VODAFONE

Richa 2009212

Sarita Bhutani 2009222 Submitted to

Prakhar Chawla 2009225 Prof. Milind Fadnavis

Sameer Bhardwaj 2009238 on

Shalini Singh 2009239 15th September, 2010

Vishal Gurao 2009306

Who They Are

Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile telecommunications

company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa,
Asia Pacific and the United States through the Company's subsidiary
undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and investments. The
Group's mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name 'Vodafone'. In
the United States the Group's associated undertaking operates as Verizon
Wireless. During the last few years, Vodafone Group has entered into
arrangements with network operators in countries where the Group does
not hold an equity stake. Under the terms of these Partner Market
Agreements, the Group and its partner operators co-operate in the
development and marketing of global products and services, with varying
levels of brand association. At 30 June 2010, based on the registered
customers of mobile telecommunications ventures in which it had
ownership interests at that date, the Group had 347 million customers,
excluding paging customers, calculated on a proportionate basis in
accordance with the Company's percentage interest in these ventures. The
Company's ordinary shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and
the Company's American Depositary Shares ('ADSs') are listed on the
NASDAQ Stock Market. The Company had a total market capitalisation of
approximately £71.2 billion at 12 November 2009.Vodafone Group Plc is a
public limited company incorporated in England under registered number
1833679. Its registered office is Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury,
Berkshire, RG14 2FN, England.

It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world

by turnover and has a market value of about 75 billion. Vodafone currently
has operations in 25 countries and partner networks in a further 42
countries. Vodafone unlike any other telecommunications company on earth
has 290 million subscribers and ranked among the top ten global companies
by market capitalization. Its main products and services include network
business, distribution business, retail shops, data-services business, short
message service (SMS), multi-media portal, third-generation licenses,
cellular operations and satellite services. In India it is the second largest
GSM player after Airtel.

History

Vodafone was formed in 1984 as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. Then

known as Racal Telecom Limited, approximately 20% of the company's
capital was offered to the public in October 1988. It was fully demerged from
Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September
1991, at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc.
Following its merger with AirTouch Communications, Inc. (‘AirTouch’), the
company changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch Plc on 29 June 1999 and,
following
approval by the shareholders in General Meeting, reverted to its former
name,
Vodafone Group Plc, on 28 July 2000.

The Board

Sir John Bond became Chairman of Vodafone Group Plc on 25 July 2006
having previously served as a Non-Executive Director. The Deputy
Chairman, John Buchanan, is the nominated senior independent director
and his role includes being available for approach or representation by
directors or significant shareholders who may feel inhibited from
raising issues with the Chairman. He is also responsible for conducting an
annual review of the performance of the Chairman and, in the event it
should be necessary, convening an annual meeting of the non-executive
directors. The Company considers all its present non-executive directors to
be fully independent.

Vodafone has competitive advantage because of the following reasons:-

 VAS (value added service) - Number of schemes they have. Especially

the add on plans. This is separate from the main plan. It is a major
source of revenue for the company. They have plans like “Chota
Recharge”, etc which gives them an edge over other.

 Viral Marketing/Buzz Marketing - Vodafone has given birth to the

Zoozoo: a special character created specifically to convey a value added
service (VAS) offering in each of the newly released commercials.
Vodafone has come with creative advertising campaign for its various
plans. This strategy has captured the imagination of millions.
 Core Competency – Vodafone as a brand has always focussed on its
core competent area. They have the highest market share after Bharti,
BSNL, and Reliance

 Technological Advantage – Vodafone has installed SAP technology. SAP

is delivering mobile capabilities such as mobile asset management,
mobile sales for handhelds, mobile service for handhelds, mobile time,
mobile travel, mobile BI, mobile warehouse management, and mobile
direct store delivery. These capabilities of SAP Mobile Business establish
new ways to interact with enterprise systems and
empower new user communities to participate in collaborative business
processes, resulting in increased customer satisfaction, profitability, and
competitive advantage.
 Market development – Vodafone has sought FIPB (Foreign Investment
Promotional Board) for two licences and it aims to become a full-fledged
communication services provider in the country. It can now provide
Internet services and many more services. M2M solutions are now set to
expand further helping Vodafone to gain a competitive edge.
 Cost Advantage - Obtaining these licences has reduced capital spending
by over
 60%, operating costs by 40% and staff numbers from 3,200 to 1,700.
Overall, the company has refocused and become clear about its direction,
strategy, values and brand. They have the ability to execute; empowered
by strong local and global channel partners and systems integrators. The
company's revenues in India stood at 2.68 billion pound, while from the
entire Asia-Pacific region revenues were at 5.81 billion pound for the
fiscal 2009.
 Continuous Improvement – Vodafone as a brand keeps on improving
and coming up with new plans. It adjusts according to market need.
Brings up innovative plans which give them a competitive advantage.

How it will sustain competitive advantage?

By keeping focus on Vodafone Vision

• To be the world's mobile communications leader – enriching customers'

lives, helping individuals, businesses and communities to be more
connected in a mobile world.

• To help customers use mobile communications to make their lives richer,

more fulfilled, more connected. They will choose Vodafone because it is the
best experience they can find.

• Through their leadership, scale, scope and partnerships, Vodafone will

bring online mobile services to the world.

•Vodafone will lead in making the mobile the primary means of personal
communications for every individual around the world.

Focussing on Vodafone Customers

• Vodafone customers have chosen to trust the group.

• In return, Vodafone must strive to anticipate and understand their needs
and delight them with the services provided.

• Vodafone must value customers above everything else and aspire to make
their lives richer, more fulfilled and more connected. Vodafone must always
listen and respond to each of its customers.

• Vodafone will strive to delight customers, anticipating their needs and

delivering greater quality and more value, faster than anyone else.

Focussing on Vodafone Employees

• Outstanding people working together make Vodafone exceptionally
successful.
• Vodafone seeks to attract, develop, reward and retain outstanding
employees.

Vodafone has grown with presence in many countries than any other mobile
operator, and that gives it the competitive edge described as GLOBAL SCALE
and SCOPE. They have set of factors and capabilities that allow them
consistently outperform. So if Vodafone keeps its focus on what it already
has and keeps on building onto that with continuous improvement it
will be able to sustain its competitive advantage. Therefore, in the coming
future they can gain more market share and provide better services with
increased level of satisfaction.

STRATEGIES:
- Operational Performance
Drive operational performance
Value enhancement: We’ve made significant progress on mobile data, with
annualised revenue of £3 billion. This is still a large opportunity, with the
penetration of data devices relatively low in Europe and almost nil in
emerging markets.

Enterprise:
Have a strong position in core mobile services and we’ve built a solid
presence in 18 months in multi-national accounts through Vodafone Global
Enterprise. We will make the most of this strength to expand our offerings
into the broader enterprise communications market locally. This means
serving small and home offices (SOHOs) and small-to-
medium enterprises (SMEs) with shared platforms and services, supported
by our local sales forces. Broadband: Adopt a market-by-market approach
focused on the service, rather than the technology. It will be targeted at
enterprise and high value consumers as a priority.

Execute in emerging markets

Delivery in existing markets: Represented in most of the key emerging

markets where significant growth is expected in the coming years. Our main
focus now is on execution in these markets, particularly in India, Turkey
and our African footprint, following Selective expansion and cautious
approach:

Try to maximise the mobile data opportunity. There are few potential large
new markets of interest to us and we will be cautious and selective on future
expansion.

Strengthen capital discipline

Remain committed to our low single A rating target, which we consider to be

appropriate in the current environment and comfortable with our liquidity
position.Our focus is on generating £5 billion to £6 billion free cash flow
generation per annum and ensuring appropriate investment in our existing
businesses.

Shareholder returns

Aim to improve returns to shareholders, primarily by increasing dividends.

In November 2008, the Board adopted a progressive dividend policy, where
dividend growth reflects our underlying trading and cash performance.In
May 2010 the Board announced that it was targeting dividend per share
growth of at least 7% per annum for the next three financial years ending on
31 March 2013. We expect the total dividend per share will therefore be no
less than 10.18 pence for the 2013 financial year

Clear priorities for surplus capital

Principle priorities are to:

• Invest in existing businesses

• Expand in the growth areas of mobile data, enterprise and broadband

•Acquire, where appropriate, new spectrum to support voice and data traffic
growth. After investing in existing business and returns to shareholders, we
will consider opportunities to reshape the portfolio. Our current capital
structure implies that any significant acquisition would likely need to be
funded through portfolio disposals.

Objectives and Mission of the PR dept:

The main objective of the PR dept is to create a positive image of
Vodafone in the minds of its customers. For the launches of any new
services or mobile phones intense PR is their objective. The Vodafone
mission is to be the communications leader in an increasingly connected
world – enriching customers’ lives, helping individuals, businesses and
communities be more connected by delivering their total communication
needs. The next objective of Vodafone is to cover as much market as
possible on the basis of the service that they provide. Their next objective is
that their customers benefit from a complete Vodafone experience in and out
of their homes and offices. Their main aim and mission is to give their
customers a consistent experience.
While entering India their main objective and mission was to create a
visibility of their company and promote it in a very positive way by
promoting the global image of Vodafone. The other objective was to appear
as a leader.

PR strategies used by Vodafone as a whole

Advertisements:
Vodafone believes in advertising through media like
television and press as people retain those things that they view visually.
Heavy amounts of money are spent on visual advertisements.

Corporate Advertising:
Vodafone also undertakes corporate advertising.
The PR department informs the spokesperson Mr. Navin Chopra which
details he can reveal and which he shouldn’t reveal. He has to be very polite
while handling the media. They give everything in writing to the media. The
PR department also informs Mr. Navin about how to dodge certain questions
with trick and humours so as to maintain the confidentiality of certain
important issues like the future plans of the company.

Hoardings:
Vodafone uses hoardings also in order to promote their
company and the new services or tariffs plans that they are coming up with.
This strategy helps in making their target audience aware of their upcoming
plans.
 Press Releases:
Vodafone in USA has a separate press office that issues all
the Press Release. They press officer makes the entire press release and
then it’s confirmed by the spokesperson of Vodafone USA and is then
released. There they believe Press Releases help in order to maintain very
good relations with the media and it also helps them to be in the eye of the
audience. It had also held and India Analyst and Investor Day in London to
talk about its operations in India. It has issued a press release on it on 10th
December, 2007.

Press Conference:
Vodafone uses press conferences as a very powerful tool in
handling the media and seeking consumer attention. They hold press
conferences at the launch of new services or products of any kind. They also
hold press conferences when they are getting into a business deal for some
company. They also hold press conferences for announcing half-yearly
results or financial reports of the company.

Media Interviews:

Vodafone undertakes media interviews with proper

planning. It is sometimes initiated by media while most of the time it is by
Vodafone. It is handled very carefully specially during crisis or when a new
service is launched and is this used as a very good platform for promotion,
building image and even control crisis.

Social Activities:
Vodafone undertakes social activities on a huge scale. The
Vodafone Group Foundation is committed to providing assistance in the
area of disaster response. Its main aim is to develop partnerships which
enhance long term disaster response and preparedness activity, working
with organizations such as the United Nations Foundation, Oxfam and
MapAction. It also seeks wherever possible to make a direct contribution in
response to critical humanitarian crises.
The Safaricom Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation,
together donate KShs 15,000,000 towards humanitarian relief in Kenya.

Oxfam: VGF is a founding sponsor of the Oxfam 365 programme, an

initiative aimed at funding a global rapid response team of aid workers and
maintaining the UK’s biggest warehouse with a stockpile of emergency
supplies.

UN Foundations: The UN Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation

alliance strives to be the leading public-private partnership using strategic
technology programmes to strengthen the UN’s humanitarian efforts
worldwide.

MapAction: VGF is supporting MapAction’s humanitarian aid effort in

delivering situation maps updated hour-by-hour in the field, that enable aid
agencies to do their job of delivering assistance.

Global Focus: World of Difference:

 World of Difference (WoD) is an innovative
charitable volunteering initiative currently being delivered across the
international network of Vodafone Foundations.
WoD is based around the concept that individuals and community
organisations should identify what they feel passionate about and then be
provided with the resources to make changes happen.

WoD creates the opportunity for individuals to work for one year for a
charitable partner organisation, with salary and related support provided.
The winners are chosen on merit through a public competition. To date, 52
individual winners have participated or are currently participating.
Based on a model which was initially developed by the Vodafone New
Zealand Foundation in 2002, WoD programmes have also been successfully
launched by the Vodafone Australia Foundation, the Vodafone Netherlands
Foundation and the Vodafone Ireland Foundation.

Sponsorships: Vodafone sponsors many events. Some of them are:

UEFA Champions League: Vodafone is in its second season as Official

Partner and Official Mobile network of the UEFA Champions League, the
world's largest annual football competition.
Vodafone is delighted to be at the forefront of Europe’s premier club
competition. After the successes of last season's UEFA Champions League
sponsorship and the agreements announced in April to sponsor the UEFA
Cup Final and UEFA Super Cup, Vodafone is looking forward to
strengthening its position as a brand passionate about the beautiful game.
It has also come up with Vodafone Stadium of Fans wherein fans can make
teams and play for themselves.

England Cricket Team: Vodafone can’t get enough of the England

Cricket Team – 11 years on and their support is still going strong as the
principal partner of the Team. And it’s not just about a logo on a shirt. This
partnership gives employees and lucky customers unbelievable access to get
up close and personal with the Team.

As you can imagine, the life of a cricketer means the team are on the road
10 out of 12 months of the year so a BlackBerry is a must have. The Team
use their handsets to email friends & family, surf the net, listen to music
and send texts which keep them up to speed no matter where they are in
the world.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes:

Vodafone had a contract with the Mercedes.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has extended Lewis Hamilton’s contract with
the team for a further five years. The new agreement, which starts for 2008,
will run up to and including the 2012 season.

Internal PR:
Vodafone operates a range of all-employee share plans to
encourage widespread employee share ownership throughout the company.
Vodafone won a Global Equity Organization award for best share plan
communications in 2006 for the second year running.
They also operate a number of pension plans which vary according to the
conditions and practices in the countries concerned. These are provided
through defined benefit and defined contribution arrangements. Defined
benefit schemes provide benefits based on the employees’ length of
pensionable service and their final pensionable salary or other criteria.
Defined contribution schemes offer employees individual funds that are
converted into benefits at the time of retirement. They also involve them in
the decisions of the company. They conduct training programs also for the
benefit of the employees and for better experience. They also promote
leadership on a large scale.

This is done in order to maintain very good relations with the employees
of the organization.

PR strategies of Vodafone India

Press Releases: Vodafone India doesn’t have a separate press office to

issue all the Press Releases. The PR Head himself makes the entire press
release and then it’s confirmed by the spokesperson of Vodafone India i.e
Navin Chopra and is then released. There they believe Press Releases help in
order to maintain very good relations with the media and it also helps them
to be in the eye of the audience.

Press Conferences: Vodafone uses press conferences as a very powerful

tool in handling the media and seeking consumer attention. They hold press
conferences at the launch of new services or products of any kind. They also
use press conferences as a tool in order to control crisis.

Media Interviews: Vodafone undertakes media interviews with proper

planning. It is sometimes initiated by media while most of the time it is by
Vodafone. It is handled very carefully specially during crisis or when a new
service is launched and is this used as a very good platform for promotion,
building image and even control crisis.

Hoardings and Advertisements: Vodafone uses advertisements as a

powerful tool. The hoardings are placed in every corner of a city. It helps in
seeking immediate attention of the consumers.
Vodafone also uses advertisements. It has it corporate news in the
CAT 1 papers like Economic Times, Times of India, Hindustan Times and
many others. It also ahs its news in CAT 2 papers including all the regional
language papers. It also advertises on television and radio.

They also have running ads on Star India about the news updates or
new services or new tariff plans. Vodafone has entered into a Rebranding
Campaign with Star India in order to promote the Essar Brand.

Newsletter:
Vodafone India issues house journals for its employees named
Baatchit. They believe this helps in maintaining good relations with them. It
is issued by the HR Head.

Agency:
The last PR strategy that they use is that they have hired an agency
that goes to the Vodafone store with genuine problems. Then they report to
the top management of the company stating how the executives at the store
responded to their queries and how did they behave with them. This helps
the company in making the decisions regarding those executives at the
stores. This strategy has helped them a lot in making Vodafone stores a
better place so that their customers get even better service.

Successful Strategies:
Vodafone has had many successful strategies. One of
them is the success of Vodafone in India. Vodafone for the Indian masses
was a completely new brand name. Therefore, Vodafone had to see that the
positive image of Vodafone is built up in the minds of the people.
In order to promote the brand Vodafone in India, a
Central PR team was set up in India. They handled all the promotion
activities. They held many press conferences and issued press releases.
They also arranged for media interviews. They released many positive
articles about the Vodafone company in all the CAT 1 papers. Today
Vodafone has 33 lakh customers. Its adding 2 lac customers every month.
 Crisis:
It had faced a huge crisis during bomb blasts and floods. There was
no network at all. The cell sides were damaged in water. They had the
Motorola machine. It couldn’t take the heavy load of calls. That is why it
became slow. There were no generators so the whole system stopped
functioning because the supply of electricity was cut off.

This was a very delicate situation. The company and the PR dept
didnt lose their cool. They were calm and were cautious and quick in taking
steps. At that time they immediately flashed news on all the news channels
that people shouldn’t take more time to talk as it was blocking the call lines.
The PR dept also informed all its employees not to use their mobile phones
so that that much load is reduced. They also held an immediate press
conference in order to explain what was going on and why was there no
network.
As a result of this crisis, they immediately took steps to evaluate
what went wrong. They immediately planted generators everywhere. They
started using fiber optic cables. They immediately changed their Motorola
machine and replaced with one of a more superior quality. After this
incident they also started with a Disaster Management Cell in the company.

Message Appeal

Advertising appeals aim to influence the way consumers view themselves

and how buying certain products can prove to be beneficial for them. The
message conveyed through advertising appeals influences the purchasing
decisions of consumers. Advertising uses appeals as a way of persuading
people to buy certain products. Advertising appeals are designed in a way so
as to create a positive image of the individuals who use certain
products.Advertising agencies and companies use different types of
advertising appeals to influence the purchasing decisions of people.
 The most important types of advertising appeals include emotional and
rational appeals. Emotional appeals are often effective for the youth while
rational appeals work well for products directed towards the older
generation.

Emotional Appeal

An emotional appeal is related to an individual’s psychological and social

needs for purchasing certain products and services. Many consumers are
emotionally motivated or driven to make certain purchases. Advertisers aim
to cash in on the emotional appeal and this works particularly well where
there is not much difference between multiple product brands and its
offerings. Emotional appeal includes personal and social aspects. The
appeals applicable in the case of our study are as follows:

1. Personal Appeal

2. Social Appeal

3. Humor Appeal

Rational Appeal

Rational appeals as the name suggests aims to focus on the individual’s

functional, utilitarian or practical needs for particular products and
services. Such appeals emphasize the characteristics and features of the
product and the service and how it would be beneficial to own or use the
particular brand. Print media is particularly well suited for rational appeals
and is often used with good success. It is also suited for business to
business advertisers and for products that are complex and that need high
degree of attention and involvement.
 In the study of Vodafone advertisement campaigns, a wide variety of
appeals in their communication could be identified. The following are a few
examples to elaborate on them.

Hutch had a very strong brand personality. The slogan “Wherever you go
our network follows’ was closely tied up with the Hutch – Pug campaign. The
Hutch network was personified as the adorable pug dog following the owner,
who is normally a very cute kid.

Vodafone has always been ahead in communicating its messages to the

users. In the advertisement saying “Happy to help night and day”, the power
idea of this as was to reiterate the customer efficiency divison of Vodafone.
The credit worthy thing in this message is that the focus is now on the
service being extended to the night as well which has been brought into
attention through this ad. The visual appeals with the cherubic girl sleeping
and the cute little pup guarding her sitting outside the tent. The USP
efficient customer service of Vodafone had been highlighted through this ad.

Vodafone differentiates itself from other telecom operators through its

value added services (VAS) and it wanted to educate the customers about it.
Unfortunately, the hutch dog had its limitations and so Vodafone had to
bring in traditional commercials with adults to stress on the VAS.

These ads didn’t appeal much although communicated the message very
well. The ads were no more sweet and cute although they had a wider
appeal owing to the young generation in the ads and the intentional humor.
But just when everyone thought that these cute ads have grown into adults
there came the  savior – ZooZoo ads. They simply did the job of
communicating the various VAS in a fascinating way.

TheVodafone’s services were personified as quirky and lively personalities

named ZooZoo. The comical way of communicating the message brought in
the good old connection what Hutch earlier had with people. It reiterated
that Hutch’s ad are ‘cute’ again or even ‘cuter’.
 Vodafone has always communicated the message very beautifully and
that too in a simple manner by anointing it with warm emotions! In an
advertisement the instance where a father is shown singing a lullaby to his
baby to make the baby sleep as “I am sleeping, sleeping, sleeping”
communicates the message of personal and emotional appeals in a very
warm way. They have always tried to employ creativity to its best in their
advertisements.

In the Indian context, Vodafone commercials transition from the Hutch

pug, right from the pug following the small boy and the tag line saying
“Wherever you go our network follows”, the pug helping the girl in case of
need and the tag line saying “Happy to Help” to the Zoozoo commercials
where they communicate their service USP through Zoozoo’s which made
them an instant hit.

The Vodafone advertisements bear testimony to the fact that it is those

small moments from day to day life of people which serve as inspiration for
thoughtful advertisements and reinstate the fact that “art imitates life”. It
involves a lot of Personal Appeal.

One of the Vodafone commercial talks about the different kinds of ‘status’
caller tunes which people can set on their mobile phones. The ad shows
subscribers using simple situations that they encounter in their daily live
and create their unique tunes (which also does) not require them to think
too much to set the same. All the situations shown in the commercial are
really entertaining and creative to say the least. Another unique feature of
this ad is that they haven’t used their USP “the pug” in the commercial.
They have made the most by getting people to enact like any other brand
commercial and still appeal to the audience.

Another advertisement where frail-framed actor Imran Khan dominates

the screen with dialogues complementing the virtues of middle class
existence. The brief was to make mobility more affordable than what the
subscriber thought.
 Direct Media

Television

Zoozoo TV Ads during IPL 2009 matches

Hutch initial campaigns used a pug in its TV ads, which captured the
imagination of millions. Then Vodafone started using nutty and entirely
endearing little men in white, called Zoozoos created by the agency O&M,
one of the main broadcast sponsors of the Indian Premier League 2009. The
strategy was to generate a buzz that lives up to the brand’s image of great
creative and clever marketing. According to Kumar Subramaniam, Executive
Brand Director on Vodafone at O&M, “Zoozoos are adorable creatures who
were meant to surprise viewers in each of the IPL matches. There was a new
story everyday from them and this kept interest in the brand alive and
managed to engage viewers for the five weeks of IPL-2.” The rational for their
introduction during the IPL matches was because maximum no of people
are glued to their TV sets during the IPL season, so the company thought it
prudent to launch these ads during the IPL season in 2009 to promote
different offerings and services by Vodafone to its customers.

As part of the strategy, Zoozoos figured on Extra Innings; the post match
analysis show; predicting outcomes with arguably greater accuracy than the
regular panelists.
The Zoozoos received a good response from the audiences as they captured
hearts of thousands of people on Facebook and also became quite popular
on YouTube.

However, the company later decided to rest these super characters for
the fear of simply using them for all the services that they advertise. The
company felt that over a period of time Zoozoos have become quite familiar
and so they do not excite or surprise people anymore. The 'Zoozoos', whose
main motto was to showcase the various value added services (VAS) that the
company provides, were not deemed fit to deliver the new advertising
message of the brand. Using Zoozoos was not appropriate at this point. They
are special and if they were used unnecessarily all the time then, according
to the company, no justice to them and to the message would have been
done. That is why the company decided to use an animated parrot with a
voice-over of Boman Irani to inform about the new tariff plans of the
company.

Zoozoo Ad campaign on TV during IPL matches

Animated Parrot Ad replacing Zoozoo Ads.

Internet
 As has already been explained above, Vodafone made use of Zoozoo ads
even on the social media like Facebook, Youtube etc. Despite getting into
silly scrapes and squawking sheer nonsense, they are helping Vodafone
snap up new customers fast. Already Zoozoo ads have had over 30 lakh
viewings on YouTube. Results on Facebook have also been encouraging with
1.5 lakh visitors and counting. Vodafone extended the appeal for its egg-
shaped characters Zoozoos to social media by allowing users to vote for their
favourite ads and take Zoozoo quizzes.

With companies paring down costs due to the downturn, online

advertisement has given brands a cost-effective alternative or
complementary platform to television campaigns.

Vodafone chose to play out its Zoozoo campaign on the internet as a three-
day Independence-day special campaign last month. The campaign was put
out across 60 to 70 sites and it was able to click a contact with one million
viewers in three days.

Zoozoo Official Fan club on Facebook

 “The ZooZoo campaign”

The ZooZoo campaign is considered one of the best campaigns. It

generated so much interest and curiosity in the minds of the consumers
that the Indian advertising has never seen before. And surprisingly, it
captured all the market segments be it young or old. Vodafone continued to
portray its strong creative image with this campaign. ZooZoo was created to
promote its value added services(VAS) of Vodafone. Vodafone really wanted
to come out as a strong competitor in the highly competitive telecom service
industry. Also they wanted to make best out of the IPL season 2. But it was
not an easy job to stand out different in the IPL season among the extensive
marketing clutter.

The need to stand out different gave birth to zoo zoo. They are made very
expressive as simple. They laugh out loud, cry like human beings and give a
humane touch to the entire concepts of zoo zoo’s. Their expressiveness made
them so personal to the consumers. Though the process of making is not at
all simple, but their simple looks made consumers really attracted. It
created Vodafone a strong brand that takes care of its consumers.

Another success factor was their ability to create curiosity in the

consumers mind by their extensive list of 25 different Ads. The aim is to
release approximately one ad a day, to sustain interest till the end of the
IPL. The another reason of releasing so many ads was that the consumers
get bored quickly if they are watching the same Ad daily and they start
losing interest after seeing it twice or thrice.

The characters created by Vodafone to promote its Value Added Services.

Other than advertising Vodafone too zoo zoo to the social networking sites
like facebook has touched 70,000 fans. Other than this they also moved into
the downloading of zoozoo’s wallpapers and screensavers. Using ZooZoo,
Vodafone has created a new way of connecting and engaging with the target
audience.

The zoozoo was also communicated through mails and blogspots.

 Marketing Guru Seth Godin always emphasized that Brands should be
Remarkable. He defined remarkable as “Worthy of Making a Remark about”

The ZooZoo is a classic example of being Remarkable...

Marketing Strategies Of Vodafone

ZooZooS: ZooZoo, the new brand ambassador of Vodafone, has created a

furor in the advertising industry. Zoozoos have been successful in giving
Vodafone a makeover and establishing maximum brand presence. I consider
it to be a perfect example of a well-laid out marketing strategy for the
following reasons:

Vodafone chose the Indian Premier League 2 (IPL-2) as a platform to launch

their advertisement, which proved to be a great marketing strategy. Cricket
is considered to be a religion in India, and Zoozooz captured attention of
nearly two billion people during the IPL. People eagerly waited for breaks
between matches to see more stories about Zoozoo.

Zoozoos are small pseudo-animated characters with big egg-shaped head,

round belly but extremely thin arms and legs. It was a fresh and innovative
concept and Vodafone wonderfully promoted their services by creating
different stories featuring Zoozoos.

The charm of the Zoozoo was itself a great self-marketing strategy and they
were instant success among masses. Within few days, Zoozooz created a
huge audience for them, giving a boost to the Vodafone brand.

People were already in awe of those cute and lovable characters, but the
curiosity heightened when Vodafone disclosed that Zoozooz were not
animated, rather humans were playing those characters. People were even
hungrier to know about their favorite Zoozooz.
In the second phase, after the release of these ads, Vodafone promoted these
characters on social media sites, which was another wise decision. Zoozoo
fan clubs are there on social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube,
Orkut, Twitter, and many more, where they have a huge followings.

Now Vodafone has announced to launch the Zoozoo goodies like zoozoo toys,
zoozoo mugs, zoozoo key chains, zoozoo t-shirts, etc.

Zoozooz have themselves become a brand and it will be interesting to see

how Vodafone uses this concept in future to promote their services.

Nothing have been as popular as cricket during cricket seasons in India. The
recent
ads of Vodafone, telecom provider in India, named ‘ZooZoo’ have got an
exception to it. The ZooZoo ads have melted the millions of Indian hearts
making it more popular than India Premier League.

In 2007, Vodafone acquired 67% stake in Hutchinson and re-branded Hutch

telecom
into Vodafone. Following is the story told by the ads itself of how Hutch’s
brand image transitioned to Vodafone’s brand image while pulling along the
consumer’s perceptions and preference towards the Hutch brand.

Hutch had a very strong brand personality. The slogan” Wherever you go our
network follows’ was closely tied up with the Hutch – Pug campaign. The
Hutch network was personified as the adorable pug dog following the owner,
who is normally a very cute kid.

After watching these above ads, one would definitely fall in love with the
brand. The ads had a very simple message that was communicated through
the dog with backdrop of a beautiful song. The Hutch network was
personified as the dog and the Hutch brand automatically drew the brand
personality of being adorable, cute. The dog was named Hutch dog and
became very popular in India. The dog became the brand ambassador and a
great brand asset to Hutch. Hutch leveraged this popularity of the dog and
used the dog in its websites and in all its communications.

Hutch was able to make a close connection with the people through this
Hutch- Pug dog campaign and will this relationship sustain after its
acquisition by Vodafone.

Message Appeal of the ZooZoo Campaign

Humour appeal is an excellent tool to catch the viewer’s attention and

help in achieving instant recall which can work well for the sale of the
product. Humor can be used effectively when it is related to some benefit
that the customer can derive without which the joke might overpower the
message. The ZooZoo campaign primarily focuses on the value added
services provided by Vodafone by exploiting the advantages of Humour
Appeal.

Endorsement

They didn’t went for any celebrity endorsement to promote their idea of
ZooZoo. This helped Vodafone to reduce the risks of The Vampire effect(the
issue of a celebrity overshadowing the brand) and mismatch between the
celebrity and the image of the brand.

Marketing Mix

 Television
 Radio
 Outdoor
 Online
 Internet Promotions

 Dedicated Microsite – “ What kind of ZooZoo are you?”

 Downloadable ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers and videos.
 Facebook – aimed to build a community.

The responses of the ZooZoo Campaign

 All the TVC’s are available both on youtube and twitter.

 On google.co.in, the world zoozoo, became the third highest search
word on may 04,2009.
 ZooZoo itself has become a phenomenon.
 The IPL 2 will forever be remembered as a season of ZooZoos.

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS
SWOT analysis of the ZooZoo Campaign

Strengths
 The campaign created the buzz both in traditional media as well as in
social networking sites.
 It was a representation of a common man depicted as a cartoon
character.
 Wide media coverage, more precisely through videos.
 Easy and cheap animation leading

Weakness:
 It has a undermining effect on the product Vodafone.
 Difficulty in understanding faced by rural population.
 Opportunities:
 A revolution in the conventional way of advertising that was through
public figures.
 Low advertising cost leading to provision of cheaper services.

Threats:
 A major intimidation to the brand Vodafone.

Marketing Failure – Vodafone failed to celebrate the success of their Big

Idea (ZooZoo)

Getting a big idea in this tough competitive market place is a lottery and
when consumers love that big idea, it is nothing but a jackpot. We are living
in a world where there is intense competition even for taglines and
positioning. Even in this scenario, it is surprising to see how marketers fall
short of taking advantage of that Rare Big Idea.

The identical mistake was done by the Marketers of Vodafone. The

ZooZoo had an unprecedented success in India. This was one of those rare
occasions where consumers get emotionally attached to a campaign. Viewers
loved the character and celebrated it through blogs and social media. But
what did Vodafone do? Nothing... In 2009, there have been reports that
Vodafone is planning ZooZoo merchandise. But nothing really happened and
the idea was lost. Ideally Vodafone should have milked ZooZoo to the
maximum.  It could have developed merchandise like dolls, t-shirts,
keychains, collectibles etc on these lovely characters which could have given
the brand ways to get into the heart of millions of youngsters. There were
countless opportunity for the brand to build a community around ZooZoo.