Why I moved from MTN to Glo – Wizkid

Nigerian music star, Wizkid, in an official statement signed by his manager, Sunday Are, has come out to say why he quit his ambassadorial role for MTN and moved over to indigenous telecom company, Globacom.
Globacom is huge in this industry and I see the evidence of the company's commitment to improving the industry and the lives of its practitioners everywhere I turn. To be honest, it's been a dream to have a working relationship with the Glo brand. An opportunity to turn this dream to reality came, and I took it.
It's an incredible blessing to be sought after by arguably Nigeria's two most powerful brands at the same time. My decision to go with Globacom this time is not an act of spite against MTN. I simply seized an opportunity to move from Yellow land to greener pastures. God bless!

MTN confirms parting of ways with Wizkid, Sean Tizzle & Timaya

(MTN has confirmed that the telcom firm has parted ways with Wizkid, Timaya and Sean Tizzle as ambassadors.

As previously reported by NET, Nigeria’s leading telco firm, MTN won’t be renewing the contraits act of 3 of mbassadors until a few weeks ago. The list of those who won’t be staying with MTN contains Nigerian pop stars like Wizkid, Sean Tizzle and Timaya.

A statement signed by MTN’s General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Richard Iweanoge confirmed that the stars won’t be ambassadors of the telco this year.

‘Although there is a finite number of brand ambassadors we can have at any point in time, Nigerian artistes can continue to monetise their intellectual works through our distribution channels such as the Caller Tunez and Music Plus platforms,’ the statement states.

The statement reads further: ‘As was originally conceptualised, the ambassadorship will continually evolve to accommodate new talents and cater for diverse segments. This year, we are using a segmented approach and there will be ambassadors for each segment of our market. Using this criteria, new artistes like Cobhams Asuquo will be coming on board the MTN Ambassadorial family.’

In May 2015, stars including Davido, Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage, Dr. Sid, Sound Sultan, Iyanya, Chidinma, Banky W, KCee as well as Saka, Osuofia, Mama Gee and others all renewed their contracts with MTN.

MTN splashes over N400m on Don Jazzy, Iyanya, Sound Sultan, others

It is the season that notable Nigerian music acts have been waiting for. Don Jazzy, Iyanya, Sound Sultan and Chidinma are some of the acts who have renewed their contracts with MTN as ambassadors for another year. 

MTN Nigeria has splashed out millions on Nigerian music stars by renewing their contracts with the telco company for another year.

In the space of 48 hours, MTN concluded renewals for the endorsements of some of Nigeria’s biggest stars including Iyanya, Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage, Chidinma and Harrysong.

Others who have been captured so far for another year are Sound Sultan, Banky W, Dr Sid, and Praiz. By estimation, the telcom firm has spent nothing less than N400m on the music stars.

In 2013, MTN officially signed MMMG act, Iyanya for around N40m, Tiwa Savage for about N30m and another Project Fame winner, Chidinma Ekile for a figure believed to be N20m.

Along with Don Jazzy, the stars have had their agreements with the company renewed for the 3rd consecutive year last week while Dr Sid was signing for his second year with MTN.

The total signings by Mavin Records crew of Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage, Dr Sid and D’Prince was valued at over N150m in 2013 and the figure is believed to have risen even further this year.

That line of thought according to observers, might not be unconnected with rumours fuelled by a statement from one Gbenga Olorunpomi that all the acts under the Mavin umbrella were set to ditch MTN for a rival and wholly Nigeria-owned company, Globacom.

In the cases of Banky W and Sound Sultan, their initial deals reportedly came in at N40m and N30m respectively while Five Star Music act, Harrysong’s was put at N10m two years ago. With all of them having remained relevant enough to add value to the brand, a substantial increase is believed to have been inserted one way or another.

All the deals were signed and renewed through the Paul Okoye led Upfront Bookings Talent Agency. Some stars like Wizkid, Davido and KCEE who are all MTN ambassadors are not in the country at the moment, which explains why there’s been no mention of their renewals.

NET reached out to a couple of the ambassadors who got their deals renewed but only Chidinma responded. She said: ‘I feel great having my deal renewed, it’s a good feeling. She however declined to comment on how much the deal is worth, saying, ‘I won’t want to talk about that, but my relationship with the brand has been great.’

We also sought to get details of the endorsement deals from the MTN through its General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Funmi Onajide but she was yet to respond to our email as at press time.

Artist	Amount (NET estimates)
Davido	40m
Wizkid	40m
Saka	30m
Iyanya	40m
Chidinma	20m
Praiz	20m
Mavin	150m
Banky W	40m
Sound Sultan	30
Harrysong	10
Total	420m