The ZOOZOO Phenomenon

Vodafone has been known for it’s out of the box and creative way of thinking with the ad campaigns it has created in the past. The company has come out with some of the most delightful and memorable stories over the recent years. In 2008, it was the “Happy to Help” series that made everyone in India wanting that little pug. The idea was no rocket-science – just a very creative way of portraying the effectiveness of Vodafone Customer Care services.

With that series a certain standard was set and the company could no longer get away with rubbish ads just to sell its services, it needed to better what was done in the past! Cellular companies are not just about the call and sms services, customers demand MORE and Vodafone needed to show the extra goodies it had to offer.

Keeping all this in mind, Zoozoo was born in 2009 to be the face of the Vodafone Value added services series titled “Make the most of now”. That brings me to an unanswered question in my head - What was bigger in 2009 – the IPL moving to South Africa and all the drama that surrounded it or the new Vodafone Zoozoo ad campaign?
A totally new idea – so simple yet so exclusive and the characters so close to being human yet so different from them and that little something about them that made them so lovable and so easy to connect with.

Two key factors helped Vodafone win recognition as a brand through this ad campaign:

1. Not 1 but 25 different ad’s that kept the public interest alive through the IPL2 season. The likes of Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh hit the same brilliant shots match after match in the IPL, but the white alien like creatures had a new idea almost everyday. Four months worth of marketing money was spent in one month and the investment certainly paid-off big-time!
2. Customers were ignorant about the range of services the company had to offer. These were brought out in the open and made worth appreciating thanks to the creative genius in ad filmmaker Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films.

Ogilvy India, got just one brief input from Vodafone – The characters had to be simple to a stupefying level. Trial and error led to the ‘egghead’ characters sporting white colour bodies and black spots for their eyes and mouths. What’s more? They speak their own language and they even express their emotions – giggling, smiling and frowning as you and I would!

Zoozoo’s were the talk of every household and to be honest it didn’t take a genius to understand what they were trying to convey in the 30 odd second commercials. From little kids to grandparents, everyone for a change waited for ad-breaks! Zoozoo had arrived with a bang and was here to stay!

The IPL is back in 2010 with season 3 and so are the Zoozoo’s in their 2nd season with the “Power to You” series. Indians all over have sure welcomed them with arms wide open!

Everyone likes the idea of a one-stop-shop – be it for household needs or fashion accessories. That brought us to the idea of putting together this priceless collection of all the Zoozoo ads from season 1 and 2 – A truly immortal story in the history of Indian advertising!


ZOOZOO Part 2 (IPL 2010)


ZOOZOO Part 1 (IPL 2009, South Africa)