The jury is still out (and perhaps permanently so) on who actually won the IPL – the fake IPL player or the Zoozoos. Both massively popular, they even have conspiracy theories built around them – the identity in case of the former and the inspiration(cached) in case of the latter. There is even a minority who claim that actually the Deccan Chargers won, but that really isn’t relevant. 😉
I thought the Zoozoos were adorable. The usage of Mallu food terminology in the International Roaming ad added to the fervour. I remember starting at least 2-3 conversation threads on Facebook and Twitter, the ‘people behind the zoozoos’ image i shared on Twitpic got more than 250 clicks, and I saw quite a number of online and mainstream articles on them. Yes, there were many real conversations as well across age bands. There is no doubt in my mind on the amount of buzz that was created.
As per the afaqs article, the Vodafone brief seemed to be very clear – increase the awareness of VAS services among new acquisitions in a manner that would really stand out. A small number of people I spoke to managed to remember the VAS services associated with each ad. I felt that the lateral interpretation of the services, or rather the rendition of that, made me try to connect before the ad ended, so it worked for me. I even started seeing them in unrelated contexts. But a lot of people just remembered the zoozoos. Just like they remembered the pug. Now the association betweenthe Zoozoos and Vodafone would be established easily, I think, since the competition was Madhavan and Vidya Balan.
But then, there are these little things that happen outside advertising and in the consumer experience space. Like the ‘Hutch’ that appears as the network on my phone screen. Last week, I got this call from a Vodafone customer care executive, who informed me that I could pay my bill by ECS, and that was more convenient than my current way of paying by cash. Nice, but the only snag was, I’d been using ECS for more than 3 years now. I now wonder how my billing happens smoothly.
All of this made me think about two things. One, whether brands are thinking about segmenting their existing and potential user base, and then further evolving strategies and communication basis this. So, while the Zoozoos were extremely entertaining and informative, I really wondered about relevance. Did the Zoozoos change my perception of Vodafone? Would there have been a difference if Airtel or Reliance brought out the Zoozoos? Not just to me, who is often irritated by the Vodafone service (like many others in Bangalore) thanks to coverage and call drops, but other user segments as well. Is this way of communication just a function of the media vehicles that are in use now, which allow very limited ways of segmentation? Will the internet and mobile really change this thinking?
Two, from a slightly larger perspective, will buzz marketing become an end in itself? Somewhat like the trending topics on twitter, which earlier gave an indication of what the ‘happening’ conversations on Twitter were, but now are just self fulfilling memes. The Twitter reference indicates unhappiness but the original query is in all earnestness. Buzz marketing with no trackback to the brand strategy? Is this more tempting when we’re dealing with a real time way of connecting and communicating? How does this stack up against building brand equity over large timeframes? Does it matter anymore? Or is a positive history of buzz marketing sufficient? In the case of Vodafone, they succeeded in creating so much buzz that editorial space in mainstream dailies were devoting space to them. Online, there were FB groups and Twitter mentions and posts after posts. I could write about engagement and conversation in social media, but where does all that lead to? Where do the Zoozoos go from here? Do they continue to be brand mascots, or are they good enough only for a buzz? Good enough to increase TOM and therefore affect sales in a tactical way? So, is frequent buzz marketing + good consumer experience = brand strategy? Meanwhile, if the buzz has been generated, can we put up a few more towers and spruce up the data centre?
until next time, omnibuzz
and on the blog today “Zoozoology..and more” http://www.manuprasad.com/?p=2468 🙂 @additiyom
In my opinion, much of the Zoozoo buzz was manufactured and forced – with people just following blindly. The first couple of spots were funny/interesting but what everyone seems to have ignored is that all the latter ones that followed were plain unispiring at best and downright irritating at worst (possibly because their only ‘expressions’ were hideuosly loud giggles or plain screaming.)
In terms of effectiveness, I am not really sure how effective they were. TOM yes, butthen vodafone is estabilished enuf to have brand recall. so you are right, until the on ground act is cleaned up, its just going to be entertainment.
Interesting questions and am sure not many would have thought on these lines, i.e Effectiveness/ROI on ZooZoos. The campaign centred around IPL was aimed to get more eyeballs and generate strong buzz.
This http://digital.afaqs.com/perl/digital/news/story.html?sid=23957 will put things in perspective.
If the history of viral ad campaigns is to be believed, the sales will definitely reflect their TV/Internet success.
If Vodafone wants to leverage this success they need to start listening to what their customers are telling them on their web properties(other than the zoozoo talk) and work towards better customer service.
iq: i’d say, that is ALSO a perspective – the funniness/interesting-ness 🙂 even if we do assume that people followed, i wonder if it can eb called ‘blind’, since it must have caught their fancy at some point? but it does tie in neatly with the questions that I too have “what’s the intent of the buzz, if any, and how is it going to be taken forward”
Cyn: right, I too am not sure how much the VAS (intent of) communication actually worked…
Mayank: hmm, as i mentioned in the post, the overall intent was relatively clear… but digitally, I am not sure, so there’s an FB brand page..given the buzz it generated, there was bound to be a visit deluge… uploading a TVC a day before it launched on TV.. ok, so? the point is, do xyz number of visits do something for vodafone? effectiveness/roi can be measured only if the parameters are set before, unless we plan to do the regular retrofit.. will vodafone get more subscribers because of zoozoos? i really would like to see that acquisition sheet to check if there’s a spike.. or a decrease in churn..