VODAFONE ESSAR'S ADVERTISING STRATEGY The 'Zoozoos' Campaign
VODAFONE ESSAR'S ADVERTISING STRATEGY
The 'Zoozoos' Campaign
Agenda
Background and Introduction Need identification Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning Pricing, Packaging, Price, Distribution,
Advertising Strategy What went wrong, what could have been
done better Current situation Learning
Background
Vodafone entered India in December 2005 Acquired 10 percent stake in Bharti Ventures
Limited (Bharti Airtel) Successfully rebranded 'Hutch' as 'Vodafone‘ Vodafone Essar started expanding its presence
in India Rebranding included
“Change is good...” Baseline - “Hutch is now Vodafone”
Earlier Campaigns : Happy to help, Friend circle, Cheaper SMS, ‘Amar Chitra Katha’ Alerts
Days before Zoozoo
‘Pug’ was the mascot for vodafone Taken over from Hutch IPL 2008 had Vodafone going in Pug for
its ‘Happy to Help’ service
Need identification
Value Added Services of Vodafone needed more promotion
ZooZoo was the perfect way to spread awareness
VAS is considered a cash cow for cellular companies
IPL season 2 had lot of scope to be taken advantage
Introduction
Zoozoos: Advertisement characters promoted by Vodafone during the India Premier League Season 2 (IPL)
Campaign to communicate the VAS offered by the company
The ads were created by Ogilvy & Mather, an agency under Executive Creative Director, Rajiv Rao, South Asia.
Making of Zoozoo
Prakash Verma of Nirvana Films Filmed in South Africa with local crew Movement, Talk, Gestures, Emotions,
Costume designs and artwork 3 weeks pre-production and 2 different
fabrics
Alien (ZooZoo) Design
2 designs were considered Fat potato head Slim Version with bigger face
Egg head version finalised Characterization: Leads simple lives,
emotes like humans Talk Gibberish Simple, Silly, Funny, Adorable Big Frowns, Hearty Laughs, Grins
Costs
Animations 10-15 times costlier than real people
ZooZoos had low cost costumes, real people
Speedy Schedules 30 advertisements cost only Rs 3 Crores 20-30 sec long ZooZoo name nowhere in commercial Massive Viral Marketing
SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS: Campaign penetrated both in the media as
well as in social networking sites Was representation of a common man
depicted as a cartoon character ZOOZOO Wide media coverage, more precisely
through video Easy and cheap animation leading to low
production cost No celebrity endorser - No associated
risks and costs
SWOT Analysis (cont…)
WEAKNESS: Had an undermining effect on the brand
Vodafone
Difficulty in understanding faced by rural population
SWOT Analysis (cont…)
OPPORTUNITIES: Revolution in the conventional way of advertising
that was through public figures and celebrities Low advertising cost leading to provision of
cheaper services IPL Season 2 expected to have good TRP’s
THREATS: A major intimidation to the brand VODAFONE Ads could get lost in major marketing war during IPL
BCG matrix
• SMS and Calling Service • GPRS and Internet Service
• Value Added Service • MMS Service
Market Share
Gro
wth
Rate
Segmentation
ZOOZOO - A cartoon character which represented common man
Segmented basis on types of services used
Urban and Rural region customers were seperated out
Targeting
Targeted customers who would use VAS services
Different kinds of VAS services were offered for different kinds of customers
Urban customers were more in focus
Advertising - TVC
About 30 different TVCs for VAS including - Cricket alerts, beauty alerts, phone backup, Chota Credit, Vodafone Maps, Vodafone call filter, Live games, Musical greetings etc.
20-30 seconds ads with the message about the VAS. And ending with “Make the Most of Now”
Advertising - Internet
Dedicated microsite – “What kind of Zoozoo are you?”
Downloadable Ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers and videos
Facebook – aimed at building a community
Themes for advertisement
Magic Box Stock Alerts International Roaming Bhakti Saagar Busy message Dating Tips Voice SMS Fashion Tips Recharge Anywhere Ringtone Facebook Group SMS Call Divert
Background Music Exam Results Beauty Tips Phone Backup IPL commentary Cricket Alerts IPL contests Chotta Credit Maps Live Call Filter Live Games Musical greetings Start of the match
Persuasion Matrix for Zoozoo
Persuasion Matrix helps marketers see how each controllable element of their ad interact with the consumer’s response process
Promotional Planning : Comprehension/Receiver - Television audienceAttention/Source - Zoozoo Presentation/Channel – TV CommercialsYielding/Message - The different ads
What kind of Zoozoo are you?
Pricing and Promotional Offers Offers like providing Cricket Alerts,
Beauty Alerts, Phone Backup, Chota Credit, Maps, Call Filter were provided
All these services were at affordable prices, some around 30 Rs per month
Distribution
These services were started in all circles by Vodafone at one go
Zoozoo campaign was in place with all distributors in super quick time
Viral Marketing
Vodafone was successful in effort of viral marketing
Strategy captured imagination of millions across the country
Every age group was interested in the ad and the related VAS products
Success
ZooZoos dominating social networking sites
Created Strong Association Wallpapers, emoticons, ringtones,
videos, contests, pictures, stories etc Videos had 3million hits in 3 weeks Most watched viral video for 2 weeks Youtube ad downloads Twitter
IPL Impact
85% of most visible brand on screen Hit in both the weeks Most watched brand in breaks Others were Airtel, Lifebuoy, Airtel
Broadband Internet Vodafone – 15% of commercial ads Havells – 8%, Airtel and Idea – 7% each
The telecom battle
Bharti Airtel, Idea are biggest competitors
Airtel launched ‘My Airtel My Offer’ with Madhavan and Vidya Balan
Idea launched ‘Walk when you talk’ with Abhishek Bachan
Current market scenario
ARPU at a very low point
Minimal Call and other services rate
Competition in this sector
Frequency of Zoozoo ads reduced
Zoozoo Merchandise
What could have been done better ?
Zoozoos becoming more popular than the network itself
Messages written in text in the end - difficult to comprehend for viewers from semi urban and rural areas
Avoid hammering different products in short span
Phased release of each storyline to promote different offers
Some Number Crunching
Vodafone reports on at end of Q1 FY10 Vodafone India added 7.68 million
subscribers in the quarter ZooZoo advertisements helped Vodafone
to increase its customer base by 3.8% in Q1
Vodafone reported an increase of 23 percent in revenue at constant exchange rates
Learning's
Low cost ads can make good impact Concept is important Expensive Brand Ambassadors could be
avoided Ads more relate to common man Most Importantly
‘Keep it simple’
THANK YOU