I typically love quotes and I have quite a collection of quotations that resonate with me which I hold on to depending on the situation I find myself in. One of such quotes is the one by Erin Hanson which says “There is freedom waiting for you, on the breezes of the sky, And you ask “What if I fall?’’ Oh but my darling, what if you fly?’’
This quote soon became my anchor as I assumed the role of Associate Consultant at BlackHouse Media, to work on the MTN Team for the year 2021. I was initially on the Marketing team and after about four months, I was asked to join another colleague to manage two other divisions of the brand: Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS) and the Enterprise Business (EB). Three months later, this colleague moved on from BHM, and the responsibility of managing the two divisions rested solely on my shoulders.
The journey so far has been an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything and would not forget in a hurry.
Professionally, the year 2021 was an exceptional year for me. I witnessed such great growth, which stretched me beyond my expectations. The experience expanded my mind, opened my eyes, and has given me greater confidence and competence to thrive. I literally plunged into deep waters when I took up the role because I had no idea what it would look like.
I worked on 18 MTN campaigns in 2021 and I consider this an incredible privilege given to me by the organization, an opportunity I would continue to pay forward.
How does it feel like working with MTN in the year 2021?
Mine is a story of Courage, Tenacity, and Resilience. These three words accurately describe my journey for the most part of my life, especially professionally in 2021.
It takes a great deal of bravery to work at BlackHouse Media, and by extension MTN Nigeria. You need a certain level of courage. It is this courage that sustained me at the beginning when I was learning the ropes and made one or two mistakes in the process.
I continued to remind myself that “It is possible” in the words of my CEO, Mr. Ayeni Adekunle
I am quite tenacious and this singular trait has continued to open doors for me. Because I was determined to push through, I viewed every challenge and feedback as an opportunity to learn, unlearn and relearn. I lived by the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.”
Working with a fast-paced organization like MTN made me understand that “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength’’ – Teddy Roosevelt.
MTN is an ambitious brand, always on the move, and consultants working with the team must operate on the same frequency. There is no middle ground.
I consider myself an exceptional professional if I do say so myself.
Despite all the hard work I was putting into my MTN campaigns, I went ahead to commence and complete the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Level 4: Certificate in Professional Marketing Programme in 2021. It lasted 10 months and had three modules in total. The first module is Applied Marketing, which includes an understanding of the role of marketing, key concepts that underpin the activities of the marketer, an exploration of the marketing environment, customer behaviour in the digital age, and market research amongst others. The second module was the Customer Insights module and consists of the fundamentals of customer behaviour.
Going through the CIM program offered me both the theory and practical marketing knowledge and its application to organisations. The learnings also reflected the changing marketing and digital environment.
I was also able to apply some of the learnings to the campaigns I worked on at the time.
I hosted over 15 webinars for the EB division and attended over 100 meetings ranging from daily team meetings with my Lead Consultant to weekly project meetings with the PR Manager at MTN, to campaign meetings with the client and meetings with our media partners at the project execution stage.
Did I have my highlights and lowlights working with MTN? Yes I did
The highlight for me last year was working with the rest of the team on the PR campaign for the MTN Public Offer which was launched on December 1, 2021, and closed on December 14, 2021. It was a campaign that demanded our absolute best and more in terms of awareness, communications, explainers, and overall success. As with every other MTN campaign, there was no middle ground and the team had to ensure that all PR objectives were fully met and exceeded.
I was in charge of managing and coordinating third-party advocates from the North, West, and South to tell relatable stories of the Public Offer through thought leadership, Op-eds, features, and social media engagement. In addition to this, I also had to ensure that stories from the roadshows and more creative content were published across agreed online media platforms.
Expectations were at an all-time high in terms of work delivery especially as we had very limited timelines. From following up consistently, to communicating every detail to my lead consultant, I threw my weight around that bit of the campaign to ensure that we had a perfect execution to meet set objectives. It was definitely time and energy-consuming but the joy was that we achieved our PR goals for all of the engagement.
It has been a highly rewarding experience but I must confess that it came at a cost.
Is it worth it? Absolutely.
I’m looking forward to an amazing 2022 and you should as well. Here’s wishing you an exceptionally successful year, Happy New Year!