MTN fumbled their 15GB price hike response👎🏽
What NOT to do during a crisis + What MTN should have done instead
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In today’s issue, I write about MTN’s PR Mishap, why it flopped, and what they could have done instead.
Let's dive in!
On Tuesday (11th February), MTN Nigeria increased the price of one of its popular data plans by 200%. This increase wasn’t exactly unprecedented, since telecom operators have been petitioning the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to increase tariffs by 100% (which the NCC negotiated down to 50%).
However, it was strange that the increase was over the agreed 50%, and that there was no prior announcement. Expectedly, Nigerians were angry, especially on Twitter. “MTN 15GB” was a trending topic on Twitter, and Nigerians demanded an explanation, apology, reversal, or all 3.
Within two days, MTN drafted a response and posted it across all social media platforms. But this response incensed, rather than placated, affected users.
Let’s be clear. This was a terrible release, as evidenced by the responses of users on social media.
I have previously written a rant on LinkedIn about why the release was a terrible one. Today, I want to do a deeper breakdown of what went wrong and what a better response might have been.
Before anything, we need to establish some context about the Nigerian situation.
Nigerians are price sensitive: Everyone is price-sensitive, but Nigerians more so than others. It makes matters worse that data has become a necessity for many young Nigerians, rather than a luxury.
Economic situations are tough: Nigerians are already struggling. In the last year, prices of most household items have increased by almost 200% and Nigerians have had to adjust continuously with no reprieve.
The Nigerian government is largely hated: Speak with any Nigerian for one hour and you will inevitably get your ear bent by rants about its corrupt and cruel government.
Now that we’ve established these facts, let’s speak a bit about crisis communication and what it’s supposed to achieve.
Crisis Communication
Crisis communication is how organisations manage information, protect their reputation, and maintain public trust during events that could damage their brand.
I love this definition because it already defines the 3 main goals of crisis communication:
Manage information: If you don’t tell your story, others will. And when others tell your story, you don’t control the narrative. There are a few generally accepted principles when managing information:
Be the first to speak. The longer it takes you to respond, the less control you have over information. Ideally, you should prepare for a crisis before it even happens.
Give only verified facts. Don’t speculate and don’t simply say that a thing is wrong. It is not enough to say “this is a lie.” You must combat the lie with the truth.
Use multiple channels. Bad news spreads faster than good news. That’s why you have to work overtime to push your response as wide as possible.
Protect reputation: During a crisis, your reputation is at risk. So, crisis communication must try to safeguard your reputation and influence public perception correctly.
Maintain public trust: Trust is hard to build, but so easy to lose. If you can’t sufficiently reassure people, you won’t get that trust back. Even worse, users might switch to competitors or leave bad reviews.
In all, the most important metric to judge crisis management by is your influence on public perception. If you’re successful, public discussions about your brand should become neutral or even positive after you put out your release.
So, what are some ways to manage crisis when it happens?
Well, there are 2 theories that fit MTN’s situation well.
Situational Crisis Communication Theory (by Timothy Coombs)
This theory proposes 4 response strategies.Deny: You can attack the accuser, deny responsibility, or blame a scapegoat.
Diminish: You can explain the situation and justify your actions.
Rebuild: You can apologise, compensate, and take corrective action.
Bolster: You can remind the public of past good deeds and present new positive information. Coombs says this should never be a primary strategy; it should be used in addition to others.
The strategy you choose is based on the type and severity of the crisis. There are 3 types of crisis clusters:
Victim cluster: Where the organization is also a victim of the crisis. If you’re a victim, you use the Deny strategy.
Accidental cluster: Where the organizational actions leading to the crisis were unintentional. If your crisis is accidental, you might Diminish, Rebuild, Bolster, or all 3 (depending on the context).
Intentional cluster: Where the organization knowingly placed people at risk, took inappropriate actions or violated a law/regulation. If your crisis is intentional, you can only Rebuild and Bolster.
Attribution Theory (by Bernard Weiner)
This theory says that in times of crisis, people will always assign blame to a party. If people believe that your organisation is responsible for the problem, then they will assign blame to you and expect accountability. There are 3 factors to consider here:Locus – Was the crisis caused by internal (company fault) or external (outside influence) factors?
Stability – Is this a one-time event or a recurring issue?
Controllability – Could the organization have prevented it?
Your response to these 3 questions determines whether you need to assume blame (and how much of it you should assume) or shift it completely to the responsible party.
Now that we know all this, let’s talk about MTN’s situation specifically.
Where MTN went wrong
I’ll start by breaking MTN’s response down, line by line.
Now that we’ve broken down each line, let’s talk about the release as a whole.
Problem #1: Lack of Preparedness
On the surface level, MTN’s response seemed timely. The social media storm started on the 11th and MTN responded two days later on the 13th. But in my opinion, that is simply not timely enough. Here’s why.
One of the core tenets of crisis management is that it does not begin after the crisis happens. Ideally, you should foresee the crisis and prepare for it. MTN not only did not prepare for the crisis, but they actively caused it by not informing users about the increase beforehand.
Problem #2: Lack of Empathy
Some marketers have claimed that MTN’s response is empathetic. But they are mistaking sympathy for empathy. MTN only acknowledged that people were angry and showed sympathy for that anger.
But they did not show empathy; in fact, they undermined people’s feelings (and the seriousness of the situation) by leaning solely on humour.
Humour is great; there have been amazing crisis responses that use humour. But when humour is your sole crutch, you come across as tone-deaf.
Nothing can explain my point better than this quote from one of my favourite (and aptly named) PR books, “Public Relations for Dummies”:
“PR is an art of demonstration — showing rather than stating your message — and crisis management is no exception. When you just say that you care and are sorry, people are cynical. When you demonstrate compassion and caring in a dramatic and distinctive way, people not only believe your message but also pay attention to and remember it."
Problem #3: Lack of Explanation
This is where all the context I have provided becomes important.
Every Nigerian knows that the cost of all items has gone up due to inflation. Nigerians largely blame the government (and governmental organisations) for this because they’re the perfect (and most obvious scapegoat).
If we go back to the Situational Crisis Communication Theory, MTN could sit in either the Victim cluster (as they are a victim of inflation themselves) or the intentional cluster (as they increased prices far higher than the agreed 50% tariffs).
If we were to answer the questions posed by the Attribution Theory, then our answers would be:
Was the crisis caused by internal or external factors? → External factors (Inflation)
Is this a one-time event or a recurring issue? → One-time; it’s the first time in over a decade that telecom providers have made such a coordinated hike.
Could the organization have prevented it? → Absolutely not.
You can probably tell where I’m going. If MTN fits into the victim cluster; and if the bulk of the blame does not lie at their feet, then shouldn’t they use the Deny strategy and place the blame on external factors? Well, not exactly. We’ll discuss that in a bit.
What should MTN have done instead?
Well, a lot of things.
For one, they could have said absolutely nothing. It is a sad truth that Nigerians are a beaten people who often complain for a few days only to adjust to the new state of things.
But I don’t believe the best response in this case was no response. I only believe that no response would have been better than the response they gave.
So, let’s talk about how they could have fixed the problems I highlighted.
Problem #1: Lack of Preparedness
MTN should have seen this coming. It should have been obvious that this would generate some uproar.
Decent crisis management would have been to anticipate this and get ahead of it by being transparent with customers.
Spectranet, one of MTN’s competitors, did an amazing job with this. Rather than suddenly increasing prices, Spectranet reached out to users by telling them that they would be phasing out their current price structure. They went a step further by advising users to lock into long-term plans so they can enjoy the old prices for a little while longer.
Spectranet’s response is great and it absolves them of all blame. It’s certainly not humorous, but it’s effective. Now, when Spectranet does increase its price, there’s a significantly lower chance of it becoming a crisis—because they informed customers in advance. And users are more likely to blame NCC than Spectranet.
Problem #2: Lack of Empathy
When I ranted about MTN’s release on LinkedIn, one person compared it to KFC’s iconic FCK campaign, which also uses humour to lighten tension.
The difference between KFC’s response and MTN’s is that KFC leans on humour moderately. Every other part of their response is apologetic, explanatory, and above all, empathetic.
On the other hand, MTN relies solely on humour. It’s the only lever they use, which is why they come across as tone-deaf. And where MTN assumes that people understand them, KFC takes the time to explain the situation and thanks people for bearing with them despite it.
If MTN wanted to show more empathy, they might recommend other bundles that users could take advantage of in place of the 16GB bundle. Or if they were feeling generous, they might do a limited-time price slash or bonus.
That’s how you show empathy. It’s not by telling people that you care (when your actions indicate otherwise); it’s by showing them.
Problem #3: Lack of Explanation
This was MTN’s biggest offence. Customers deserve a legitimate explanation for such a drastic increase.
In this, MTN had two options:
Blame the NCC: MTN could have followed in Spectranet’s footsteps and said “In line with NCC’s guidelines…” But there’s a problem with this approach. Even though the NCC looks like a good scapegoat (being a governmental organisation), pointing the fingers at them could backfire.
If NCC feels unfairly blamed, they could simply say “Hold up, you were the one who asked us to increase tariffs. And we even protected Nigerians by negotiating a 50% increase instead of the 100% you wanted.” And then all the heat would go back to MTN again.Blame inflation: MTN could blame the real enemy, which is conveniently an enemy that cannot speak up for itself. As we’ve established, Nigerians understand that times are tough. And it’s tough for businesses as it is for individuals. If MTN took this approach, it would need to do the hard work of humanising itself so that Nigerians truly believe that the economy is tough on the billion-dollar multinational.
A 3rd (and in my opinion, better) option would be for MTN to assume part of the blame (for not informing users beforehand), while shifting the rest of the blame to inflation (and by extension, the government that Nigerians are so angry with).
MTN’s Release Re-Written
A few people have asked me how I’d write the MTN release differently if I were in charge of their response.
First, here’s an excellent re-write Charles Isidi made on Twitter.
I expect some people to say “But this version is plain and doesn’t have the humour in MTN’s original release.” To placate those people (and to wrap up this long story), I have written a version that keeps MTN’s original pidgin and some of its tone.
TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read): MTN’s “you dey vex. we know” release lacked empathy and leaned too much on humour as a crutch. Instead, they should have been explanatory and empathetic.
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Thanks to Temilade Praise for giving invaluable critique on early drafts of this post.
Personal Update
Two weeks ago, I left my job as Head of Marketing at SocialKit. I loved working on SocialKit, but it felt like I’d hit a personal plateau. So, I quit to find myself again (cliche as that might sound).
One of the things I intend to test during this phase is consulting & fractional work. I’ve done this in the past, but never focused on it primarily.
To that end, I’m starting with free 15-minute consulting calls for founders. You tell me about your product and I give you free product marketing advice within 15 minutes.
If you like what I have to say, then I can execute on ideas fractionally or we can set up recurring paid consultations. If you don’t, we end the call with no commitments.
What I’m Reading
Duolingo’s Brand Handbook — Duolingo does an amazing job at marketing. Their handbook shows you why.
Beyond the Billboard — When To Choose Distribution over Marketing. Really insightful read into when it’s more important to be seen than to be perceived, written by MTN’s former CMO.
My product went viral on social media but all I got were these shitty users — Why virality often brings the worst users and when big user spikes are good.
Customers don't care about your AI feature — Something to think about before you lean into the “AI-powered” messaging
Jobs
Social Media Associate at WeTalkSound | Remote, Lagos
Content Creation & Distribution Specialist | Hybrid, Lagos
Social Media Manager at Strattmont | Remote, Nigeria
Marketing Growth Strategist at ContentJet | Remote, Anywhere in the world
Demand Generation Manager at Toggl | Remote, Anywhere in the world
Growth Marketer at Sitepoint | Remote, Anywhere in the world
Head of Marketing at Safetywing | Remote, Anywhere in the world
Product Marketing Manager at Baymard | Remote, Anywhere in the world
Social Media Manager at Chore | Remote, Everywhere except US
Content Marketing Specialist at Earnipay | Hybrid, Lagos
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This was phenomenal and so easy to read and digest.
this was a good breakdown. well written.