MTN is positioned as the network of choice and the leading telecommunications network in Nigeria. It is also positioned as the leader in innovation.

To reinforce the above, MTN employs different properties that are not cluttered and that allow the MTN brand to reinforce her brand values. The utilised platforms are Sports and Music.

Sports

Sports has tremendous potential to positively affect Nigeria's social and economic development, not only for its natural tendency to foster mutual understanding and conviviality among and between different sectors of society, but also for the economic spin-offs including new jobs which investment in sports, creates. Sports has benefited significantly from sponsorship and support by MTN Nigeria.

Music and Entertainment

Like sports, music and entertainment can help ginger social cohesion, in so doing, fostering development. MTN is one of Nigeria's leading sponsors of music and entertainment. In 2002, the company bankrolled the Hall of Fame project of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, a project designed to reward excellence and commitment in Nigerian music.

In December of the same year, it funded the production of a CD by 10 Nigerian groups, the first ever by any company in Nigeria. Some of the artistes so recorded have never had this opportunity. The CD, tagged Play & Go was launched in a musical event in Lagos that also afforded some of the recorded artistes to showcase their talent.

For close to two years, the company has sponsored a musical countdown (Y’ello Top Ten) on popular Lagos radio station, Cool FM. The program exclusively promotes indigenous Nigerian musical talent.

Its television entertainment program, Y'ello TV show, has been broadcast on Mnet's channel 0 and has won commendation across the country. Y'ello TV show deliberately showcases Nigerian musical and entertainment talent.

In March 2003, the company organised a two-day festival of music and entertainment, tagged Y'elloFest in Lagos. Though America-based entertainers, BlackStreet were one of the show's star attractions, Nigerian stars such as Femi Kuti and King Sunny Ade were deliberately promoted at par with the foreign stars. The US / Iraqi war would later prevent BlackStreet from performing, but rather than cancel the show, MTN chose to implement an all Nigerian act, to the delight and morale boost of the Nigerian artistes. Other performers at Y'helloFest included Zacky Adzee, Daddy Showkey, Kush, Maintain, Yinka Davies, Julius Agwu and a host of others. Similar editions of the festival were held in Abuja and Port Harcourt respectively.

MTN's Ringtones, branded as MTN funtones, also afford artistes an opportunity to receive royalty payments whenever their tunes are downloaded by MTN subscribers as ringtones. MTN's ringtones project is managed by Mtech, a third party content provider responsible for dealing with artistes and their collecting societies in this regard.

Golf and Polo

MTN has led the way in sponsoring and assisting in the growth and development of golf and polo in Nigeria. Both sports have been popularised and recorded speedy growth as a result of MTN partnership. For instance, the MTN/Virgin Golf Classic, a partnership between MTN and Virgin Atlantic Airways has recorded resounding success and is now Nigeria's pre-eminent amateur golf tournament.

Soccer

Football is another beneficiary of support from MTN Nigeria. MTN is a sponsor of the annual MTN/CAF African Footballer of the Year Award, to reward excellence among footballers of African descent.

Athletics

After a lull of eight years, MTN with the support of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, in 2002, revived the Road Running in Nigeria. The Marathon is a mass participation sport with professional athletes competing alongside amateur ones.

During the 2002 edition of the MTN Lagos International Half Marathon "professional athletes ran alongside CEO’s of blue chip companies, street traders, high school students, newspaper vendors and even the unemployed", said CEO Adrian Wood of the event. "It didn't matter whether you were black or white, from the north or south, male or female, Christian or muslim. Our differences disappeared and were subsumed in the conviviality of sport".

The 2002 MTN Lagos International Half Marathon brought immense positive attention to Nigeria across the world, having come under focus in several newspapers and television channels across the world for many days before and after the Marathon.

MTN committed over N95 million towards the organisation of that maiden Marathon event. In 2003, it further committed additional funds towards rehabilitating the athletics training camp in Jos and sponsored the top 5 Nigerian finishers at the 2002 event to the Goteburg Half Marathon in Sweden. All 5 Nigerians not only finished the Swedish race but came between the 38th and 108th places in a race that had more than 43,000 runners.

The 2nd edition took place on 29th November 2003. Total registered was 20,009 persons.

The 3rd edition is scheduled for Saturday 20th November 2004.
In 2002, MTN brokered and sponsored a deal between the Nigerian Institute of Sports and the Australian Institute of Sports. Under the terms of this sponsorship paid up by MTN and worth $600,000 (Australian dollars), AIS is providing training and development for Nigerian athletics coaches and will continue to do so for a period of three years.