Ogilvy & Mather Keeps Mum on Nigerian operations
Despite its fallout with Prima Garnet Africa, Ogilvy & Mather clearly still has plans for the Nigerian market, but the agency has declined to disclose it for now.
In an email exchange between MARKETING EDGE and Ogilvy Africa, its Chief Executive Officer, Mathieu Plassard, said his company’s plans for Nigeria were confidential and therefore he could not comment on them.
Plassard said, “Our plans in Nigeria are confidential and we cannot address those specific questions at this time.”
Until things went sour between Ogilvy and Prima Garnet, both agencies enjoyed a strong working relationship. The alliance began as an affiliation in 1997 and later morphed into an equity-based partnership after Ogilvy offered to buy 12.5 per cent share in Prima Garnet.
Things, however, started falling apart when the Kenyan’s marketing network, Scanad Group, in a quest to expand its presence beyond East Africa, bought 51 per cent Ogilvy Africa in 2010 in cash and stock transactions worth $2.3 million that gave it minority stakes in eight media agencies across South and West Africa, including Prima Garnet where Ogilvy Africa has 12.5 percent stake.
But the Chief Executive Officer of Scanad Group, Bharat Thakrar, wanted more and therefore asked to be sold the controlling stake in Prima Garnet Africa which would have given the Kenyan multi-channel agency a strong footing in the Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy. Akinwunmi refused.
This led to a bitter boardroom tussle and later divorce. Eventually both parties ended up in a court as Prima Garnet sought to stop the setting up of Scanad in Nigeria allegedly in breach of the affiliation agreement but also the termination by Ogilvy of the affiliation agreement.
No verdict has been reached as the case is still pending in court. Ogilvy’s attempt to operate in Nigeria has not been successful so far, except for its digital marketing agency which has been operating without trouble for years.
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