You must have heard about the comeback of actors and actresses, but did you expect the return of our much loved mascot ‘Cheeka’ thePug? This concept will take you back to 2007, where mascot Cheeka follows his
master, a little boy wherever he goes. With an aim of promoting its new
SuperNet 4G services, Vodafone rolled out a new campaign featuring the
Pug and a little boy.
Siddharth Banerjee, National Head, Brand
Communication & Insights, Vodafone India said, “We are delighted to
bring back our much loved mascot ‘Cheeka’ the pug. Research has shown
that the endearing Vodafone pug has had one of the most impactful and
long standing connects with the Vodafone brand symbolic with our
network. Our communication strategy for this launch was to highlight the
benefits of our seamless network and service experience and who better
to announce it than ‘Cheeka’ the pug!”.
Conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather,
this new campaign consists of three short ad films, titled Truck, Drum
and Paint. The idea behind the campaign is to pitch Vodafone’s SuperNet
4G as the World’s largest 4G Network and inviting customers to upgrade
to it.
However, this is not the first time this
Pug is making its comeback. Post the launch of Zoozoo, in 2012 Pug
donned a campaign for Vodafone.
From Pug to Zoozoo to Pug
Prior to 2007, Vodafone was Hutch in
India and the Pug with a small kid was entertaining masses through TVCs
and the ad was a hit among the Indian audience. Later, in September
2007, Hutch was rebranded as Vodafone in India, but it continued with
the concept.
In 2009, during Indian Premier League
Ogilvy & Mather rolled out a new campaign with new animated
characters,white creatures with ballooned bodies and egg heads known as
Zoozoos.
This experiment of Vodafone replacing
its Pug with Zoozoos became an instant hit. It received positive
response from masses and holds huge fan following on social media
networks. There are more than 200 pages on ZooZoos having over 250000
fans, growing daily and the ads were also viewed by thousands of people
on YouTube.
In 2009, Vodafone was awarded Glitterbox
Award by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), for
replacing the Pug with more humane alternatives in their ads.
Commenting on the campaign, Ambarish
Ray, COO, Metal Communication said, “Across categories, especially those
whose description has FM prefixed in them, that is ‘Fast Moving’, TV is
the new print. Short, sharp, tactical (or strategic in some cases) and
full of frequency. The Vodafone 4G campaign is no different. What is
interesting however is the re-emergence of the pug. The pug has
announced, made aware and otherwise got people to open their
‘oh-cho-chweet’ vocal cords out loud before many times.”
War of 4G campaigns
Zoozoos were easily accepted over the
Pug, but that era was entirely different. Now, a war of 4G services is
currently on in India. Airtel made headlines with its 4G campaign and
now Vodafone introduced its SuperNet. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the
situation, Samsung launched its J series smartphones, especially for 4G
services.
“With 4G now being the latest war zone,
Vodafone has brought out its ‘killing me softly’ weapon from its
arsenal. The pug has recall, memorability and most importantly real
associative empathy – I can dream of cuddling one, unlike a zoozoo.
Would be fun to watch the full campaign roll out. But then again, TV is
the new print and this may be all the campaign there is to wait for.
Either way, the viewer wins”, concluded Ray.
