Tier-two lender Sterling Bank in partnership with popular food blog Eat Drink Lagos will be organizing a 2-day food festival. The event tagged #EatDrinkFestival will take place on December 26th and 27that the Lekki Coliseum, Lagos from 12pm to 8pm. The Eat Drink Festival began in 2014.
Reasons for the sponsorship
The Chief Marketing officer of Sterling Bank, Ibidapo Martins, said the goal of the festival is to create a peerless culinary experience of Lagos’ best food and drink brands, remarking that the bank’s decision to deliver in the event was to ensure that residents in Lagos and its environments enjoyed the best flavors the city had to offer during the festive season.
Walking in the steps of Guarany Trust Bank?
Sterling Bank appears to be walking in the footsteps of Guaranty Trust Bank which is renowned for organizing its own food and drinks festival annually. Sterling has engaged in a brand war of some sorts with other banks in the country in the last few months.
During the recent Lagos Fashion week sponsored by Guaranty Trust Bank, Sterling positioned a billboard opposite the venue, stating ornge is so last season, intentionally omitting the A.
In July, the bank ignited a social media war on twitter, when it made subtle digs at Guaranty Trust Bank, Union Bank and Access Bank. The tweet read“Shoot for the moon, become a star – it’s the least you deserve.” While Union Bank, Access Bank and First Bank responded, GTB gave the silent treatment.
Though Sterling later apologized for the tweets and pulled them down, the stunt created some mileage for the bank’s brand. Several customers signified interest in opening an account with the bank.
Zenith Bank, one of its competitors is also organizing a fashion festival, “Style by Zenith” for the purpose of building and strengthening the fashion ecosystem and to drive the business of fashion.
Sterling Bank closed at N1.81 in today’s trading session on the NSE.
Results for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 show revenue increased from ₦95 billion in 2017 to ₦115 billion in 2018. Profit Before Tax increased from ₦6.5 billion in 2017 to ₦8.5 billion in 2018. Profit After Tax surged from ₦5.9 billion in 2017 to ₦8.2 billion.
