Yesterday, local smartphone brand appointed recently elected Buhera West MP Joseph Chinotimba as their Brand Ambassador. GTel recently unveiled a pretty decent flagship phone the Explorer A717, and this could be a move (probably not the right one) to get some mileage on the new phone.
This is up there amongst the extremely weird endorsement deals I have ever come across. Before we go into the personalities, this is probably another “only in Zimbabwe” case where a person in public office is appointed as an ambassador for a commercial brand. There clearly some conflicting interests here. For example, in a corrupt country like Zimbabwe, questions will be asked on the political mileage the brand can get by aligning itself with an influential figure in Zimbabwe’s most powerful political party.
If Chinoz was a musician, he would promote GTel at his shows and event appearances. So since he is a politician, will he be expected to promote GTel at his rallies and in parliament? Given that Zimbabwe is highly polarised, having a political figure as your brand’s poster boy is a huge risk, for any brand.
Moving to the personalities involved, no doubt Chinotimba has “celebrity status” in Zimbabwe and soon GTel devices will be referred to as “phone dzaChinoz”. I am not sure if this is a good selling point for GTel who are currently trying to reposition their brand predominantly associated with poor quality products. Chinoz himself is a target of vile jokes which portray him as an unintelligent man and by making him brand ambassador, GTel is simply saying, “hey, when you make jokes about Chinoz, think about us too!”
I have been frantically trying to link Chinoz to a product and what immediately comes to mind are farming implements and related products. Chinoz could have been a perfect fit for a company like Seedco but I just can’t connect Chinoz with a smartphone brand. Chinoz and smart(phones) don’t mix!
I have nothing against the fella but Chinoz’ does not represent cool, sleek or awesomeness that any smartphone brand wants to be associated with – unless GTel is vying for something different.
Samsung’s S.A brand ambassadors are JD Fresh, Pat Lambi and other personalities that represent creativity, innovation and the coolness that Samsung known for. Again, what does Chinoz represent that GTel identifies with. What is in Chinoz’ personal brand that GTel identifies with?
Unless GTel has some brilliant strategy that I missed, there is absolutely nothing good for their already buttered brand with this appointment. I have been a GTel fan but this appointment is a shock!
Hands up! everyone who wants their smartphone associated with Chinoz? Anyone?
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23 comments
remember at a certain point and time this firm was known as Gtide and they had to change names to Gtel coz of their disastrous marketing campaign which involved a pornstar/musician Stunner. Who ever is in the marketing department is incompetent nje.Kuyayangisa lokhu ,yikwehlisa inkampani yabo.
Am neither Zanu(pf) nor a chinoz fan, but he is a definite improvement from their previous ambassador, one Desmond Chidemo who recently got jilted by his pornographic star girlfriend/mother of one/cougar Pokello Nare who is now into younger men. Too much controversy
Good move as the point here is to sell the name Gtel
perhaps Gtel is looking at a new market the rural folk new farmers who r making a decent buck. honestly urban folk r a tough market to hook where the iphones, samsungs and the sonys are the definition of cool. only time and quaterly reports will tell. but i for the most part agree with your views. #Chinoz and #Cool is is what water is to oil.
I was thinking the same thing as well, it’s probably to do with their target market.
there nothing called bad publicity, chinoz provide publicity positive or negative gtel is desperate for publicity as far as gtel is concerned.
at first glance that looked like an iPhone, ah well. So the Chonoz jokes all over facebook have finally paid off. How will he complement the brand though…?
Most comments here come from ‘READ, POOR’ urbanites with little business IQ. This is the best move for a phone shunned by delusional former middle class always chasing after iphone 1 and 2 which they can barely afford. The target here is new cheese like Chinoz himself, people in the rural farming community and civil servants. ka1.
Weired!!!!!!!!!!!!
weird spelling……
weird spelling lol hahahaha
I have never taken GTel(Gtide) seriously. This is mediocre to say the least. As people dont take seriously Chinoz, there phones shall not be taken seriously either. I think there marketing guy does not have even a diploma in marketing. This is kindergarten thinking. Can this be called branding for real??!!!
there
is absolutely nothing good for their already buttered brand with this
appointment. – See more at:
http://www.techzim.co.zw/2013/11/g-tel-appoints-chinoz-brand-ambassador-hit-miss/#sthash.9CcLCeEF.36Y4lt8r.dpuf
there
is absolutely nothing good for their already buttered brand with this
appointment. – See more at:
http://www.techzim.co.zw/2013/11/g-tel-appoints-chinoz-brand-ambassador-hit-miss/#sthash.9CcLCeEF.36Y4lt8r.dpuf
already ‘ buttered ‘ brand or battered ??
there
is absolutely nothing good for their already buttered brand with this
appointment. – See more at:
http://www.techzim.co.zw/2013/11/g-tel-appoints-chinoz-brand-ambassador-hit-miss/#sthash.9CcLCeEF.36Y4lt8r.dpuf
Good move .
This article is in bad taste. You miss the obvious- Chinoz is in Parliament where very senior and “more educated” aspirants failed. Chinoz is frank, clever, and wise. Not educated, but wise. My mind comes to “educated” Professors Mutambara and Ncube who failed what he could do. Would they have been your better choices? LOL. Many people voted for Chinoz- they did, check the statistics at polling stations. Many people will buy the phone because he will make it popular. It is called marketing- read about it.
Musa shamisika kana Gtel yakuwana ma ‘favours’ from hurumende.
Dont try to make sense of this deal from an ‘endorsement’ yana Kobe or Messi. Think of it as more of a ‘kickback’ kinda thing.
“kickback: an illicit payment made to someone in return for facilitating a transaction or appointment.”
Over analysing…if there’s such a term. He’s his own brand outside politics. Who doesn’t know one or two Chinoz jokes? Good for him for making money out of it
type of phone + target market + brand ambassador = big hit!!!!
The deal is done. Good or bad, time will tell. Its wiser though to learn more from other people mistakes.
My name is Shingi and proudly Zimbabwean.
I am looking forward to a day when we will have, say at least, 75% Zimbabwean solutions for Zimbabwean challenges.
Its undisputed that sustainable total inclusion of the unbanked and less privileged into the main stream of the mobile financial eco-system will eradicate poverty in Zimbabwe.
Many thanks to TechZim for this platform to open up debate on the technological, social and financial issues Zimbabwe is facing.
As a tip, why don’t we have a conference/workshop where we bring on board mobile network operators, financial solutions providers, insurance and financial institutions, POTRAZ, techno savvy individuals, `online editors’ etc and interrogate ourselves so that we come up will inclusive solutions which will take our country to the next level.
Fighting one another will not take us anyway. This story of eco-chinyi vs texta-chinyi is totally uncalled for childish. Lets have the best of both worlds so that the poor woman in ‘Chakasara’ will see light at the end of the tunnel.
Its all good to bear in mind that we all have freedom of expression. Its doesn’t matter whether its mindful or senseless.
What more can one expect from Gtel?
Shingi we Mau Mau?
in as much as we might think its a silly move, i believe gtel got it right. After all their biggest clientele are civil servants and those that pay on credit. Hate it or love it gtel has more business in zim that samsung can only dream of. Are the phones better than the samsungs or iphones, no. Do they offer an inferior user expirience? neither. the majority of people coming from nokia xxxx are happy with their new gtels. Ultimately I believe its the user expirience rather than the insides. who cares about processor power or mega pixels. does it run whatsapp? does it take pics and vids? can i slot in a memory card with all my sungura? if the answer is yes, then its good for many. Thats how getl is making business