“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought”
Around 2003-04, people across India started noticing a huge white billboard with a human head emerging from the bottom. As this was gradually replaced by a full face (no celebrity, just a common face) with a bold ‘Hi’, with no indication of the brand or the company, they were intrigued. By the time the message ‘We are Hutch and we are in India’ came up, they were completely hooked.
In fact, no other marketing initiative would have captured so much imagination among the Indian consumers than the Hutch advertising campaigns, in spite of a no-nonsense and uncluttered approach – something which is very uncharacteristic of the Indian advertising industry.
Strong visuals, a friendly custom-designed typeface, some excellent work by photographers and creative agencies, all contributed to some memorable campaigns.
In spite of a virtual fan following, the firm never became complacent. Hutch’s next series of adverts featuring ‘the pug and the boy’ with a surprisingly simple, yet effective tagline – ‘Wherever you go, our network follows’ will be remembered not only for making the whole of India sing “You and I, in this beautiful world..” composed exclusively for the advert but also for making the pug one of the most sought-after pets in the country.
However, in 2007, Vodafone acquired 67% stake in Hutchisson, re-branding Hutch telecom into Vodafone, and probably the biggest challenge they faced was to sustain the personal connect that Hutch was successful in establishing with its customers. And boy, didn’t the company handle the transition exceptionally well?! It reaslised that the Hutch Pug represented the network in itself and communicated the change to Vodafone beautifully without losing the charm present in the earlier Hutch Ads.
But Vodafone, probably hit the bull’s eye with its conceptualisation of ‘The ZooZoos’. Never before in the history of advertisements on television, have a set of white creatures with ballooned bodies and egg heads captivated the Indian audience more than the ZooZoos. The 2,50,000 fans for the ZooZoos on Facebook, Twitter and Orkut stand a testimony to this.
An insight into these adverts by the two companies – Hutch and Vodafone, brings out the role ‘Innovation’ plays in any firm’s rise to the top. It makes us realise that ‘Innovation’ follows a process. It begins with identifying a need and is followed by careful research, experimentation, and the involvement of the right people to pursue the idea from birth to maturity. The act of innovating can generate many emotions. It can bring agony,sweat,tears and exhaustion. But, yes, it can also bring great thrills, satisfaction and joy.
This 18th – 20th January at Consortium’13, we present BizMantra – an all-round event testing your marketing and sales development skills at the heart of which lies – ‘Innovation’. Be creative, make the complicated awesomely simple, form an efficient market plan and make the pursuit of origination your priority. Register yourself at http://www.consortiumvnit.com/events/bizmantra.php and see yourself innovating your way to success!
Consortium' 13 