“Vodafone’s new ads deliver message crisply”

Giving customers a customised usage plan rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, Vodafone has unveiled a set of three commercials extending the 121 ‘Made for You’ campaign, highlighting multiple product offerings such as full talk time, STD and data.

This comes after the launch of a series of three television commercials depicting the different needs and expectations of the consumers through an easy to relate concept. The first phase of the campaign (tailor, barber and gym commercials) emphasised on how one can get customised offers of their choice, by dialing 121 from their mobiles and the second phase of the campaign (full talk time, STD and data) showcases the unique usage of certain types of people (heavy talk-time, internet or STD users) to communicate various offers.

The TVC is conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather (Mumbai) and the insight is to convey the message that Vodafone understands the unique needs of the consumers and hence offers plans that are tailor-made according to their needs.

The full talk time idea was developed keeping in mind a popular guy in college with a need to talk for longer durations. The other two commercials on STD and data offers also take a similar approach, reflecting a slice from our day to day life. The STD pack ad shows a man who is a social animal and has contacts with people in almost every part of the country. However, the data offers ad shows a young bubbly college girl who is always online and keeps talking about it at various locations.

Rajiv Rao, National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, India said, “It is a part of the same campaign. The brief was to talk about the offers such as full talk-time, STD and data in an engaging manner. We have tried to show the need for the product or service by using characters that can be the best examples in a very interesting way.”

The challenge posed to the agency was that it needed to ensure that some commonality of execution needed to be carried forward from the first set of 121 films.

Anuradha Aggarwal, Senior Vice President, Brand Communications and Insights, Vodafone India said, “Vodafone’s recent campaign to highlight 121 ‘Made for you’ offers has appealed to viewers and audiences have caught on to the premise behind the campaign. The three commercials have struck the right chord with the consumers. It was a natural progression to extend the 121 ‘Made for you’ offers campaign to communicate specific product offerings under the 121 umbrella. The extended campaign also depicts relatable situations from our daily lives.”

The 121 campaign extension will be a six-week long campaign. It will be supported with a high decibel 360-degree media plan using TV, radio, print, outdoor, on-ground, and a digital and online plan.

Industry experts
Some experts believe that the ads have created lesser ripples this time but others feel that they are great creative work.

Deepti Sakhuja, Vice President, Everest Brand Solution said, “It’s now stretching the imagination a bit too far. The insights are good but somehow the commercials are not looking real. The initial series sounded more authentic.”

Naresh Gupta, Managing Partner, Bang in the Middle said, “These are really nice commercials. For me, the talk time commercial is the real winner among the full talk-time and the STD ads. For a youngster, the phone is his lifeline. His/her life revolves around what they do on phone. The guy’s take on what happens when he calls is hilarious, and so is the final question about the charger. The brand has very cleverly avoided mentioning talk time and has delivered the message crisply.”

“The STD commercial is hilarious in its casting. It seems to catch the new-age movie wave where they have gone small townish deliberately. I think the audience will lap it up. This has the potential to become bigger than ‘Har ek friend’ series from Airtel,” he added.