MTN's Serame Taukobong awarded Marketing Personality of the Year

MTN is pleased to announce that its Chief Ayobaness Officer, Serame Taukobong, has been awarded the 2010 Sunday Times Marketing Personality of the Year.

Best known for his creative insights and his innovative approach to marketing, Taukobong is currently the chief marketing officer at MTN South Africa, and is perhaps best known at MTN for being the driving force behind the Ayoba campaign that became a household word in South Africa, and around the world, during the recent 2010 FIFA World Cup.

From billboard and print advertising through to television commercials and becoming part of the vernacular, Ayoba would be seen everywhere. By the time the first match kicked off in June, everything associated with football was Ayoba.

“At MTN we believe we need to capture not only our brand through our marketing initiatives, but also the spirit of the South African people,” says Karel Pienaar, Managing Director of MTN South Africa. “As a true brand custodian, Serame brings this very ethos into everything he does, not only is he a true MTNer, but he epitomises the brand in everything he does.”

Apart from his dedication to the MTN brand itself, one would be hard pressed to believe that a BSc graduate in chemistry would be the driving force in such forward-thinking brand reinvention and product innovation. But that he has, and Taukobong has worked closely with the product development teams to bring the MTN Zone and its offspring MTN Zone Mahala, MTN Zone SMS and MTN Zone Top Up to customers. His value proposition to customers is that the MTN services must allow them 'to save, talk more for less, and access the Internet for longer, faster, and more affordably'.

An individual hell bent on achieving hefty objectives, he has also embraced a number of forward-thinking CSI and environmental projects, made the public aware of MTN's self-sustaining power supply and water recycling programmes at the 14th Avenue campus, in Fairland.

Other innovations Taukobong has been involved in include the introduction of the MTN Free Weekend airtime, the MTN One Rate prepaid price plan, and the MTN Facebook SMS update services.

“Serame possesses an energy and enthusiasm for the MTN brand like no other,” adds Pienaar. “His ability to see opportunity through diversity, hook into the spirit of the people, and then package this into a true value proposition for our customers is a true credit to the mettle of this man and he is an asset to the MTN family.”

Joining MTN as Group Marketing and Sales Executive for MTN International in 2002, Taukobong was responsible for the rollout of the MTN brand across five African countries. His career saw him take the role of Chief Operations Officer for MTN Uganda when in December 2006 he was appointed Executive: Global Brand and Sponsorships.

“When approaching brand building it is critical to be able to merge both the business and marketing strategy and make sure that the two are intimately aligned in everything you do, without the one, the other wouldn't exist,” states Taukobong. “Over and above that you need to live your brand, and embrace it with the same passion and enthusiasm you would your family or a hobby. This award is a great honour and I am overjoyed that it celebrates the hard work the entire MTN team has put in towards growing the name that is MTN.”