If it isn’t enough that one is always on Facebook, here comes Vodafone with a ‘Facebook’ phone – the Vodafone Blue.
Vodafone has pulled out all the stops on this one, announcing the arrival with an extravagant two-minute commercial created by Ogilvy and Mather.
A quick look at the numbers tells you why.
• There were 88 mn active internet users in India in 2010.
• Indian population on Facebook is approx 22.24 mn (9 March 2011).
• Every fourth internet user in India has an account on Facebook.
That’s who Vodafone is targeting – the segment that makes up 25% of the internet users in India, who are ‘always on Facebook’.
Take a look at the TVC (television commercial):
Kapil Arora, who oversees all Vodafone acitivty at Ogilvy, shares the background. “Given Facebook’s rapidly gaining popularity amongst youth across the country, this is a key market for the brand. And Vodafone can help users access Facebook on the move with Vodafone Blue — a phone designed keeping the Facebook user specifically in mind. While there are many devices in the market which offer Facebook as an app, none of them can boast of the seamless Facebook experience that the Vodafone Blue offers. Our task was to launch the new phone from Vodafone dedicated to all Facebook fans.”
The task defined, a creative route had to be arrived at – and it was the ‘Broadway’ solution that Vodafone and the agency found most effective. “Inherently, we are a storytelling brand. We keep looking for new, fresh ways of engaging and sharing human stories with our consumers. For a product as important as Vodafone Blue — the phone for Facebook — the Broadway format fit the bill perfectly. It provided us with a visual device to play out the story of our protagonist’s social life on stage and presents Vodafone Blue in that context. This is not just boring advertising. What this piece of communication does, is to entertain you into accepting the brand message,” explains Rajiv Rao, national creative director, Ogilvy, who has been involved in all Vodafone work since inception.
“We wanted to take a completely new direction and make this communication really special. It couldn’t be seen as just another phone launch, but a phone for all Facebook users — especially those who were on Facebook all the time. The idea was then layered by introducing a protagonist who loves Facebook and can’t live without it. Overall, the film celebrates Facebook and shows how it has become a part of our lives,” adds Rao.
Arora believes the film will achieve the business objectives defined. “Specifically, I think it will get Facebook audiences excited about the Vodafone brand in general and generate interest for the Vodafone Blue phone. The fact that this phone is made for a seamless Facebook experience and comes with a year’s free Facebook access bundled at a very attractive price point, will come as a pleasant surprise when consumers ask for it at retailers,” he says.
When it comes to Vodafone, Piyush Pandey must have the last world. “I don’t want to discuss specifics of the film,” he says. “That was the work of Rajiv (Rao) and the team. But I do want to say that, with this film, Vodafone continues to rewrite the way this category is communicated. Instead of the conventional ‘Best positioning statement’, Vodafone has taken it one step ahead to make it a ‘Bouquet positioning statement’. We use the pug to focus on brand Vodafone, the ZooZoos to communicate value added services, Irfan Khan to communicate value and offbeat routes such as this one to announce Vodafone’s partnerships.”
While the TVC is a great entertainer, what do consumers get that they do not already get from their existing mobiles and service providers (including Vodafone)? Facebook apps are free with most services and handsets. If the objective is to use this film to make Vodafone for Facebook the coolest of the lot, as BlackBerry Boys made the Vodafone BlackBerry coolest, it’s another instance of how Vodafone has used communication as the differentiator, even when there may be no product differentiators. Are there enough differentiators (including the price, Rs 4950)? Take a look at the demo here.
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