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It’s been four years and counting. The pug associated with Orange, Hutch and now Vodafone is still very much a part of the newly renamed brand’s communication. Some brand analysts ponder over how much is too much when it comes to this symbolic ‘brand ambassador’
Every dog has its day. But in the case of the Vodafone pug, it’s been four years.
A still from the brand's first pug commercial |
Now that Hutch has been rebranded as Vodafone, the pug (initially a trained dog named Chika, and now another one called Spikey) continues to enjoy his run with the brand. But one can’t help but wonder if too much of a good thing could actually be bad. agencyfaqs! spoke to a few brand gurus to understand their take on the place of the pug in Vodafone’s brand story.
Harish Bijoor |
Bijoor feels that the damage started around 15 months ago, when the communication for the brand started getting stale, or as he puts it, “disastrous”. He cites the Hutch ‘Magician’ commercial in this regard. He adds (perhaps as a discontented Hutch user at some point) that the network itself fails to deliver its promise, making consumers wonder where the pug disappears to at times. While that seems to be an operational issue, quite clearly, the branding problem is sustaining interest in the communication. “I’ll give Ogilvy & Mather full marks on building awareness about Hutch turning into Vodafone, but in my opinion, the pug should be dropped after the introduction campaign,” Bijoor says firmly.
Jagdeep Kapoor |
The good news, according to Kapoor, is that Vodafone won’t have to try too hard to make its own mark here: It has a strong, energetic brand DNA abroad, which it only needs to import here in a relevant way.
R Sridhar |
Kapoor of Samsika concedes that the integration seems to have been achieved seamlessly, even though “Hutch was a latent brand, and Vodafone is a blatant one”. According to him, getting a subtle brand to become bold and daring is far better than the other way round, and the Hutch-Vodafone marriage scores on that front.
Shashi Sinha, CEO, Lodestar Universal, concludes the debate with his take on the brand’s roadblock on STAR India as a means to announce its entry into India. “That was a brilliant idea, executed well,” he says. Multiple commercials with the pug and animated characters, too, did the trick. “But given the fact that Vodafone had a huge opportunity to bring forth its own values, all these commercials revolved around the same thought,” he muses. “If I were Vodafone, I would have exploited the roadblock much more with creatives that also speak of what the brand stands for internationally.”
The O&M executives aren’t ruffled. As Rajiv Rao, executive creative director, O&M, South Asia, puts it, “The pug is the brand’s soul.”
For the time being then, it looks like wherever Vodafone goes, the pug will follow.