Vodafone to bid fond farewell to animated boy-girl characters

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With the spotlight on Vodafone at the moment, the brand is playing its cards carefully in the Indian subcontinent. The brand started off with a simple introduction message: ‘Hutch is Now Vodafone’; knowing the repercussions of sudden shifts, it plans on continuing with this campaign for a while. The iconic pug has also been continued, and it is possible that the ‘Hutch boy’ could also be recalled, but not immediately.

The animated boy-girl duo (a Hutch hallmark), currently being used as mascots to ‘introduce’ Vodafone to consumers, will be dropped in subsequent campaigns. Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, O&M, says, “These two characters so essentially represent the old brand ‘Hutch’ that they will have to be dropped eventually.” They are likely to be replaced by a cooler, suave boy-girl couple (also animated) who will become the face of Vodafone in India.



Vodafone’s global corporate thought, ‘Make the Most of Now’, will be imported into India soon. O&M India will come up with a corporate campaign based on this thought. However, the idea used will be completely Indian, and not an adaptation of a foreign creative. Hutch’s tagline, ‘Wherever You Go, Our Network Follows’, will also be retained by Vodafone, but only for those commercials that are based around the network premise.

‘Make the Most of Now’ essentially encourages people to take time out of their busy lives and enjoy each moment of each day. This thought was arrived at after extensive research by Vodafone to gain in-depth understanding of customer perceptions and behaviour. The study – conducted in more than 13 countries – reveals that time is key to making the most of life.



Harit Nagpal, director, marketing and new services, Vodafone Essar, says, “Humans today are constantly multitasking and trying to be in 10 places at the same time.” So clearly, Vodafone’s take is that its technologically advanced products and services help people achieve this by breaking down geographical and time barriers. Essentially, the corporate campaign will revolve around the concept of managing one’s time better and, thereby, managing one’s life better.

Nagpal further adds that as humans, we all have said at some point, ‘I wish I had more time’, which will form the insight for Vodafone’s communication in India.


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Brand Yuvraj in new celestial orbit

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Yuvraj Singh’s teammates call him Yuvi as the letter ‘V’ stands tall in his unfinished nickname. The question is whether it’s V for vendetta or victory. Going by the Punjab southpaw’s belligerent form in the Twenty20 World Cup matches, it’s a bit of both, skyrocketing Brand Yuvraj to a new celestial orbit. With nine brands in his kitty and slightly over a crore per brand riding on him on an average, Yuvi’s hunger is telling.

On September 19, when India took on England at Kingsmead, Yuvraj reduced to pulp fast bowler Stuart Broad with six sixes in an over, a feat YouTube has been showing to over half a million viewers for three days now. A day later, he called his sixes “heavenly justice”.

He was referring to a similar feat by England’s Dimitri Mascarenhas in the NatWest Series tie at the Oval two weeks back, when Mascarenhas hit Yuvraj for five sixes in his over. At Kingsmead, Yuvi took a long sharp look at Mascarenhas at mid-wicket in Broad’s over and hoisted the ball over him in the fifth delivery – sheer vendetta.

It is this fury that’s fuelling such form, many a times pitchforking Yuvraj as the architect of India’s victories in the tournament, and eventually helping the country reach Monday’s final against Pakistan. And advertisers seem to be lapping up his spirit too. For Hero Honda, Yuvraj represents the key values of youthfulness, dynamism, trust and durability. “He also signifies a new India – confident, fearless and ready to take on the world.

His performance has vindicated our faith in cricket,” says Anil Dua, senior vice-president of Hero Honda, the motorbike brand Yuvraj has been endorsing for the last six years. “Brand Yuvraj is all about passionate determination. His performance stems from somewhere deep.

A nagging angst, like he has been denied something and now he will show the world what it means to take him on. He is in control. You can see the power in his eyes. He represents the new India. The caged tiger is breaking free,” says Josy Paul, national creative director, JWT India.

Yuvraj works hard at his game and his management agency reciprocates that by targeting the right ads that go with his swashbuckling psyche. “It’s not about quantity. The quality of ads are important too and we choose brands which are representative of his character,” claims Vinita Bangad of Percept Talent Management.

A quick look at the brands Yuvraj endorses – Pepsi, Microsoft, Hero Honda, Trent, SBI Cards, Seagram, Marico, Reebok and Donear Suitings – shows his association largely with leadership brands. “On an average, his brand loyalty spans three to four years,” says Ms Bangad.

A quick glance at the numbers show that India’s Twenty20 vice-captain, Yuvraj Singh, is giving captain MS Dhoni a good run for his money when it comes to endorsements. While Yuvraj makes Rs 10 crore by endorsing nine brands over 40 days a year at 4.5 days per brand, Dhoni bags Rs 8 crore by endorsing 12 brands over 75 days in the same timeframe, at about 9.5 days to a brand, points out sources.

The vice-captain works less, earns more out of the ads by clearly focusing on image or identity-driven brands that complement his attitude. By the way, both are 26-year-olds.

Critics have always nailed Yuvraj for his inconsistencies – just 30 fifties and seven hundreds in 183 ODIs. Also, his recurring back strain has put him out of action on several occasions.

But the Twenty20 World Cup seems just the right platform for Yuvi’s twin Vs to come together. Victory with a Vengeance – that’s the mantra if India were to overcome arch-foes Pakistan tonight.

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Google programme enlists mini sites as selling tool for advertisers

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Google is seizing on the popularity of widgets—small online tools that function like mini websites—for a latest push into advertising.

The online giant is launching a Gadget Ads programme that will provide tools for advertisers to run widget ads in Google’s AdSense network.

Marketers can use the space within these display ads on Google’s network to show videos, offer chats with celebrities, play host to games or other activities. If consumers like the widget ad, they can save it on their desktops or on their profile pages on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

The new widget ads represent a more aggressive push by Google to attract big brand advertisers who like flashy ads rather than the simple text ads commonly run in Google’s ad network.

One big advantage of the technology is that the consumer does not have to click through to a website. A weather widget, for example, would constantly update the weather report in a particular area. Similarly, marketers could feature content to attract consumers while constantly updating their messages.

More than 48% of Internet users in the United States—over 87 million people—now use widgets, according to comScore, the online measurement company. Some of the most popular widgets on Facebook, for example, are the “Top Friends” tool, which allows people to go to their best friends’ profiles with a single click, and iLike, which lets users add music to their profiles.

“Consumers are pulling in content from multiple sources” said Christian Oestlien, a business product manager at Google who is overseeing the new ad programme. “It is what we are calling the componentisation of the web. The web is sort of breaking apart into smaller pieces.” Many widgets have been built by media outlets, like Lucky Magazine’s shopping widget, which features fashion and beauty products. And some companies like Slide are developing networks of widgets made by individuals that advertisers can place ads within.

But consumer brands like Sierra Mist and Honda Civic have also been creating their own widgets as a way of providing content or tools to potential customers. Google is hoping marketers will pay to place these widgets throughout its AdSense network.

Advertisers bid for keywords to place their widget ads in Google’s network in the same way they do other Google ads. Since many users will interact with the ads within the ad units and not click through, Google has developed a new interaction measure to document the interest in the ads.

tested its Gadget Ads programme this summer with a group of 50 marketers. To encourage more advertisers to make such ads, Google is offering to host videos for the ads in YouTube’s servers—a cost-saving for advertising agencies. And Google provides tools for updating the ads, even if marketers do not bid for ads in Google’s network. Marketers pay Google only for the ads that run in its networks and not for any downloading or saving of those ads that consumers may choose to do.

“We’re not trying to monetise every single event in a creative,” Oestlien said, adding that they wanted advertisers “to make rich creative ads that are really useful to the end user.”

Google’s tools are convenient for ad agencies because they make it easy to create a widget quickly, said Dimitry Ioffe, chief executive of Media Banners, a division of the Visionaire Group, a digital agency based in California. Ioffe ran a widget ad for Paramount Vantage’s movie A Mighty Heart this summer in Google’s new programme.

Ioffe said that Google’s tools will help marketers to cut expenses.

Instead of paying news sites to run videos from a movie’s premiere, studios can make it easy for consumers to post the videos on their own sites or social network profiles, providing free advertising. “Widgets are a dream for marketers,” Ioffe said. “They allow brand extensions off individual sites and allow them to live as long as consumers want them to live.”


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Google unveils Gadget Ads & AdSense for Mobile

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Google Inc. has introduced two new ways for advertisers to communicate with users through Google Gadget Ads and AdSense for Mobile.

Google Gadget Ads is an interactive ad format that is currently in an expanded beta with a select group of AdWords advertisers worldwide, while AdSense for Mobile unlocks the potential of the mobile advertising market by enhancing the mobile experience with relevant ads that will help people find what they're looking for quickly when they are searching or browsing content on their mobile phones.


"We are delighted with the response of Indian advertisers and publishers, who are using Google AdWords and AdSense as central tools for their business to generate revenue," said Google India managing director Shailesh Rao. "The launch of Gadget Ads and AdSense for Mobile will provide them with even more exciting formats and targeted technology to enhance their monetization potential."

AdSense for Mobile will be available in the following 13 countries in the coming weeks: US, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, India, China, and Japan, states an official release.

Gadget ads - non-traditional ad units with interactive, rich media capabilities - not only enable advertisers to target audiences in a flexible and timely manner via regular updates within the ad unit, but also allow users to engage with ad content in a way static ads haven't facilitated in the past.

Gadget ads can incorporate real-time data feeds, images and video in a single creative unit and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of both. Designed to act more like content than a typical ad, they run on the Google content network, competing alongside text, image and video ads for placement. They support both cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing models, and offer a variety of contextual, site, geographic and demographic targeting options to ensure the ads reach relevant users with precision and scale.

Gadget ads are also built on an open platform, allowing anybody from individual advertisers to agencies to set up and run ads on the Google content network, the world's largest global online ad network. Plus, gadget ads will not command any serving or hosting costs.

Feedback from preliminary beta participants, including brand advertisers such as Pepsi-Cola North America's Sierra Mist, Intel, Honda, Six Flags and Paramount Vantage, has been positive. Advertisers are enthusiastic about this fresh marketing solution that empowers them to interact with targeted users through dynamic and engaging content.


Pepsi-Cola North America director, interactive marketing John Vail said, "Google Gadget Ads allowed us to reach the right audience at the right time, with an interactive message that brought our light-hearted Sierra Mist campaign, 'Squeeze More out of Summer,' to life."
Intel global marketing manager Stephanie Dillard said, "Google Gadget Ads provided a unique and efficient means to further promote our Centrino Duo campaign. Our goal was to enhance visibility and engagement with the consumer while taking in key learnings of Google's evolutionary advertising offerings. We look forward to utilizing the interactive gadget ad format with our new 'Chips' campaign that shifts focus back on the processor."

Says Google vice president product management Susan Wojcicki, "Google Gadget Ads are built on an open platform that enables distribution across the Google content network and can be shared on iGoogle and other personalized web pages at no additional cost to advertisers."


Meanwhile, AdSense for Mobile, is a program that contextually targets ads to mobile website content. AdSense for Mobile also allows AdSense publishing partners the ability to earn revenue from their mobile websites through the targeted placement of mobile text ads. With this program, advertisers can connect with the growing number of mobile publishers, ultimately providing users with an enhanced mobile experience that helps them find what they are looking for more quickly and efficiently on the go.

AdSense for Mobile is intended for AdSense partners who have created websites specifically for mobile browsers, and who want to monetize their mobile content via contextual advertising. Like Google's other AdSense products, mobile text ads run on an auction model. The system automatically reviews the content of publishers' mobile websites and delivers text ads that are relevant to the websites' audience and content. Publishers earn money whenever mobile users click on the ads.

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