ZooZoos –Out From the Chatter Box and On to your clothes

Can you think of an advertisement campaign that became a phenomenon? Rather, an advertisement character that caught the eyeballs of one and all?

I am sure you don’t have to think too much and probably already have the answer – An advertising phenomenon during this year’s IPL T20 tournament.

The alien looking yet very human egg headed Vodafone mascot-ZooZoo

Vodafone did as much to get the maximum traction in terms of advertising during the IPL T20 series. Created by none other than O & M India, each of the 30 ads promoted a different value-added service on offer by Vodafone, from maps to stock alerts. The ZooZoo characters became a rage with the TV audience and the disclosure that the ZooZoo characters are human made it go viral.

The popularity of the ZooZoo characters has, unlike other mascots not been a short-term affair. The characters have extended beyond the campaign and it can be gauged from this simple piece of information.

ZooZoo fan club on Facebook has a whopping 319,098 fans as of today !

With the characters getting larger than life and popular beyond even their imagination, Vodafone has chanced upon the opportunity to launch exclusive ZooZoo Merchandise to cash on the Popularity.

Vodafone has signed a licensing deal with retail chain Shoppers Stop to launch ZooZoo merchandise across the country.

The deal will give exclusive rights to Shoppers Stop to manufacture and retail official Zoozoo merchandise in specified categories across all Shoppers Stop stores in the country, Vodafone said in a statement.

To top it all and ensure that the Brand “Vodafone” is not lost in the ZooZoo’s promotion, here is another amazing marketing ploy.

Vodafone customers can enjoy 10 per cent discount on their purchases of Zoozoo merchandise (Source: ZooZoo FB fan page. Yes, I am a fan too :)

What makes the licensing deal of ZooZoo’s special is captured in the statement issued by Shoppers Stop Vice-President (marketing and loyalty), Vinay Bhatia

“This is a first-of-its-kind arrangement in the history of India’s advertising that a brand mascot is being licensed for merchandising”

Telecom companies have been at the forefront of ad-wars with each brand going out of their way to come up with a innovative themed ad campaign. No doubt, they spend a fortune paying the creative ad creators like O & M .

But, Vodafone has from the looks of it creating a completely indirect revenue stream out of their ZooZoo campaign. Given the kind of footfalls that Shopper Stop attracts, I won’t be surprised if the egg-headed mascot merchandise is swept off the shelf.

What will be interesting to watch though is, if Vodafone is able to maintain the ZooZoo popularity and more than that, its brand identity.

If ZooZoo becomes a brand in itself (which it surely) is, Vodafone might find itself in a Catch-22 situation. Vodafone needs to ensure that ZooZoo and Vodafone are spoken in one breath.

So, are you buying your ZooZoo T-shirt today?

[This post has been written by our regular contributor Ankit Agarwal, an ERP Consultant by profession, a wannabe entrepreneur and stock market stalker by passion]