UNIVERSITY FOR PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, ACCRA

BRAND ANALYSIS REPORT

ON MTN MOMO AND VODAFONE CASH

BY

JOSHUA PIASAH ADUSEI- 1O282135

PEARL HALM- 10283215
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction......................................................................................................................2
1.1 The Two Mobile Money Brands......................................................................................2
1.1.1 Vodafone Cash...........................................................................................................2
1.1.2 MTN Mobile Money..................................................................................................2
1.2 Mobile Money Market Share of MTN and Vodafone......................................................3
1.3 Brand Analysis Expected Outcomes................................................................................3
1.4 Methodology.....................................................................................................................4
1.5 Results Based on the Customer-Based Brand Equity for MTN Mobile Money and
Vodafone Cash....................................................................................................................5
1.5.1 Brand Identity............................................................................................................6
1.5.2 Brand Meaning..........................................................................................................7
1.5.3 Brand Response (Image)............................................................................................8
1.5.4 Brand Quality.............................................................................................................8
1.5.5 Credibility..................................................................................................................8
1.5.6 Feeling.......................................................................................................................9
1.5.7 Brand Resonance.......................................................................................................9
1.6 Brands Management Challenges in Achieving Brand Equity....................................10
1.7 Recommended Measures towards Achieving Brand Equity..........................................11
1.7.1 MTN Mobile Money................................................................................................11
1.7.2 Vodafone Cash.........................................................................................................12
1.8 Conclusion......................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................13

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1.0 Introduction

Building a strong brand in an organisation proves to provide strong financial gains to the

brand owner. This has led to most organisations prioritizing brand building in a scheme of its

holistic marketing drive and the entire business strategy of the organisation (Keller, 2001).

This report conducts a comparative analysis on the brand strategies of MTN Mobile Money

(MTN Momo) and Vodafone Cash (Vodacash), two competing telecommunication giants

operating in Ghana. The analysis uses the Customer-Based-Brand Equity (CBBE) model or

framework to conduct the analysis.

1.1 The Two Mobile Money Brands

Both MTN and Vodafone are operating mobile money as sub-brands their main or core

business line as telecommunication network service providers

1.1.1 Vodafone Cash

Vodafone Cash was launched in Ghana in 2015. This was an extension of the M-Pesa brand

operating in Kenya and other countries (Vodafone, 2023). The main goal for launching this

brand was to reduce risks associated with carrying physical cash by citizens of Ghana.

Vodafone and MTN Mobile money reach an agreement to allow inter-operability of money

transactions and transfers between the two telcos network giants (Vodafone, 2015). Vodafone

cash platform allows its customers to send money, withdraw cash, buy airtime, buy goods,

pay bills, and operate normal savings or current accounts services at minimal cost (Vodafone,

2015).

1.1.2 MTN Mobile Money

MTN launched its mobile money brand in 2009. The mobile money brand of MTN is

operated through two channels – MTN Mobile Money official outfits and structures and

through various vendors and merchants, including some banks who run mobile

moneyservicese by sharing a common platform with the network operator. As per the bank of

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Ghana’s directive, MTN Mobile Money is partnering with a number of local banks in Ghana,

including GCB Bank, and Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG). Like Vodafone cash, MTN

Mobile Money platform also allows its customers to send money, withdraw cash, buy airtime,

buy goods, pay bills and operate normal savings or current accounts services at minimal cost

(MTN, 2015). MTN has about 27.8 million mobile subscribers and the network is reported to

be growing at 11.6% per annum, with a market share of 65%. In terms of mobile money

market share, MTN holds about 75%.

1.2 Mobile Money Market Share of MTN and Vodafone

It is reported that Ghana’s mobile money market size is approximately US$121.8 billion in

2022 and the market is further projected to reach US$ 590.7 billion by 2028 (IMARC, 2023).

According to Statista (2023), about 38.9% 0f adult Ghanaians aged 15 and above have mobile

money accounts, triggering stability in the mobile money market share between 2021 and

2022. It is also reported that mobile money awareness is driven by some key factors. These

include the maturity and competitiveness of the local market, the presence of extensive agent

networks, and the robustness of mobile and mobile money infrastructure (GSMA, 2022). The

National Communication Authority (NCA, 2022), reported that MTH controls about 59.70%

market share, followed by Vodafone, 19.59%, AirtelTigo, 18.75%, and Glo, 1.96%.

1.3 Brand Analysis Expected Outcomes

The purpose of the analysis is to achieve the following objectives.

i. To compare the Customer-Based Brand Equity of MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone

Cash within Ghana’s mobile money market or industry.

ii. To ascertain the brand strategies as evident in the customer based-brand equity of

MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone Cash.

iii. To ascertain how MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone Cash rival brands establish

brand equity within the mobile money industry in Ghana.

In achieving these specific objectives, the following questions will be answered.

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 i. How does the Customer-Based Brand Equity of MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone

Cash compare within Ghana’s mobile money market or industry?

ii. What brand strategies are evident in the customer based-brand equity of MTN Mobile

Money and Vodafone Cash?

iii. How can MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone Cash rival brands establish brand equity

within the mobile money industry in Ghana?

1.4 Methodology

This brand analysis report conveniently sampled data subjects comprising mobile money

vendors and mobile money users alike from one community for study. In all 10 mobile

money vendors and mobile money users in the Kasoa Municipality were studied. The

participants were identified and data was collected from using a Likert Scale under the non-

probability sampling technique (convenience sampling). We used the Likert scale

questionnaire because it is perceived to be user-friendly and also suitable for a busy sample

population (Muijs 2004). The participants, who frequently or consistently used either of the

two mobile money services were distributed a self-assisted Likert scale questionnaire,

covering the six dimensions of the four-step brand building stages to compare the

performance of the two brands from the perspective of the consumer. Participants’ responses

were geared towards answering the three critical questions posed earlier. The Likert scale

questionnaire was made up of 16 questions, comprising three questions, which focused on

brand salience and two questions that aimed at comparing the two brands’ performance about

their needs satisfaction. Also, two other questions were used to compare brand image

perceptions, and the extra two questions compared brand quality relative to consumer value

for money. There were questions that also compared trust and credibility levels, while two

other questions compared the feelings of self-respect, and finally, two more questions

compared the brands’ loyalty levels. Data collected were processed

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1.5 Results Based on the Customer-Based Brand Equity for MTN Mobile Money and

Vodafone Cash

Brand equity has been described as the incremental utility or value addition of a product

based on its brand name in the minds of the customer (Farquhar, 1989). Brand equity is seen

by many as the most important concept in business practice due to the fact that, through it,

marketers can gain competitive advantages through such strong brands (Aaker, 1998; Keller,

1993, 2001). It has been argued that considering global competition marketing branding

strategy, becomes a dominant element within the marketing mix. This is because, brand

equity is widely recognised as one of the powerful tools that help organisations to obtain

sustainable competitive advantages (Lin and Kao, 2004). As argued by other brand research

experts, the concept of branding has become a powerful tool that organizations use to

differentiate and influence customers' buying behaviors because research shows that strong

brands positively change the customers' perceptions and lead to higher buying decisions

(Kuhn et al., 2008); therefore, the desire by an organization to build strong brand equity is the

foundation for competitiveness (Seyedghorban et al., 2016; Steenkamp et al., 2020). We

formally define customer-based brand equity as the differential effect that brand knowledge

has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand and that a brand has positive

customer-based brand equity when consumers react more favorably to a product and the

reverse is considered negative customer-based brand equity (Keller, 2001).

The concept of branding is mainly developed within the consumer markets (Leek &

Christodoulides, 2011) and primarily was conceptualized with the physical

preferences of the offerings (Steenkamp et al., 2020). But the concept of brand equity

concept was developed by Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993) in their latent branding

models (Steenkamp et al., 2020). The customer-based brand equity model, is based on

six different dimensions. The CBBE model is used in this report to analyse the MTN

Mobile Money brand and Vodafone cash brand.

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 The table below contains the raw responses of participants of MTN Mobile Money and

Vodafone Cash users and vendors around Kasoa Municipality as of March 2023.

Table 1: Brand Performance of MTH Momo and Vodafone Cash around Kasoa

Participant's Level of Agreement or Disagreement

Six Dimensions of the Four Brand Building Steps
SDA DA NC A SA
Brand Salience (Identity)
I am familiar with MTN Momo (n=10) 0(0%) 0(0%) 2(20%) 4(40%) 4(40%)
I am familiar with Voda Cash (n=10) 0(0%) 2(20%) 4(40%) 2(20% 2(20%)
Voda Cash has more uses than MTN Momor (n=10)) 4(40%) 4(40%) 2(20%) 0(0%) 0(0%)
 
Brand Performance (Meaning)
MTN Momo Fulfills my needs (n=10) 2(20%) 0(0%) 2(20%) 4(40%) 4(40%)
Voda cash Fulfills my needs (n=10) 4(40%) 2(20%) 0(0%) 2(20%) 2(20%)
           
MTN Mobile Money Image
MTN Momo is economical (n=10) 0(0%) 0(0%) 4(40%) 4(40%) 2(20%)
I associate Momo with MTN (n=10) 2(20%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 6(60%) 2(20%)
           
Vodafone Cash Image
Voda Cash is expensive (n=10) 2(20%) 2(20%) 0(0%) 4(40%) 2(20%)
I grew up with Voda Cash (n=10) 2(20%) 4(40%) 0(0%) 4(40%) 0(0%)
           
Quality
The money I pay for MTN Momo is worth it (n=10) 1(10%) 1(10%) 1(10%) 3(30%) 4(40%)
The money I pay for Voda is worth it (n=10) 4(40%) 2(20%) 0(0%) 2(20%) 2(20%)
           
Credibility
I trust the makers of MTN Momo (n=10) 2(20%) 0(0%) 2(20%) 4(40%) 2(20%)
trust the makers of Vodafone(n=10) 4(40%) 0(0%) 4(40%) 2(20%) 0(0%)
Feelings
I get the feeling of self-respect from MTN Momo (n=10) 2(20%) 0(0%) 2(20%) 4(40%) 2(20%)
I get the feeling of self-respect from Voda Cash (n=10) 2(20%) 2(20%) 2(20%) 4(40%) 0(0%)
           
Resonance
I am loyal to MTN Momo and want to be on it (n=10) 0(0%) 1(10%) 0(10%) 5(50%) 3(30%)
I am loyal to Voda Cash and want to be on it (n=10) 0(0%) 2(20%) 2(20%) 2(20%) 4(40%)
           

1.5.1 Brand Identity

This step dimension tries to answer the question “who are you?” This means that the brand

must be identified with the provider in the mind of the prospective consumer. So the first

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obligation or task for the brand owner or organization is to create awareness about the brand

so that it can easily be identified with the consumer or customer. Under this dimension, the

organisation is not just trying to create a brand identity and awareness but also the

organisation is also attempting to make sure that the brand and its perceptions are addressed

at the key stages of the customer’s buying process. In all these, the organisation is trying to

pre-empt what decision-making processes the customer may be going through in order to

make a purchase decision between the organisation’s brand and those of competitors. In

terms of the brands performance in this area, MTN Mobile Money is more identified with its

consumers (80%) than Vodafone Cash (40%), which is very low as summarized in table.

1.5.2 Brand Meaning

After identifying the product with the customer, the CBBE models argues that the

organisation must answer the next question of “what are you?” At this stage, the organisation

must identify and communicate exactly what their brand means to the customer and exactly

what problem the brand addresses for the consumer. The brand should be able to create an

imagery that responds to the target customer. According to the model, any brand that fails to

address this concern of the customer will likely not be able to perform relative to competition.

In the view of model, Keller posits that brand performance comes in various forms,

consisting of five distinct groups which are primary characteristics and features; product

reliability, durability, and serviceability; service effectiveness, efficiency, and empathy; style

and design; and price. Imageries are the felt effect and impact the brand delivers to the

consumer. To test this claim of the CBBE model, consumers of both brands were sampled to

rate the two brands in terms of their performance (meaning), It was clear that MTN Mobile

Money satisfies the needs of its users (80%) than Vodafone Cash Vodafone Cash (40%),

which is very low as summarized in table 1.

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1.5.3 Brand Response (Image)

At this stage, the organisation’s brand should be able to answer the consumer’s inherent

question of ‘how do I feel about this brand relative to substitutes?’ If the feeling formed in

the mind of the consumer about the product is not healthy, the customer is likely to switch to

a different brand or substitute. It is the feeling and sense of judgement of the customer that

make the customer to respond to the brand. Meanwhile customers make purchasing decision

about a brand, focusing on quality, credibility, consideration and superiority (Keller, 2001).

Unlike MTN Mobile Money which has a stronger Image or appeal and association 60%) and

80% respectively, Vodafone Cash also has a strong image among its users but poor or low

association (40%) as against 60% (table 1).

1.5.4 Brand Quality

In terms of the quality of the two brands in the perspectives of the consumers, MTN Mobile

Money has a very strong rating as compared to Vodafone Cash – 70% and 40% respectively.

Consumers of MTN Mobile Money see their patronage of Momo as value for money unlike

Vodafone Cash consumers, whom majority feel they are not getting quality for their money

(table 1).

1.5.5 Credibility

Brand credibility is so crucial as it affects brand’s performance (Keller, 2001). In comparing

the credibility rating between MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone Cash,, MTN brand

attracted the highest rating of 60% among its consumers than that of Vodafone Cash of 20%

among its consumers.

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1.5.6 Feeling

Emotional attachment of a brand to a consumer is significant and an indicative performance

or acceptability of the brand to the consumer. The CBBE model argues that a strong feeling

of a consumer or potential consumer towards a brand is more likely to consumer or patronise

the brand than a low feeling towards a particular brand (Keller, 2001).

1.5.7 Brand Resonance

Identifying your brand with the customer and convincing them about what the brand can do

for the customer is not enough. Beyond that, your ultimate aim is to have your brand fully

accepted by the customer because that is all the reasons for your efforts, time and resources

committed to marketing the brand. In the end the brand should provide a clear answer to the

customer’s question of ‘how much relations do I hope to build with this brand?’ if the desire

is a long relations that customer has decided to walk with the brand, then the brand will

perform well but the reverse is also true. So as Keller argues, brand resonance is the ultimate

aspiration of any brand. Building a strong and lasting relationship or bond between a brand

and the consumer is always the reason for most marketing programmes and strategies (Keller,

2001) as espoused in his CBBE model (Figure 2). To test the expectations of the brand users,

we collected views from consumers of the two brands by asking them to rate the following

hypothetical statements, respectively;

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 I am loyal to MTN Momo and want to be on it.
I am loyal to Voda Cash and want to be on it.
In response, an overwhelming MTN Mobile Money users responded that they were 80%

willing to stay on MTN Mobile Money platform for long while 60% of Vodafone Cash

customers said they would stay with Voda Cash. It is very clear that MTN Mobile money will

continue to dominate the mobile money sub-sector in Ghana over its competitors (see table

1).

Figure 1: CBBE Model. Source: Authors' sketch, 2023)

1.6 Brands Management Challenges in Achieving Brand Equity

Even though the two brands are doing well in the market, their respective brands still face

some challenges in achieving brand equity. For example, in terms of brand identity

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awareness, MTN Mobile Money still face a challenge of 20% unawareness while Vodafone

faces a significant identity crisis of about 60% (table 1). Another weakness of the MTN

Mobile Money brand is the perception of poor performance among 40% of its users. In the

case of Vodafone Cash, performance rating among its users is too low. Only about 40% of its

customers rated it high while a whopping 60% rated the brand’s performance very low. In

terms of brand quality, both networks continue to face some negative quality rating among

sections of their customer base and this needs further investigation. brand credibility

challenges are being suffered b=y both brands, with Vodafone Cash suffering most of the

poor ratings, about 80% poor rating from its customers and this needs urgent investigation.

MTN Mobile Money brand is recording a 20% credibility deficit and ought to be investigated

too, , if investigated and addressed timely, it will also address the 20% loyalty deficit MTN

Mobile Money brand is currently suffering among its customers; and the Vodafone Cash

loyalty deficit of 40% rating among its customer base (table 1).

1.7 Recommended Measures for Achieving Brand Equity

Considering the enormity of the disparity between the two brands in respect of the challenges

they both are confronted with, we wish to make separate recommendations for the two brands

for consideration and further action. These recommendations are based on the CBBE model

as provided by Keller, (2001).

1.7.1 MTN Mobile Money

To improve significantly brand equity among the two competing brands, the concept of brand

visibility is critical here as brand equity is usually enhanced by the most dominant

influencing factor of distribution and visibility through which the brand owner strategically

places the brands in outlets where the prospective consumer is likely to visit. By enhancing

visibility and training for sales or brand service providers by improving technology, MTN

Mobile Money’s brand equity will be significantly enhanced through the spontaneous

improvement of the following dimensions identity, image, response, and resonance.

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1.7.2 Vodafone Cash

The future of the Vodafone cash brand is seriously being threatened by the MTN Mobile

Money brand, which currently controls about 75% of the mobile money market in Ghana. To

improve significantly brand equity among the two competing brands, the concept of brand

visibility is critical here as brand equity is usually enhanced by the most dominant

influencing factor of distribution and visibility through which the brand owner strategically

places the brands in outlets where the prospective consumer is likely to visit. By enhancing

visibility and training for sales or brand service providers by improving technology, MTN

Mobile Money brand equity will be significantly enhanced through the spontaneous

improvement of the following dimensions identity, image, response, and resonance

1.8 Conclusion

It is our considered view that should the above recommendations to addressing the

challenges the two brands face in achieving their respective brand equities, customers’

loyalty to the affected brands will be significantly improved within the Kasoa

Municipality. We also disclose that due to the limited scope of this report, the affected

brand owners should further investigate the various claims exposed in the CBBE

analysis so that a comprehensive solution can be delivered to improve brand equity in

their chosen markets.

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