Vodafone’s Ad-Sense

Some of the advertisements have a propensity to create a space in our minds. Vodafone, previously Hutch, is one such brand with some of the finest commercials. This telecommunication giant has produced the Pug dog ads with the catchy phrase “Where ever you go our network follows”. Hutch wanted to communicate the message of its characteristic of being able to serve and provide good coverage in its circles. Presently as Vodafone, ZooZoo have come into the existence, even though initially they had stuck with the Pug dog advertisements in India.

This telecommunication company’s ad campaigns are conceptualised and designed by Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) India. Television campaign, billboards, newspaper, and bus shelters adverts are their usual communication media. The stupendous growth in the telecom industry have attributed to the augmentation of competition among the service providers for retaining and increasing their market share. Marketing their product well thus, becomes of chief significance.

Figaro was the foremost Pug Dog that featured in Hutch’s ads. The owner Mohit Gulati of Gurgaon was paid Rs. 12,000 for the shoot. Figaro’s pup Spike replaced Figaro and received two lakh rupees as remuneration for its first shoot. Cheeka was another Pug owned by Vishal Bambekar who resides in Goa, featured in the ‘You & I’ advertisement campaigns of Hutch and was paid Rs. 1.5 lakh for this ad campaign. The campaign has been ranked the Top Print Ad of 2003. The Pug dog ad campaigns have consequently led to the rise in sales of Pugs in India as the enduring Pug made an instant connection with the kids.
With the change of guards and Vodafone’s entry in the Indian market through the acquisition of Hutch, the Pug dog and the little girl that had been televised as the dog assisting the girl wherever required in ‘Happy to Help’ campaigns came into being. This analogy depicting the unconditional support of a dog to its master has been exceedingly successful due to its simplicity and garnered overwhelming public response.

Vodafone aired a new advert character without compromising on the fundamental components as a brand having juvenile components after the Pug ads and led the brand on a new direction with the ZooZoo. ZooZoo can be visualised as a cartoon derivatives which are actually humans garbed like animated creatures.

Launched primarily to focus on the Indian Premier League seasons’ ad-breaks, they received wider audience and appreciation than anticipated. They also utilised ZooZoo to promote Value Added Services of Vodafone. The white ballooned-bodied egg-headed creature acquired global followers on social networking sites like Facebook with more than 200 dedicated Facebook pages on ZooZoo and a fan base at around 1.2 lakh currently. This new avatar has found thousands of viewers on Youtube, too.
This innovative concept made for a perfect transition from the ‘Happy to Help’ dog campaigns of Vodafone while maintaining their core brand value. It invigorated the Vodafone campaign as interest for the previously popular Pug adverts had begun to fade. The ZooZoo ads won Vodafone the first PETA’s Glitterbox Award in 2009 for changing the dog with a more humane substitute for their advertisements.

To increase the popularity of the Brand Ambassador, various applications on Facebook etc. were created where one could participate in quizzes in order to identify which ZooZoo he/she is, since unique traits have been designated to each ZooZoo.
Vodafone has also promoted ZooZoo resembling Superman with South Indian superstar Rajnikanth’s super-powers for its 3G campaign. To increase the subscription for 3G, they have endorsed their services through ZooZoo as Faster, Smarter and Better.

Vodafone’s BlackBerry advert presents adults in a puerile way with the song ‘We are the BlackBerry Boys’ recreating the spirited, childish flavour of the brand.

Vodafone Delight adverts are carefully selected to present something on their brand theme and showcases the child elements in the ads.

Radhika Saraf

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