Vodafone Essar's Advertising Strategy

The 'Zoozoos' Campaign

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

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.

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

Segmentation
ZOOZOO - A cartoon character which represented common man Segmented basis on types of services used Urban and Rural region customers were seperated out

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

Success
ZooZoos dominating social networking sites Created Strong Association Wallpapers, emoticons, ringtones, videos, contests, pictures, stories etc 85% of most visible brand on screen Videos had 3million hits in 3 weeks Most watched viral video for 2 weeks Youtube ad downloads Twitter

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

Thank You