Vodafone India unleashed a game-changing ad campaign in 2009, during the Indian Premier League (cricket’s response to the football Champions League). The semi-alien, cartoon-like white-bodied creatures called Zoozoos attracted tremendous attention. The draw was the simplicity of the plot and the characters, and was enhanced by the message they were trying to convey for Vodafone’s value-added-services.
The most interesting aspect of this campaign was that the name ‘Zoozoo’ did not appear on any of their ads. The phenomenon only gained momentum due to an omni-present digital media campaign –
•The official Zoozoo page on Vodafone’s website which consolidated all the online content
•An official Zoozoo fanpage on Facebook which attracted more than 50,000 fans within 10 days
•An official Youtube Zoozoo channel http://www.youtube.com/user/vodafoneipl?blend=21&ob=5
•And even a Zoozoo toolbar for your browser
Needless to say, these platforms created enough buzz. And, common searches for Vodafone ‘eggheads’ inevitably pointed to Zoozoo pages (which were probably littered with meta-tags to draw traffic). Vodafone generated previously unseen levels of engagement with their fans, who even suggested a line of Zoozoo merchandise (which Vodafone eventually launched).
But did the Facebook page hits and Youtube video views do anything tangible for Vodafone’s actual subscription sales? Most people claim that this was a classic case of the campaign overtaking the brand, with Vodafone suffering lackluster sales thereafter.
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