Pascal Oparada
A simple hashtag, #DeleDetermination was all it took for a Nigerian bank, First City Monument Bank to pull off one of the biggest public relations stunts in recent times.
For those who are not aware, little Dele, a street hawker, was seen doing her homework under the light provided by the bank’s ATM gallery.
A concerned citizen posted the picture of Dele on social media. That marked the beginning of the search for Dele.
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FCMB immediately asked that Dele be found, using a hashtag provided by the person who saw Dele the first time.
“We are inspired by Dele’s determination to study. It’s great our ATM Gallery could light her books for the evening, but we would love to do more to support. Can you please help us find Dele? Please RT until it gets to someone who knows her,” the bank said, in search of Dele.
Eventually, she was found and so we thought one of the best PR acts of the recent time would unravel.
But the bank poured cold water on the enthusiasm generated by the act, saying they were not only thinking about Dele but other indigent people in her community and were not sure what form the support would take.
But people were disappointed. They were hoping for a fully-funded scholarship for Dele. That was not what happened. Instead, she had an FCMB account opened and solicitations were made for people to send in donations to support #DeleDetermination.
That was a bad PR stunt.
Brands are mostly seen as opportunists. They cash in on every available occasion to shine.
Last year, a couple in South Africa had the biggest surprise of their lives.
The couple had gone to KFC for a couple’s time. The man had something up his sleeves. He popped the question, and she said yes.
A journalist wanted to shine through the event and condemned the proposal for the simple reason that it took place in KFC of all places.
KFC would have none of it. It immediately asked that the couple be found and that it would cater for their reception after the wedding.
Soon enough, the big brands, from Coca-cola to other lesser known brands, began to fall over one another to be part of the KFC proposal story.
The hashtag #KFCProposal went so viral that the couple did not contribute anything to their own wedding except the legwork.
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That was what Nigerians were expecting on the #DeleDetermination story. It won’t take FCMB anything to have Dele sent to school on a fully-funded scholarship. But instead, FCMB of all banks developed cold feet and thought of ‘widening the net’ to include other indigent people in her community.
Dele did not plan to go viral the way she did. It was her determination that brought her all way to FCMB doorstep. All it would have taken an institution like FCMB is to take it from there and give her the help she needed.
Asking people to donate to the cause after giving her N1 million, is tokenism and not a good PR strategy.
