The march of the Zoozoos

The adorable Zoozoos are back this season, and this time, they have arrived in hordes. The new avatar, an entire army of egg-shaped heads and pot bellies, is on a mission to entice first-time data users to take a byte.

The yet-to-be named army of Zoozoos has also amassed a huge fan base of more than 10 million on Facebook. They made for the most engaging posts on Facebook in January and February 2013 as measured by SocialBakers, a social media analytics platform. The Zoozoos, Vodafone India’s advertisement characters, have become more or less a mascot for the telecom operator.

“They are entertaining and engaging, and it makes perfect sense to bring them back every year. We did an extensive research and introduced this army of Zoozoos, which is yet to be given a name,” Anuradha Aggarwal, Vodafone India’s Senior Vice-President (Brand Communication and Insights), says.

Vodafone will soon launch a contest to find a name for the army of Zoozoos. As it was difficult to get people to play the tiny Zoozoos, O&M used animation to create the army.

The Zoozoos (played by humans in costume), first launched in 2009, generally pop up during the Indian Premier League (IPL). They were on for three seasons, but gave it a miss in 2012. Vodafone India is the associate sponsor of the Pepsi IPL.

In 2011, the GSM service provider launched the Super Zoozoo – a better and smarter avatar - to promote its 3G services, which were also launched during the same year. Termed ‘Superkanth’, it was inspired by movie heroes and flew between planets (Superman), outran bullets (Rajnikanth) and even stopped steam engines from running off cliffs (Spider-Man).

“This time we will have TV, print, and they (Zoozoos) will be active on social media networks as well. Radio also will be used,” Aggarwal said.

THE CAMPAIGN

This year, the campaign started with a teaser launched on social media networks (Facebook and YouTube) a day before it went on air at the IPL opening ceremony. The main campaign, with nine different spots, was launched on April 7.

“The whole idea of the campaign was to bring non-Internet users into the fold and drive adoption of mobile Internet. Each film (of the campaign) communicates one benefit of Internet adoption such as finding a job or a suitable partner, downloading songs, watching videos, sharing photographs or connecting with friends,” said Rajiv Rao, national creative director at Ogilvy & Mather (O&M). Despite IPL, the Zoozoos storyboard has never revolved around cricket.

“We have some Zoozoo characters in cricket gear, but no theme revolving around cricket. People are watching so much of cricket and it is a relief not to see cricket,” Rao, who had created Zoozoos four years ago, said.

Earlier, Vodafone India had launched Zoozoo merchandise such as T-shirts, comic strips, e-greetings and activities around the characters. It wouldn’t be any different this time around. Activities are already on at the stadiums. The company also launched a one-time trial pack at Rs 25 on 2G and Rs 49 on 3G with a 500 MB data limit to enable novices to try and test mobile Internet.

THE PUG

Vodafone’s ‘You & I’ campaign, which first appeared in 2003, featured the famous pug ‘Cheeka’, where the dog follows his master, a little boy, all around. The tagline ‘Wherever you go, our network follows’ focused on the strength and reach of the telecom operator’s network.

Rajiv Rao, along with colleague Mahesh V., then senior creative directors at O&M, was also the brain behind the ‘You & I’ campaign. The campaign was withdrawn later, much to the disappointment of viewers.

“Every brief, every message has to be conveyed in a different way. Sometimes you need to use humour, sometimes charm,” Rao says, adding that the pug will be “definitely” brought back.

Then, there is a section of viewers who believe the popularity and charm of the Zoozoos have diminished.

“I think Zoozoos are the best-ever modern characters created, and they are hugely popular among children. I don’t think they have lost their popularity, but people are highly critical of something famous,” says K.V. Sridhar, National Creative Head at Leo Burnett.

Since their creation, Zoozoos have been continuously in the limelight, but has it become a mascot for Vodafone such as Air-India’s Maharaja, Asian Paints’ Gattu and the Amul Girl (also Amul Baby)?

“It’s a mascot in a sense. Zoozoos have become a cult, and they are also identified with the brand. But it’s still early to judge. Nobody designs a character to become a mascot,” Sridhar, (‘Pops’ to the media and advertising fraternity), said.

On Amul’s mascot O&M’s Rao said it is legendary for its “opinion” on every major news or event. The Amul Girl had also “taken note” of Zoozoos when they were first launched in 2009. Now, if that isn’t a big compliment, what is?

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