Where have you been?! Let’s get you caught up.
MTN Season of Surprises was arguably one of the biggest things done by any company over the festive season with the simple aim of thanking and giving back in a massive way to Nigerians.
It reached over 300,000 Nigerians during its 20-day run. Exact number: 325,491. Think about that. That is 325,491 people receiving a gift or free service. As far as we know, it is the largest giveaway of its kind ever in Nigeria.
The numbers were off the charts. Ninety locations across the country, from Benin City to Makurdi, Kano to Calabar, Abuja to Uyo were covered. Hundreds of shoppers in 50 supermarkets got free vouchers; travellers across the country had bus and air tickets paid for; nine tertiary institutions (Colleges of Education and Polytechnics) and ten public primary schools were visited by the telco and hundreds of people in 50 filling stations were surprised with vouchers.
MTN made sure it reached out to everybody. Some of the neediest Nigerians, including patients in 27 General Hospitals who received gift bags from the staff of the company and residents in three IDP camps got food items and provisions to share with their family and loved ones.
The best part about all of this? All gifts were given at random, with no criteria as to who was surprised. You did not even have to be an MTN customer to be surprised by the volunteer staff of company. All that love, plus online giveaways such as tickets to cinemas and music concerts really got people talking; the hashtag #MTNSeasonOfSurprises hit 1.4 billion impressions on social media.
The company says it will keep doing this every year – the 2018 run was its fourth. At this rate, it might not be too much to say that very soon, the colour of the Christmas holidays for many Nigerians might become yellow.
Now that would be a surprise.