Vodafone: ZOOZOO MARATHON

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Television

Advertiser: VODAFONE ESSAR MOBILE SERVICES

Product/Service: MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER

Date of First Appearance: Jun 27 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: MAXUS, Mumbai, INDIA

Client Leader: Vidyadhar Kale (Maxus)

Team: Maxus Team Vodafone (Maxus)

Media placement: Television - Across 20 Channels - 27/06/2009



Results and Effectiveness

Vodafone was the No. 2 Buzziest brand of the year. (Source: afaqs annual poll)

Consumer engagement scores went up by 41% as against the industry average of 2%. (Source: Millward Brown research)

ZOOZOO advertainment earned media coverage of USD 1.5Mn across TV and Print with 180% ROI.

With this advertainment, Zoozoo Marathon created a new format of advertising innovation.



Creative Execution

Special slots were leveraged upon during prime time hours across 20 leading channels in every genre – general entertainment, news, music, movies and regional.

Zoozoo marathon was promoted like a TV show across channels. Programme promos were aired across channels to drive viewership. Additionally, promos were also run across 10 more channels that were part of network channels airing Zoozoo marathon. Further, Zoozoo marathon slot was advertised through Print, Radio, Facebook, Orkut and push messages to drive viewership.

These advertainment slots cumulatively reached 128 mn viewers across the country, 3 times more than any regular sustenance campaign. The slot on India’s no.1 channel “Colors” garnered 90% higher TVR than its any other program. The average increase in slot viewership on all other channels was 10-15%.



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

Vodafone India launched unique characters called Zoozoo’s in the year 2009 with Indian Premier League (India’s Super Bowl). With 27 different commercials they promoted 27 different Value Added Services (VAS). Zoozoos had entertaining persona with humorous appeal. Hence, soon after its launch, Zoozoo’s became national phenomenon with millions of fans across India. However still everybody had not seen all 27 commercials. The desire to see more of Zoozoo’s was evident on Facebook, blogging sites and other social media networks.

Consumer Insight was “People lap up to any form of content, if it is entertaining”

Armed with these insights, for the first time in the world of advertising, 27 different TV commercials were stitched as one single 12 minute unit of entertaining content. Hence, Zoozoo Marathon - World’s First Advertainment (Advertisement + Entertainment) was created.