An Ode to the Vodafone AD

I want to be a Zoozoo too... !!!

Created by Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), an international marketing, advertising and PR agency founded in 1848, the Zoozoo ads have managed to create quite a stir in this billion-plus country.
These ads, first aired during the Indian Premier League version II, still have quite a hold on the box watcher, from 6 year olds to 40 years old Saas-bahu watching aunties alike. Ive literally seen 50 year old housewives sitting in front of the TV say.. "Arre ye to wohi ad aa gayi..Zoozoo wali..bade mazedaar hai ye". My mouth agape, I was awestruck at such a statement coming from a person who I thought was still wondering why her 'bahu' didn't match up to the standards set by the quintessential Tulsi Virani.

Even if you don't happen to be sitting in front of the TV much, you might have seen this Vodafone advertisement now and then. Vodafone, after taking over Hutchison Essar, played well by spending a lot on marketing and advertising. Hutch did too. No doubts about that. With India being the fastest growing mobile market in South Asia, and now the world's second largest mobile market after China with over 261 million users, this investment seems more than justified. Every month, something close to 10 million users are added to this network. Growth, which is not expected to slow down, is now moving more towards the rural market too. The ramifications of this unprecedented growth can be gauged from the ubiquity of the cellphone. From school kids, to sabzi wallahs, electricians, daily wage labourers, small traders, housewives, even the garbage man. Who would not want a piece of such a huge money-pie? Or even the whole pie ?

Now there was a purpose behind me writing an ode to an Advertisement. You seldom see Indian ads being intelligent and funny at the same time . Mostly you can no longer tolerate an ad when it is shown the second time. Atleast, that being the case with me. With the ZooZoo ad I can definitely say that Indian Advertising has come on its own.

After O&M created the famous 'pug', Vodafone could graciously stand up and give competition to Bharti Airtel's Rehmanisms ( referring to the use of A.R Rahman's composed music for Airtel's ads ). To come one up on Airtel, O&M created a new set of characters called 'ZooZoos' for the latest Vodafone campaign to market their value-added services. Its always been about a brand story and connecting with the people. Airtel did it by roping in Sharukh Khan and creating a feel good 'yeh mera India..' story.

O&M decided to build a consistent brand story, one that they thought would connect better than the 'pug'. ( I had literally had enough of that 'kutta' and would cry hoarse whenever I heard "You..and I ..in this beautiful world.." ) So they created a special world of ZooZoos in which all the product stories get told, a world which is real yet different, something between animation and reality, warm and lovable and primarily connects better with any audience.The Zoozoos are innocent people who laugh loud when they laugh.

These ghost-like characters with egg-like heads and ballooned bodies which might appear animated, are actually real people dressed in white attire. The bigger zoozoos are women while while the smaller ones are children. The body was made by stuffing with foam in some places ( to get those bulging tummies) while the head was done up using Perspex and using wrinkle-free white fabric. The films were shot at lower frame rates and The detailing of the sets was kept to a minimum by using a neutral tone of gray. Rather than using animation, each expression was made of rubber and pasted on the head as and when it was needed.

These ads conceptualized by O&M, were shot by Bangalore based Niravana Films in Cape Town, South Africa. But the man behind the character is National Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather, Rajiv Rao. He was the guy who coined the name, thought about the story lines and was behind the whole idea. The USP behind these ads was that there were always new storylines you could look forward to. Something you hadn't seen before. Recently they even managed a comeback of sorts with ads for occasions like Independence day.

Ogilvy & Mather incidentally is behind some of the ads I have loved the most, the Fevicol ad and the Amaron ad. They have a wonderful website. You should have a look at their work here.

The response to the Zoo Zoo has been nothing short of amazing. From a huge fan following on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Orkut, to having personal merchandise carrying their pictures, they are the new stars of the world between the serials.
Vodafone even won the first PETA Glitterbox Award 2009 for replacing the pug with more humane alternatives in their ads. Now that is two birds with one stone.!

As the chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, David Ogilvy puts it, " If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs, but if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants. " True, very true!