Telecom advtg eye the space “inside a consumer’s head”

It was during the IPL fever, when the creative volcano exploded and the earth was invaded by Vodafone’s tiny egg shell like creatures with giant heads, called ZooZoos. This was not the end of the story, as Airtel rode on the shoulders of friendship and celebrated those joke buddies, poke buddies and gaana buddies of everyone’s life. Not to be left behind in this creative war, Idea got honey-tongued to connect people through the catchy jingle. It surely marks the dominance of great creative properties in telecom advertising like the ZooZoos, ‘Honey Bunny’ and ‘Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai’ jingle. These creative properties are iconic for the brands and they remain associated with the brand even after the campaign fades.

The ZooZoos ‘egg’venture
Vodafone was trying hard to capture the VAS space, so it gave birth to the ZooZoos with thin limbs and big bellies to convey a value added service (VAS) offering in each of the commercials. These egg head creatures in between the world of animation and reality clicked because they were innocent, simple and emoted like human beings with a funny and memorable name. These aliens hijacked the digital space and immediately after the launch, the Facebook brand page had more than 66,000 fans and its YouTube channel became the second most subscribed channel.

Rajiv Rao, National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather recalls, “ZooZoos gave the brand a new personality and showed the brand’s fun side. It has changed the perception that the brand is not just about everything that we have been seeing so far but it goes beyond that. It was done for the first time and was loved by everyone.” According to him, it was something that was very iconic for the brand and certainly created a brand recall, because whenever someone saw a ZooZoo or a Pug, he/ she knew that it was Vodafone. He added, “ZooZoos or Pugs have become a brand property that takes care of branding in a very good way without dominating.”

A friend indeed
To make the brand contemporary and youthful, Airtel went beyond the admired brand tag and tried to become a youth-friendly brand through the ‘Har ek friend zaroori hota hai’ song. The foot-tapping jingle penned by lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya, became an anthem for the brand because it was conversational and in a language that everyone could easily connect. It had slice-of -life situations showing early morning friends, classroom friends, shopping friends, movie friends and exam hall copying friends with no superficial elements. The film used a college setting with sounds of banging the desks, thumping of chairs, clapping and cheering.

Telecom advertising has stood out of the clutter due to these creative properties. Agnello Dias, Co-Founder, Taproot felt, “Some songs are easy to carry along for a consumer. Most good ads can be replayed ‘inside’ the consumer’s head whenever he wants to. But a good song or a strong word or a compelling line is something he can replay aloud for himself or for others thus making positive contagion easier, quicker and more widespread.”

On creating a brand recall, he said, “All properties create a brand recall. Songs or phrases can be recalled by consumers at will and be applied topically to everyday life. This is something a compelling story cannot do overtly or extraneously.”

What a jingle!
It is often said that music is universal and a catchy tune sticks in the head. Carrying the Idea stamp in an interesting manner, the telecom service provider has portrayed its presence in 22 circles across the country through a new infectious jingle. From grandmothers in South India to police officers in the Capital to idol makers in the East, everyone is shown singing the new Idea jingle –‘Honey-Bunny’. The campaign is aimed at highlighting the strength of Idea’s pan-India coverage, which helps people of this huge Indian family stay connected with their Honey Bunnys wherever they go – from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Gujarat to Guwahati, Ladakh to Bangalore, Rajasthan to Orissa, or Mumbai to Bihar.

Speaking on the idea, Arun Iyer, National Creative Director, Lowe Lintas said, “We had to communicate the thought that Idea is present in many parts of India in a very interesting and engaging manner so we thought of creating a track which is a ringtone of a person who visits the entire India.”

On the growing importance of creative properties like jingles, he felt, “We think songs like this can outlive the campaign because the campaign will run for a limited period of time but if the song is liked by people then it will continue to remain in popular culture and it keeps reminding people of the brand as well. It certainly creates a brand recall in the minds of the consumer.”

The teasers and TVC were released on the YouTube channel and the song received over a lakh likes within the first few days of it going on live. It recorded over 50,000 visits on the song download page within few days of the radio and digital campaign taking off.

Make it a memorable surprise
Anand Halve, Co-founder, Chlorophyll, remarked, “When we talk of a brand property, it is something that must be used over an extended period of time. The others are memorable devices of a particular campaign.”

He added, “Memorability can sometimes be a necessary condition, but it is rarely a sufficient condition. In an attempt to do something memorable, brands sometimes lose sight of the commercial purpose of the messaging. Memorability is associated with the element of surprise and to create that surprise brands have to do something that is not part of the expected story in an entertaining manner.”

He further said, “There are cases where both worked well, but fundamentally, the surprise has to be related to the brand and entertainment has to be execution or dramatisation of the surprise.”

However, it cannot be denied that creative properties have certainly taken telecom advertising to new heights and they have created recall and visibility for the brands. They have enhanced brand recognition and built strong emotional connect with consumers.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)