To make sure you start the week well informed, here is a rundown of some of the trending topics concerning brands, advertising and marketing in general from last week!

1. Sterling Bank trended for championing a campaign themed #SeeZebra, aimed at educating the public on the importance of Zebra crossing. The campaign kicked off with a BTL activity; human Zebras (people dressed in a Zebra coloured outfit) were commissioned by Sterling bank to help customers to cross a busy road and later that same day, they released a video ad on the same topic.
2. First Bank trended too but for a negative event. A customer was mercilessly beaten on Wednesday, 2nd August by security officials at a First Bank Osapa Lekki branch for allegedly getting into a heated argument with a customer, refusing to leave the banking hall and requesting to close his account. The bank issued a statement saying they are investigating the issue. The post on Instagram has almost a thousand comments that are mostly negative.
3. Nigerian celebrity, Tekno was spotted in a Lagos advert truck with semi-nude girls at the Lekki toll. The girls were twerking to the pleasure and displeasure of those who witnessed it, as a video director in a sidecar record. The whole set up was allegedly for Tekno’s video shoot featuring Zlatan.
   However, after the Lagos State Government reacted and condemned the act as unlawful, Tekno released a statement apologising for the incident but claiming he and his crew were not shooting but simply moving to another location.
4. A student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in Osun State, identified as Opeyemi Grace Dara committed suicide using the popular rat killer brand, Snipper. According to Punch newspaper, she took her life following her poor academic performance.
5. Gillette took a hit with massive $8 billion write-down by parent company Procter & Gamble, causing the company to loose $5.24 billion. Many attribute this to a sales dip caused by the backlash generated by the feminist ad the brand released in January 2019, especially since oevrall, P&G faired very well. The company’s quarterly revenue and adjusted profit beat Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, sending shares to a record-high for the quarter ended June 30. Was the advert really the cause of Gillette brand massive loss? Read more here.
6. Chik-fil-A replaced In-N-Out as America’s favourite fast-food restaurant based on the latest annual Market Force customer satisfaction survey of more than 7,600 customers.
7. Microsoft takes a shot at Apple in a new ad which was basically a Mac book vs Surface 2 laptop comparison.
8. In the UK, the #OlayChallenge campaign by the American skincare line, Olay generated a lot of negative reactions on Twitter.

Now you are all caught up!

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