Cell C proves there is no such thing as bad publicity
ROi Africa’s news media results on Cellular Networks
This week Roi Africa examined the big media buzz created by Cellular Network brands - the good, the bad and the ugly. . First under scrutiny were the two major players, Vodacom and MTN, and their news coverage across a hundred countries. In the results Vodacom is by far the biggest player internationally; this included Vodafone taking up 63.7% on the charts against MTN’s 36.3%. ROi Africa then narrowed it down to look just at the African continent, which revealed quite the opposite of the previous results. On this chart, MTN came in at 60% against Vodacom’s 40%. Looking at South Africa, Cell C was then included in the report with , Vodacom at 45.47%, MTN at 37.42% and Cell C at 17.11%.
Social Media results on Cellular Networks
In S.A. social media Vodacom has taken by far most of the buzz, with 54.07%, against Cell C’s 7.76% and MTN’s 38.18%. These results can be attributed to the fact that Vodacom ran a huge sponsorship for the hugely successful Vodacom Durban July, with 32.46% of Vodacom's press being about this sponsorship. MTN had a few things happening in the past 2 weeks weeks with a CEO exiting and a new CEO coming in, as well as the strike news; the CEO story alone accounted for 41.32% of MTN’s social media coverage.
Cell C media results after ‘that horny dog ad’
Cell C had the most controversial story of the cellular networks in the past few days, when it released an advertisement where a dog is seen humping a man’s leg during various tasks he performs throughout his day - suggesting that he is ‘being screwed’ by prices. This particular advert sparked a bit of controversy and the ASA [Advertising Standards Authority] were called in but decided it was fit for airing. The advert was spoken about over social media but was noticed more in news media which was interesting. The Cell C dog advert came in at 16.82% of Cell C’s overall media coverage.
“Which shows, as the saying goes ‘there is no such thing as bad advertising” ends Tonya Khoury, MD of ROi Africa in this week’s Brand Media Buzz.
