Etisalat Nigeria relationship with The Quadrant Company has come to an end as a new PR agency, Chain Reaction Nigeria, has been appointed to manage the telecommunication public relations briefs for the next four years.
The development came on the account of the recent pitch exercise conducted by the multinational telecommunication brand in Lagos where CandF Porter Novelli, Mediacraft, Xlr8, Chain Reactions Nigeria and incumbent TQC all participated.
The first round of the pitch eliminated others but TQC and Chain Reactions Nigeria. The second round took place last week at the telecoms giant head office in Lagos, where the CEO of Etisalat, Matthew Willsher reportedly sat through the process which took over four hours.
The Israel Jaiye Opayemi’s Chain Reactions recorded a major milestone in the industry by warehousing the entire PR business of the industry second biggest PR account according to observers.
Since its inception in Nigeria, Etisalat has never retained an incumbent agency on PR briefs. It would be recalled that TQC dethroned Nn’emeka Maduegbuna’s CandF 4 years ago after a painstaking pitch exercise. But now Chain Reactions Nigeria has pulled a plug from TQC’s wheel and the table has turned its favour.
Prior to the pitch, TQC was considered favourite having had experiences on the telecom brands and as an incumbent too. Other front runners were Calixthus Okoruwa’s Xlr8, John Ehiguese’s Mediacraft and latecomer into the contest, CandF.
Chain Reactions was seen by industry observers as ‘no-rival’ but the performances of the agency at the first and second stages of the presentations clearly showed that the agency was thinking on the line of the telecom brand in what to expect in the four years.
