During the second season of the Twenty20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2009, there was a buzz about some egg-headed characters which had taken over the Indian television screen. There was a lot of excitement, interest and curiosity about these delightful and funny characters whom mobile service brand Vodafone and its creative agency Ogilvy India had decided to call the ?Zoozoos?. These egg-headed creatures spoke an alien language and laughed wickedly, but everybody could understand what they had to say about Vodafone?s value-added services (VAS). And soon the Zoozoos became the real star of the IPL ad breaks, so much so that along with tracking their favourite IPL team?s ever-changing fortunes, cricket fans were also keeping tabs on the latest antics of the Zoozoos.
The Zoozoos attained cult status with everyone in the country talking about them. They had millions of fans on Facebook and even Vodafone and Ogilvy?s rivals described them as the best clutter-breaking tool any brand or its creative agency had come up with in recent advertising history. Early this year, the Zoozoo?s latest avatar?the 3G Superhero?was released to coincide with Vodafone?s launch of 3G services. And now, the Zoozoos are embarking on a new adventure as Vodafone gears up to launch them in international markets. FE Brandwagon traces the journey of the Zoozoos in India and what makes them universal. We also bring you some amazing, hitherto unknown, trivia about the Zoozoos.
The idea is born Necessity is the mother of invention. This has been exemplified again by the birth of the Zoozoos. The idea of creating these egg-headed creatures germinated when there was a need to run an ad campaign for about 50 days during the IPL?s second season and Ogilvy decided to have a film per day for Vodafone. ?IPL season one was over where we had done the ?Happy to Help? campaign for Vodafone and now we had to do something new for the second round which would last for 50 days,? remembers Rajiv Rao, national creative director, Ogilvy India. ?As running just one campaign gets too tiring, we needed to do something which could be changed every day? a new film per day. Then we decided to do a series of films with some fun characters and thus started the idea of creating comic strips. It was tricky as we wanted to bring alive the comic strips but did not want to do animation. We wanted to create characters which look like comic strips but are real and then have fun with them.? This is when the team decided to have these egg-headed white characters talk about a number of VAS for Vodafone.
Vodafone agrees that the platform of IPL was actually the main trigger for the birth of these affable characters. Says Anuradha Aggarwal, vice-president (marketing, brand communication and consumer insights), Vodafone Essar, ?For brands and companies, IPL presented an unmatched media opportunity, a chance to talk to over 40 million consumers over 47 days. Naturally, every brand worth its salt wanted a piece of this action. A number of these brands had allocated disproportionate spends and were even saving their best campaigns for the occasion.?
So Vodafone had to do something different. The big idea of developing Zoozoos actually came from the format of the medium available to it ? the IPL and the way viewers interacted with the medium, explains Aggarwal. The IPL viewing audience was characterized by a high level of duplication across the tournament ? the same people seemed to be watching the matches every day. When it came to the cricketing action, they had something new to look forward to every day. But brand communication on the other hand, was subject to very high levels of fatigue. ?So we turned the characteristics of a media property into a strategic initiative for the brand. We decided to do the unthinkable ? surprise the viewers /customers by introducing a new product/service message from the Vodafone repertoire every day,? she says.
Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films, who directed all the Zoozoo films, agrees. ?The IPL was, and is, most definitely the best platform that could have led to this popularity. It is most definitely one main reason for millions of people across the country to assemble and watch these commercials that create a huge buzz. There is no doubt in my mind that the IPL has helped in adding the necessary viewership to popularize these films. The internet has also been such a great tool of interactive viewership, where for the first time people have been interested in the making of these films and have joined in lakhs to form fan clubs. The reaction is overwhelming and quite humbling,? he says.
This could definitely have been one of those crazy ideas where it took a lot of effort to convince the client. However, both Vodafone and Varma were equally excited about the freshness of the idea. Says Varma, ?When Rajiv Rao of Ogilvy called me and discussed these ideas, I immediately realized that there was a huge novelty and freshness about these concepts. Vodafone was quick to see the potential and backed the team in order to create something totally new.? Says Rao, ?Vodafone loved the idea as it was fresh but we got the final approval after we presented some scripts. It was pure faith on Vodafone?s part that allowed us to go forward with the idea.?
The execution After the initial excitement of being introduced to this new amazing creatures on their television sets, people were thrilled to find out that the Zoozoos were actually real people inside those white inflated costumes, and not simple animated characters. It was hard to conjure up these Zoozoos and even harder and more challenging to create these Zoozoos and their world. Says Rao, ?Everything was a challenge during the shoot. We had to try everything out before. The most challenging part was costume design.? Rao chuckles at the thought of how the actors could not see at all during the shoot and would just bang into the walls. ?It was a lot of fun to watch the making of the ads as all the mistakes were a great treat for the entire crew. We were all laughing during the shoot.?
Varma was happy to take these films to the next level and craft them carefully ?adding nuances and touches that could make these films memorable.?
He says, ?When I worked on my storyboards, I could see and sense how each of these characters must emote, their body language, their gestures and even their wicked laughter. There were 30 scripts initially and each film needed detailing that would help the idea work harder. I structured the films to keep the intrigue in each.? The Nirvana team had a great time in planning and developing the final look and feel of these films. It researched and coordinated all the little details for this ?mammoth production?. The films were shot in Cape Town, South Africa with a local production company.
Going into the intricate details of the shoot, Varma explains, ?We experimented with the frame rate at which these films should be shot, to add to the animated feel and finally decided on 20 frames per second to shoot on. My art director, Sally, painstakingly designed each set, each prop and planned the color palette and tones using her vivid imagination.?
According to Varma, the biggest challenge was that he knew what he did not want to do. He wanted something absolutely new. The toughest part was perhaps the costumes. They had to be hard and moulded to camouflage the human form, yet flexible enough to be able to make the characters move easily and comfortably. ?Since minimal creases and folds were needed to make it look like animated characters, we had to experiment with different materials to get the desired effect,? Varma says. The head was made of perspex (a type of hard plastic) with three holes on the top for breathing, but no openings for the eyes or mouth, and the body was formed with a separate outfit created out of foam and fibre with tights to create thin legs and arms. The expressions were stuck on the characters separately and changed prior to every shot that required a reaction change. ?We had different smiles, eyebrows arched at different angles, teeth, shocked expressions, laughter, anger and different emotions created to be able to vary the emotions for the Zoozoos. We just followed my storyboard on each film to keep track of the continuity for each reaction change,? he says.
The sets and props for Zoozoo-land were kept larger than normal deliberately. Says Varma, ?The proportions were crucial as we were using adult humans in these costumes, it was important to have the backgrounds and props as large. For instance, in the Google Maps films, the characters were to fit into a car. The car had to be be big enough to seat them. Street lamps, Xerox machine, park benches, trees, walls, shop facades, the Eiffel Tower, doors, tables and chairs, shower cubicles, etc., had to be proportionate to the characters.?
The Zoozoo USP
Vodafone had hit a jackpot with the Zoozoos. A Mediaedge:CIA study on trends post IPL2 indicated that Vodafone?s Zoozoos helped the brand triple its (top-of-mind) brand recall score. This was repeated in 2010 when Vodafone released its second set of Zoozoo ads during the third season of the IPL. According to a study by Ormax Media,Vodafone emerged as the most recalled brand among the 80 brands that were on air.
So what was it that made the Zoozoos so popular, turning them into stars overnight? ?The genius of the campaign is that, first, the idea of Zoozoos is superlative, and, perhaps even more importantly, their versatility has been brilliantly exploited,? says Anand Halve, co-founder, Chlorophyll Brand and Communications Consultancy. ?Every one of the dozens of executions has shown us one more of our own idiosyncrasies through the mirror of the Zoozoos.?
According to Lakshmipathy Bhat, vice-president ? Bangalore at DraftFCB+Ulka Advertising, the likeability of the characters (and their antics) surely helped in the immense popularity. ?But fundamentally all the ads were anchored on a single-minded product attribute and the resultant benefit. The story was then told with a surprising twist,? he says.
Another factor that has contributed to the undying interest in the Zoozoos is the way Vodafone has extended the Zoozoo communication to other platforms such as merchandising, digital platforms, etc. Says Vodafone?s Aggarwal, ?It has surely created a multiplier effect for the consumer. The sheer popularity that we are witnessing can be attributed to the 360-degree surround that has been developed in this franchise and consumers are simply loving it. Today, Vodafone has over 2 million Zoozoo fans on Facebook, thus making it the fourth largest social media community in India.?
Season 1 vs Season 2
Sequels always have a difficult act to follow, especially when the first part has been a hit. So, did the second season of Zoozoos live up to the expectations. Says Halve, ?I think season 2 suffered in comparison only because it did not have the fundamental surprise which the initial campaign had. But I believe they really hit their stride again, with the ‘Rajnikant’ Super Zoozoo series for 3G services. To me, the danger is if the Zoozoos are overused. As I think had begun to happen with the pug (the original brand mascot for Vodafone). They should be used frugally for maximum effect – like a special wine brought out for a special occasion; not like beer which you serve without a second thought!? Bhat agrees that the first season was way better. He says ?the ads from the first season were considered superior by a few. Some were even irritated by the antics – due to an overkill of visibility perhaps. But I think the 3G communication has managed to create the same levels of likeabilty as the first set of ads.?
International Zoozoos
Zoozoos are hogging the limelight again as Vodafone has recently announced that they will be launched in the international markets now. Says Aggarwal, ?The simplicity and the extendability is what is making Zoozoos click globally. However, it is too premature for us to get into the specifics at this point of time. We do not have anything to add beyond what is already in the public domain.?
The Zoozoos’ global foray doesn?t come as a surprise to its creators and brand analysts. Says Ogilvy’s Rao, ?I feel great about Zoozoos going international but I am not surprised. From day one, there was nothing regional about it. These characters are highly universal as there is no language and no cultural association.? Varma agrees, ?Indian ads working across geographies only shows that we now speak a universal language ? especially the youth. With social networking, music, fashion, films, and now advertising, we are all part of the same common base. We speak a universal common language, understood by all. So it is great to be able to appeal to larger audiences and different cultures. With people travelling so much and mingling, it makes sense for brands to have common themes in communication.?
Brand analysts are unanimous that Zoozoos will be successful in other markets. Says Halve, ?Yes, I believe are truly ‘universal’ and will work everywhere. This is because they capture the essence of great animated characters ? they are versatile, they are endearing and they are memorable. In that sense, they are like the Pillsbury Doughboy.? Halve points out that the Zoozoos have an unique advantage ? unlike the Pillsbury Doughboy who is locked into ‘dough’ and cannot work for a fruit product, the Zoozoos can work for 3G, for email, for anything! ?In fact they are even better than mascots such as the Jolly Green Giant, or Gattu (Asian Paints) which had a limited zone because of their specific cultural associations. Zoozoos are not locked into any cultural context and will across cultures.? Says Bhat, ?I think its a good idea to consider taking the Zoozoos concept to international markets. The execution cuts across language and class barriers. Also the production values are world class. It’s good to see an idea originating from India going to global markets.
What next for India
Once again, there is curiosity as to what is going to happen in Zoozoo-land now. Will we see the next edition of Zoozoos during the 2012 IPL season or even before that. Both Rao and Vodafone wants to keep it a mystery. He says, ?Honestly, there is no plan. We could launch them during the next IPL or may be in the next 15 days from now. Anything is possible. We will launch them again whenever it is relevant.?
Says Aggarwal of Vodafone, ?We have now taken Zoozoo to another level this year by introducing the Super Zoozoo representing our 3G services. We even created a Zoozoo world during the launch for people to interact and engage with the Zoozoos. As you can see, the Zoozoos’ world is evolving, allowing viewers to be constantly surprised. So keep looking out for more such super adventures.?