BY: Sandra Ani
It hit the media landscape like a thunderbolt on the first day of February 2019. A black-faced, handsome athlete working out in a gym. “Inner strength that comes from the hard knocks that life throws at us, and we Nigerians we know all about that,”
Cut! Another scene, same well-built dude in a boxing ring; knocks out his opponent easily, then he gloats – “Glo I hail o!”
That is World Boxing Champion Anthony Oluwafemi, Olaseni Joshua in a new television commercial released by Globacom celebrating his Nigerian-ness. The commercial which sits trending on the internet proved to be one of the few things that has uplifted the hearts of Nigerians together. Released at a time when perhaps hopes and illusions about the future of Nigeria were at very low ebbs, especially in the younger generation, the video clip reignited the fire of national pride and hope in the hearts of Nigerians all over the world.
The sights of the black dude punching the brains out of his opponent and the well-crafted motivational speech of the Nigerian boxer did the trick. Words like “you don’t stay down, you get up and fight” went a long way to revive the hearts of many downtrodden Nigerians.
It is well known that tenacity is the middle name for Nigerians. Often, it is called the Nigerian never-say-die spirit or the Nigerian can-do spirit, but when Joshua said, “We have the same tenacity, the Nigerian fighting spirit that makes us game changers” Nigerians could identify with that. That touched a chord. It resonated across the black world.
The sequel to the TVC does even more, showing the awesome reactions of Nigerians to the inspirational message contained in the commercial.
The sequel TVC opens with a University of Lagos female student relishing the Anthony Joshua commercial. A teenage boy is seen also watching the TVC in his home. The scene shifts to fishermen on Lagos lagoon.
A local tailor in Aba also watches followed by a female basketball team in Port Harcourt while a lady executive in Abuja was also shown soaking in the Glo-Joshua message on her phone.
Then the scene cuts to classroom of pupils in Sokoto where they gathered to watch Joshua on a laptop.
Watch ad here:
The effects: breathtaking and heart touching! Nigerians of all walks of life are inspired, motivated and moved to achieve more after watching the Joshua story. Especially driving the message home is the young Nigerian, from Joshua’s constituency, a boxer who saw the inspirational film, took lessons from Joshua’s motivational and went on to win his bout.
Again, the locations where the commercials were watched pointed at the nationwide coverage of the Glo 4G which is seen as Number 1 in the country in view of its spread.
The TVC itself is seen as a masterpiece. The pay off line of “always in your corner” is a boxing metaphor for the comfort boxers get from their corners where they get tips and treatment.
It is evident what Glo wants everyone to take home after seeing the TVC, Glo 4G is in everyone’s corner and with Glo all their data related communication needs are met, allowing them to breathe easy with data, widely regarded as the new oxygen of life in a digitalized world.