We are the Blackberry boys- the next cool anthem

Vodafone does it again. They just seamlessly continue with awesome communications through their TVCs. It is a combined effort of marketing and advertising creative. Without the other, things would not have been the way they are. Vodafone is easily the brand with the highest recall. Its pioneering advertisements have given them an edge over not only its immediate competitors but also in the advertising clutter.

The Vodafone pug became the most prized property amongst children of the affluent classes. Although the pug belonged to Hutch, its transfer to Vodafone hasn’t been noticed as much. Then came the phenomenal Zoozoos which catapulted creative innovation to stratospheric levels. Lately Vodafone’s campaign targeting the pre-paid users with Rs. 4 plans and the lovable parsi parrot too had a high recall. Immediately its competitors followed suit and launched low cost plans just like the way they launched Value-added services usage ads after Zoozoos.

So Vodafone thinks first which then becomes the norm to follow. Its latest ad ‘We Are the Blackberry Boys’ is on the way to becoming the next cool anthem amongst college going kids for whom it is targeted. A very good case of two good brands coming together was benefiting the other. The marketing acumen was to target the youngsters to use internet on the phone which gives more revenues to the service providers. The problem was about the perception that Blackberry phones are used only by working professionals and businessman who want to check emails and are constantly on the move. By targeting the affluent youngsters who have the disposable income, the market pie has increased. This has been aided by the urge for people to update their social networking accounts like twitter or facebook frequently.

The ad is a clutter breaker and although being in English, is appropriately targeted. The ad at first seems to be a foreign Blackberry-Vodafone ad telecast in India but it should be no surprise to anyone that it is indeed made by Ogilvy India for the Indian audiences. On the contrary, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ad is played in the developed markets and wins an award or two at advertising festivals.