brand in Nigeria, the MTN brand. GLO obviously had the greatest quality that a challenger can bank upon, the quality of believing in itself.
GLO’s self-belief was boldly depicted in it first tagline- “GLO with Pride”.
I also remember that GLO also ran an advert when it was furiously expanding its network. GLO’s advert proclaimed that “Wherever You Go, We GLO”.
MTN runs a tagline, which reads, “Everywhere You Go”.
To me, a first time subscriber, GLO wanted to tell that that its canvass wasn’t just limited to “Everywhere” but extended to “Wherever”.
To me GLO wanted to be Limitless, unbounded, beyond the everywhere of today to the wherever of tomorrow and beyond!
In the world of advertising, the adverts are created by the agencies but the spirit these creative masters represents belong to the brand-owners. When in 1977 Wells, Rich and Green created the tagline, “The Citi never Sleeps” the agency was merely articulating the promise being made by the owner if Citibank. The agency just created a marvelous campaign. It was for Citibank now to live up to the expectations.
When KFC said its products were, “Finger Lickin’ Good” it ran a very big risk of being too cocksure of its products. To call yourself “Finger Lickin Good” means that your are promising your customer of your Best efforts and Best results at all time, in all parts of the world. That promise requires a brave heart!
Who can forget the famous tagline, “Beanz Meanz Heinz." The company Heinz ran the real risk to turning its brand name into a generic name, something that many a marketer may frown upon. The tagline was risky but it paid off. The guts of the brand owners really paid off.
Coming back to the GLO theme, I dare say that GLO did live up to its theme of “Wherever You Go, We GLO” It first set up a vast network that enabled superb connectivity, rich voice transmission quality and then cut rates furiously to make the service viable for the common man. Did it become Number One in Nigeria? Not as yet but to be honest I haven’t bothered to check as long as I remain a satisfied customer.
The Current Tagline: Rule “YOUR” World
The current tagline for GLO which has now travelled across Nigeria beckons me to talk about the brand again. GLO dropped the “GLO with Pride” theme a long time back. GLO now says to its customers to “Rule Your World”. Mind you that the word “Your” is very significant and is not be read as “The”.
When someone announces that it wants to “Rule the World”, it begins to sound very pompous. It smacks of imperialistic ambitions, a vision to monopolize the business and create fear in the minds of its rivals and customers alike. It also is a prelude to the demise of such a brand.
In a different context, remember that Japan and Germany had once begun to have the ambition of ruling the world. Both were doomed in the World War and since then have risen again only when they thought of ruling just their own world (and not the entire world) efficiently.
GLO’s tagline is full of humility and human values. It asks its customers to define its own world, its own business, and its own sphere of activity and rule it by winning over the hearts. This is the essence of “Rule Your World” motto. Don’t try to rule or dominate what’s not yours. Forget about ruling the whole world. No single man can do that. Rather carve your own space and then rule it by serving its habitants.
Much like GLO wants to rule the hearts of its satisfied customers by offering more affordable services; it wants the current generation of Nigerians (and now Ghanians) to set high ambition for itself.
This world of high ambition is the world that the students, the lawyers, the artisans, the welders, the taxi-drivers, the engineers, the journalists, the doctors, the housewives, the farmers should aspire to rule. The father must aspire to become the best father in the world. The leader must aspire to be the best leader of his community and the people must strive to be the best citizens of this great country.
This is my take on the GLO’s ongoing campaign. This is my perception and if I didn’t get it right then the advertisers didn’t get it right either!
When Reliance Mobile was launched in India in 2003, its tagline was “Karlo Duniya Muthi Mein”, which roughly translates to, “Grab the World in your fist”.
This one from GLO goes a step farther. It shows ambition but also defines it well by choosing to be human.
God Bless Nigeria, God Bless Ghana and God Bless GLO in Ghana.
Sudhir Bisht is a freelance writer. Send feedback at [email protected]
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