Vodafone: Need for speed

The telecom operator has launched a massive out of home campaign across Mumbai to promote its latest product, Vodafone Mobile Internet.

Over the years, Vodafone has been consistently created impactful campaigns that have high recall value in the highly competitive telecom market. While its Pug and Zoozoos created huge buzz, others such as Vodafone Delight, Made for you and Join the team (F1 race) added to its brand image.

The telecom giant has now come up with an innovative out of home campaign to promote its Vodafone Mobile Internet product that offers high speed 3G Internet. Executed by Bates Landscape, the creatives for the campaign have been done by Ogilvy & Mather. The campaign has been launched exclusively in Mumbai.

The creatives have catchy messages such as "Catch buses and hot news here. News is fun on Vodafone" or "Stuck behind a truck? Watch a Trailer. Videos are fun on Vodafone 3G" and others. They are related to real life situations involving the use of mobile applications for videos, music, social networking, games, health, jobs, news and finance. Vodafone has come up with eight such messages that talk of different situations showcasing the importance of high speed internet for the prompt use of these apps.

For the three-week campaign that began on January 10, the brand is using several formats such as billboards, hoardings, bus shelters, toll stations, bridge sites, pole kiosks, bus seat backs, Vodafone stores and cinema houses across strategic locations, and on ground activation in colleges in the financial capital of India.

Arvind Vohra, business head, Vodafone, says, "The objective is to spread awareness about the benefits and relevance of mobile internet applications in our day to day lives. The message is to explore the whole world of apps that are stimulating and interesting, enabling the user to do much more with their smartphone and have unlimited fun with Vodafone 3G."

He adds that the campaign is currently launched in Mumbai and other circles may look to explore it later.

Kapil Arora, country head, Team Vodafone, Ogilvy & Mather India, says, "The agency was asked to build an interesting and intelligent campaign that created intrigue interwoven with the element of fun. The core essence of the campaign was to connect to consumers with relatable situations and use communication styles that bring a smile to one's face."

Eleven innovative billboards have been erected at strategic locations such as Andheri, Bandra, Haji Ali, Lalbaug, Lower Parel and Sion.

Vodafone has branded five bus shelters at Andheri (Near SM Centre), Bandra Kalanagar, Goregaon Vanrai Colony, Mira Road (Kankiya Road) and Western Express Highway- Andheri Pump house.

Targeting one of the highest footfall zones of Mumbai, the city's railway stations, the telecom giant has erected five billboards at Dadar West, Dadar East, Churchgate, CST and Andheri stations for the entire period of the campaign.

To connect with students, Vodafone has engaged them through a contest that offers the winning team an internship with the company. It has tied up with 40 colleges for quiz and online contests around its data campaign. The final winners, to be selected after several elimination rounds, will be offered the internship.

Mall activations are also being carried out during weekends at Infinity, Oberoi, Phoenix and R City malls. The activations involve live demo of the apps, multi-player online gaming zones and other activities to showcase the power of Vodafone Mobile Internet.

The telecom brand has initiated in-store advertising through tent cards, standees and glass facades to create buzz around the data campaign. The executives at the Vodafone store wear branded T-shirts and spread awareness on the benefits of mobile internet and how one can take advantage of convenient, easy to download applications.

Vodafone has also partnered with multiplex chain Fame Cinemas for a period of 21 days. Five slides of the campaign will be shown during intervals at eight halls, covering more than 120 shows a day.

The brand has also collaborated with Mumbai Mirror and Maharashtra Times as its print partners for two weeks; Radio City, Radio Mirchi and Radio One have been roped in as radio partners.

On the digital front, Vodafone has tied up with several websites such as www.moneycontrol.com, www.cricbuzz.com, www.ndtv.com, www.aajtak.com and others to promote the message.

Vohra says, "There are live banners across websites which on clicking lead the viewer to Vodafone mobile internet offers and links to various application downloads. On digital, the viewer is led to 'SMS www to 111' and the link is sent to the viewer's mobile; while surfing on mobile, it leads to the app downloads. Applications are segmented as per category and lead the viewer to easy downloads."

The telecom brand has also come up with an app booklet that provides the list of top apps that can be downloaded for Windows, Android and Apple phones. It is a hard copy booklet that will be made available across Vodafone stores in Mumbai, to be given to the customer.

Vohra says, "The entire objective behind developing the app booklet is to provide a list of user friendly apps that are available for various smartphones. It is designed in a manner that categorises application downloads as per mobile operating systems."

However, Vohra refused to divulge any details on the marketing spend of the campaign.

Vodafone India is a member of the Vodafone Group and commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for Mumbai. The Vodafone Group is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies with over 406 million customers and operations in more than 30 countries across five continents.