MTN UNVEILS THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BALL

The leading telecommunications company in Nigeria, MTN-Nigeria on the 18th of May, 2010 at the Polo Ground on Ribadu Road in Ikoyi-Lagos unveiled the world’s biggest ball. The 36 feet high ball bore the logos of both MTN and Guinness World Records.

The Guinness World Records approved event was witnessed by a mammoth crowd that included some of the city’s elites. The event was part of a series of events lined up by the telecom giant to usher in the FIFA World Cup which held in June in the Republic of South Africa.

Kolawole Oyeyemi, MTN’s GM Consumer Marketing, opened the evening’s proceedings which was also used to burnish MTN’s  Africa United campaign. Prior to his address a couple of youngsters came on stage with flags of African representatives at the world cup. Oyeyemi stated that the campaign tagged as the Biggest Football Club in the World was to encourage Africans to maintain a united front and rally round their teams at the World Cup fiesta.

The FIFA World Cup theme song originally composed by Kelly Rowland, a member of the defunct girl band, Destiny’s Child, was performed by past winners of the MTN Project Fame West Africa. They were, however, joined by Tuface Idibia, a multiple award winning Nigerian artiste.

Lagos State’s Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Chief Ademola Adeniji – Adele, who represented Governor Raji Fashola, led a number of dignitaries that included Al-Hassan Yakmut, Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Premier League, Super Eagles legends, Austin ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha and Daniel Amokachie , Joseph Yobo and Tuface Idibia to unveil the ball.

Following the unveiling, Tuface took the stage and performed some of his popular songs including Implication, his latest hit track.

“The World Cup is the biggest; it is only fitting to kick off our official countdown to the tournament with a huge ball, the kind of which you have seen tonight,” said Bola Akingbade, MTN’s Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, in response to a question on the purpose of the project. Akingbade further stated that 133 MTN subscribers who were lucky in winning the MTN World Cup promo travelled to South Africa to watch the competition’s first round matches, while another 300 high profile Nigerians were sponsored by MTN to watch the matches live.

The FIFA World Cup without question is at the top of the pile of sporting events in the world.  It involves 32 teams that  jostle for the coveted prize, which is a 18-carat gold trophy. The countries that represented Africa in the 2010 edition of the World Cup were host South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, Cote d’ Voire and Ghana. The tournament kicked off on the 11th of June at the Johannesburg Soccer City with the host South Africa taking on Mexico. Ghana was the only African country that scaled through to the last eight. Spain won the coveted cup by beating the Netherlands.