Blog@GraceJunction

 

Finally Vodafone seems to have found the nemesis for the ‘Pug”. Hutch, the ex-name of Vodafone, was known for its pug, a dog that followed its owner everywhere, conveying the ‘where ever you go, our network follows’ punchline. The pug was such a hit that Hutch couldn’t keep the pug out of any of its strategies and ads! I mean literally, whatever Hutch did, the pug followed! The pug tried to enter the Vodafone camp after Hutch was bought by Vodafone. However, Ogilvy & Mather finally seem to have come to the rescue with a new mascot(s), thus paving the way for the last and final departure of the good old pug ‘Chika’.

 

Vodafone has recently come out with TV ads with the punchline ‘Make the most of now’, ads that contain characters that seem to resemble animated cartoon characters with an alien look or simply a stupid egg-head character with disproportional white bodies and black dots for eyes and mouth. These charaters, known as “Zoozoo” have been created by O&M for Vodafone to convey different value added services offered by the mobile phone company including phone backup, cricket alerts, stock alerts, dating tips, roaming facilities, musical greetings, beauty tips, downloads et cetera.

These ads have become a rage across the globe. Such is the craze with Zoozoo that Vodafone ads are among the most watched videos on YouTube and there are over 70,000 Zoozoo fans on Facebook and you can even see the alerts to join the community even as you watch YouTube. And what not? Just google to find out the Zoozoo craze! And I am sure that very soon we will have a paraphrenalia of merchandise ranging from ‘ Zoozoo outfits’ and T-shirts to key chains and mugs with Zoozoos on them, decking up every novelty shop and almost every house around us.

 

Some claim that Zoozoos are the next big thing after ‘Tom and Jerry’!! Others claim that if you are sad, Zoozoos will make you happy and if you are ill, they will bring a smile on your face!! So what will they be called next, Zoozoos Christ!!

Even more appalling is the fact that Vodafone has developed an IPL (Indian Premier League) microsite for quizzes and contests where one can know the kind of Zoozoo he or she is, as each Zoozoo character has a unique set of characteristics and traits allotted to it. The question asked just as you open the site is “What kind of Zoozoo are you?”

Now, hats off of the creative team at O&M for an ad that evoked such an incredible response. The recall is very high and and moreover people look forward to these ads during the IPL cricket breaks. Even people who hate the services of Vodafone, for whatever reasons, have cited a liking for the ads per se and the Zoozoos in particular. However, “What kind of a Zoozoo are you?” is too much according to me!! The fun, creativity and entertainment apart, making a Zoozoo of real people!?!! The Facebook community of Zoozoo announces - “I’m not animated”. Does it make Zoozoo more real!?

 

The movements made by Zoozoos, their ultra whacky expressions, their screams and laughs, and their gibberish talk are what is making everyone their fans because “All this is SO CUTE!” The ads are definitely cute, but what’s with all this Zoozoo-ising? Am I reading deeper for no reasons at all?

If people enjoy the ad and leave it there, its okay. But when they get pulled into it, become fans, start downloading, participate in quizzes, wait for collectibles and wait more for the ad than for the programs that the company sponsors, there is more to it than what meets the eye. It means, Zoozoos are catering to more than just the need to be entertained. They are feeding some inherent need of individuals, something that they are not able to satisfy fully and completely with already available options.

Explaining the idea behind the campaign, Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, O&M says, “We created a special world in which all the product stories get told. A world which is real yet different, strange yet simple, warm and lovable. All the specific product stories and services get told in this world of Zoozoos, making the messages more charming.”

But Mr. Rao, the Zoozoos are speaking more than about your products and your services! The Zoozoo characters have surely become bigger than the story that Vodafone is trying to sell, however I am sure, they will, with time, find ways to cash in on that too!

 

Let’s come back to what Mr. Rao speaks about the Zoozoo world. A fantasy world of Zoozoos where everything is simple and warm and lovable! Yeah, this world is very very simple with just half a dozen expressions (emoticons) used in the entire series! Now that’s not reality. Its only a make believe world. The real world is arrayed with a range of expressions bigger than the biggest shade card of any paint company! But such a response to this ad only speaks about the underlying psyche of the people of our times. A tendency to stay away from thinking about the complexities of creation, life and destiny. “Keep it Simple”, “Enjoy”, is what the majority says.

India has perhaps responded overwhelmingly to the Zoozoo world because the society as a whole is embracing individualistic tendencies while the west is shifting towards community thinking!

Now, definitely, life is complex and demanding. Real people are not warm and lovable all the time! The Real world is strange and getting stranger. This deviation and the tendency to like the simplicity of the virtual world, I think, speaks about the increasing inclination of more and more people to deal with everything in simple ways. Let me highlight at this juncture that one of the synonyms of ’simple’ is ‘lacking intelligence and common sense’! In other words, the current lot wants to keep the thinking hats aside, making maximum room for pleasure and entertainment.

Let me explain. For example, relationships. They are never simple. They need hardwork. But look around us. What’s happening? Are people willing to work on relationships or are they inclining more and more towards simple solutions like dumping, jilting, cheating, moving on and divorce! Look at success. It never comes easy. It needs lots of waiting and hard work. But what’s the simple way to success? Climb the ladder by hook or crook! I think we are running away from responsbilities and duties. We want only rights, fun and enjoyment! I am told about a dog feature now available in US. People buy this dog which is electrical or something, and one has to touch it daily, else its life goes! People are preferring to interact with this artificial stuff rather than real dog because of expenses, taking care, hygiene and other headaches that are attached to the real dog!!

The Zoozoos are also doing to a much bigger audience what MMORPGs (Role Playing Video Games) have done to a niche population, the younger ones. The lines between reality are virtuality are being blurred for sure. Buying into the Zoozoo ads too much will only make real people traverse into the Zoozoo world too often and the Zoozoos to influence the real world emotions and decisions.

The Zoozoos in a way are also conveying that its okay to do the wrong things because they don’t hurt.

 

The overwhelming response to the Zoozoo ads only shows us how gullible we are to advertisments. It is almost as if we think people out there know better than us. Actually God has given us common sense, and wisdom for us to understand and critically think but we lower ourselves to someone else’s imagination because just it is “kewl”.

Now it is very much possible that the Zoozoo ads will stop stimulating the current populace and fans after a while but by then, Vodafone would have managed to engineer the thoughts and decisions of many people and groomed them, if not for their own benefit, at least to be exploited by something else in the future.

I hope the reader is able to understand my concerns that I have raised in this blog. I would be glad if I am at least able to make people think and not be a Zoozoo.

By the way, they told me that I am a busy Zoozoo! That I am always on the move and that my hands are full and that I take valuable and critical decisions at work and at home! Hallelujah!

Tags: hutch, O&M, pug, Vodafone, Zoozoos

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Articles, Economy, Fashion, Geo, New Findings, Relationships, Society, Thoughts, Trends, Troubles & Problems, Video Games, Workaholic, Youth Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.