Genesis Of Airtel/Prima Garnet's Face Off

FOR the past four months or so, the Nigerian advertising industry has been regaled by stories of a face-off between one of the leading Ad Agencies in the country, Prima Garnet, and her erstwhile affiliate, Ogilvy & Mather Africa, over the marketing communications business at Airtel Nigeria. It's moved from the boardroom to the media and now the courts. Solomon Ibeawuchi, who has been following the story, puts the issues in perspective in this report.

IN the beginning: Following he revolution that swept through the advertising industry in the 80s and 90s, it was apparent that globalization and its effects will culminate in international affiliations in the succeeding years.

If anybody predicted such, it was, therefore, a self-fulfilling prophecy which saw the big agencies like Insight, STB, Rosabel, SO&U, Prima Garnet, etc., getting affiliated to some internationally acclaimed agencies. Insight joined the Grey family; Rosabel joined Leo Burnet; SO&U affiliated with Saatchi and Saatchi; STB joined McCann Ericsson and Prima Garnet married Ogilvy & Mather. These came, expectedly, with lucrative accounts and, of course, skills exchange, training and global recognition. Indeed, someone described Nigerian advertising agencies as going "glocal".

As with most relationships, these affiliations are mostly guided by legal agreements, which spelt out the terms and conditions binding the parties. And so it was between the Lolu Akinwunmi-led Prima Garnet and Ogilvy & Mather.

Between Ogilvy and Prima Garnet: Since 1997, when Prima Garnet was appointed the Ogilvy & Mather affiliate in Nigeria, Ikeja-based agency has had a robust relationship with their partners with some GSK brand as major accounts thrown into the mix.

As a matter of fact, the affiliation did metamorphose into an equity-based relationship following the acquisition of 10 per cent and later 12.5 per cent shares in Prima Garnet by O&M. In 2012, the Airtel Nigeria account was added to Prima Garnet's basket following the selection of O&M by Bharti-Airtel to handle all Airtel's advertising in its 17 or so African operations. A formal agreement was inked on February 22, 2012.

Arguably a very lucrative account, the Airtel business brought additional fortune and fame for the highflying Ikeja-based advertising agency with a billing of over N3bn during the period, some industry watchers say. Information at my disposal, however, suggests that the relationship started souring mid last year following frequent complaints by client (Airtel Nigeria) about quality and long turnaround time for marketing briefs.