First, I am not a branding expert. So, anything I write here is irrelevant. Nonetheless, I see my feed as a mini-school. So, we can co-learn. MTN and Flutterwave recently updated their logos. My call:  I do not like either.

On MTN: the new logo is a win for very well educated users but for non-educated customers who continue to use colors and shapes to associate consumer brands, they could be adding a marginal confusing layer. Using pure black for a consumer brand does not cut it for me. (However, I have read that the black is actually blue.)

Vanguard gathered that already, the former logo with the red, white and blue letters was replaced with a new one, having all blue letters surrounded by an oval.

According to MTN,  the new logo is necessary as the firm transmutes from a telco to a digital technology firm. Sure, but digital technology companies do not use “texts” to represent them because in digital ecosystems you may not have space to write those texts. Yes, the ability to create a shape, no matter how small, is there compared to writing texts people can read. By writing “MTN” inside an oval as a logo, MTN will struggle to represent its logo in small devices as it may not have space all the time.

No matter how, a symbol solves that problem so that the symbol can represent where the texts cannot fit.

Flutterwave: A merge would have been better where the new lettering is superimposed with the old symbol. The new symbol appears common while the old was simply unique. My suggestion would have been what I showed. Removing the uppercase on Flutterwave is great.

Comment on Feeds

Comment 1: Well, with time all would get used to the new logos. For the MTN new logo, there was so much anxiety from some people. Here is the post I made about the new logo 3 days ago. From what angle you may look at that logo, fact is that when change wants to occur, people would always want to resist it at the initial stage.

Assuming the proposed new logo was the one previously used by MTN and the old one now becomes a proposed new logo, people would still be of the opinion that the previous one was better, they would also point about color riot (4 colors).

When the merger occured between Diamond and Access bank, the new Access bank changed their logo and I recall the heated arguments and keyboard wars in Naija Graphic Designers Group on Facebook, about the look and feel of the logo, as it was not very cool from the design perspective. Same thing happened when Instagram changed theirs and so on… The new MTN logo might not even be approved by the NGD group admin because it may look unprofessional.

A logo is simply a symbol of identity for a brand. It is part of what makes a brand unique and differentiates it from other brands especially if they offer similar products or service.

Take a look at some of the world’s popular brands ==> Meta(Facebook), Google, Bolt, Nokia, PayPal, Samsung, Sony. These brands just have simple logos and makes/made great business impacts.

So a logo is just a symbol, nothing more. Whether the design is ugly, beautiful, complex (or any adjective you can think of) it is not a mark of certainty that a business would succeed or fail. The business model a brand operates would determine that. Today, I’m sure none of those designers that once criticized Access bank logo would reject a Credit alert from the bank simply because they hate their logo . Access bank is still one of the top tier(5) banks in Nigeria based on valuation. As it is with anything that have changed, they have embraced it and moved on(just like all of us with APC and Jubril of Sudan).

Another point to note is that designers make so many design decisions based on what their clients want and not really from their creative ideas. I’ve made a couple of designs that don’t even sit well with me as a designer.

Maybe the MTN logo designer just followed instructions, las las, the guy don cash out. A big time Whale and a bag Hodler.

My Response: Certainly, Access Bank logo post-Diamond Bank deal was far better than the old Access Bank logo. I liked that logo because the old Access logo was simply poor. On MTN, as I noted, writing MTN inside an oval will struggle as a logo in small devices because of space. As I noted, if they have a symbol, that would do it. This is all academic but around the world, brands are removing texts (Mastercard, Apple, Nike, etc) because in small devices, texts struggle.

Response to my Response: Yeah, I agree with your take on text logos with regard to small devices. Some brands have been innovative in creating different variations of their logo for device adaptability. Take a look at the Heineken and Guinness logos for instance, they have the main logo(which I call master logo) that contains all the information they want to communicate. Other variations of their logo has some details removed in cases were scaling down is necessary, especially for small and extra small devices. This is actually very innovative and brands should begin to think in that regard.

Comment #2: I will speak from a perspective of a Brand strategist and Identity designer.

As Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe said, anything I said is also subjected to scrutiny and can be challenged, but I stand to put out my view.

From the first day that I saw the MTN logo, it was a NO for me for many reasons. The new one is too basic to be the reason to leave the old one ( almost the same reason for flutterwave ). Many people tend to be subjective about it but for a brand like MTN and flutterwave, you have to expect what others can learn from them.

As we can begin to review many reasons why brands change their designs, some things are not just welcomed because it is what everyone can see and not to be subjective about.

My conclusion, in the design industry in alignment with business, if a change of brand identity has nothing to do with a change of rationale for existence to a higher level of convincible evidence, I think anything done is just a show of they don’t care about their perception, image, impression and the place they hold in the mind of their customers. Because I believe the part of the processes of coming up with a new logo should include testing with stakeholders and likes and that should have taken away the subjectivity. Thanks

The innovator has joined Fidelity Bank Plc; he is one of the finest bankers in Nigeria. Join me to congratulate an amazing business leader, Stanley Amuchie, who has been appointed  an Executive Director, Chief Operations and Information Officer of Fidelity Bank. He has done remarkable things including serving as  the Group Chief Financial Officer of Zenith Bank Plc.

He made first class from the University of Benin. But his biggest work (from my angle) is this, from Fidelity Bank  press release: “Between April 2019 and February 2021, Stanley was Chief Technical Consultant at Mint Financial Technologies Limited (now Mintyn Bank, a digital bank). “

Yes, he worked with us to make Mintyn igital Bank one of the nation’s fastest growing neobanks. You see us everywhere – Premiership games,  etc.  Tekedia Capital is an investor in Mintyn which has built a business model where your money can go further with it. Yes, you have N2,000 to buy rice. In Mintyn, you can find others to buy in groups and instead of getting 100 cups, you can go home with 200 cups through bulk purchase.

Mintyn wishes Stanley a great future. We thank him for the leadership he provided to help Mintyn stay in a position to thrive. At Mintyn, we’re minting great future and more opportunities.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has struck. But Nigerian students will not just wait as strikes eat into their futures. Yes, the  National Association of Nigerian Students has ordered the blockage of all major roads in all states across the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, if things do not change in a week.

The NANS President said, “Nigerian students can’t continue to pay for sins we never committed, as we are paying for our education, we strongly believe we deserve the best, at the end of every industrial action, ASUU members are paid their salaries, likewise Government officials in charge of education supervision get their pays.

“It is only Nigerian students that get nothing but a waste of everything, the house rent is non – refundable, the age count is irreversible. The extension of stay on campus didn’t only affect our academic journey but destabilise our life plans, as many misses NYSC mobilisation due to age limit, many lost job opportunities arising from age factors while many became exposed to risks and crimes following the avoidable idleness mode the strike action imposed on Nigerian students.

“Blockage of all major Federal Roads in all the 36 states of the Federation to be led and coordinated by NANS JCC and Zonal Executive including National officials of NANS in the state.

“Federal Capital Territory to be blocked by National Secretariat in collaboration with FCT axis of NANS.

“These became sacrosanct once ASUU and FG fail to reach compromise and get our campuses reopened on or before 28th February, 2022.

“In a clear term, Monday 28th February 2022 is hereby declared as National Action Day Against ASUU Incessant Strike Action tagged ‘#ENDASUUSTRIKEPERMANENTLYNOW’.”

There is a new business model that will rule the 21st century, anchored on the unbounded and unconstrained distribution channel of the internet, delivering near-zero marginal costs with territorial conquering scalable advantages. More than 80% of leading digital technology companies have deployed it.

In this piece, I present the elemental relationship with a video, on Aggregation-Integration Construct, explaining at a deeper level what is going on. The digital empires of the future will be anchored on this Construct.

Looking at the integration part, I make a case that only the integration of customer relationship at scale within platforms can enable new basis of competition. And when new basis of competition is created, the outcome is typically disruptive at scale. The video is below.

Case Study #1: Flutterwave is winning the fintech space with aggregation and integration. They are signing global deals and using APIs to bring a fintech unification in the continent. Following the announcement of a $250M Series D funding last week, Flutterwave, unveiled a significant re-brand and identity at Flutterwave 3.0, a virtual event held on Friday, 18th February 2022. During the Flutterwave 3.0 event, the brand launched a series of products, including; a Fintech as a Service solution, Capital, Grow,  Checkout and  Card issuing as well as additional improvements to existing products. Friday’s event sees Flutterwave affirm its commitment to exploring more areas of growth for businesses, startups and individuals.

• A Fintech as a Service (FaaS) solution which helps startups of all sizes quickly become Fintech companies using Flutterwave’s pre-built API and solutions.

• Capital, a technology platform for businesses & consumers to access Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) & Merchant lending from regulated and certified credit providers.

• Grow, a B2B product that helps entrepreneurs easily incorporate their businesses globally.

• Checkout, a new checkout experience that is 5x faster, reducing drop-off by 60%.

• Card issuing, technology platform to enable businesses to issue both Mastercard virtual and physical debit/prepaid cards to their customers in partnership with Mastercard. These solutions remain subject to regulatory approval.

It plans to become the fintech operating system of Africa.

Case Study 2: From everything, one thing is evident, Flutterwave is using its one oasis (the paytech API) and is capturing value via a multiple play strategy. Yes, this goes beyond a double play strategy.

When you combine One Oasis and Aggregation-Integration Construct, great things happen. Yet, the moments remain as even Flutterwave has not captured much value.

If you use Flutterwave total $16 billion in five years, on average, it is doing $3.2 billion per year. That $3.2 billion covers 34 countries. If we assume that it is doing 50% in Nigeria, the implication is that every year, Flutterwave processes less than $2 billion worth of transactions in Nigeria. (Note: this is average)

So, if you have $301 billion (which might have grown to $320 billion) and the largest firm is doing $2 billion, what does that tell you? Nothing has happened. We can have ten Flutterwaves! Keep building people and Tekedia Capital will be here to support.