Kennel capers

‘We used the pug as a link between the old brand and the new one-it was a simple, charming story’


The winning ad for mobile service provider Vodafone Essar Ltd was created by O&M India Ltd and features the trademark Hutch pug leaving his red kennel, only to find a bigger, better one on his return. The Hutch brand icon settles into his new Vodafone kennel quite comfortably, indicating a smooth shift to Vodafone. Group creative director Rajiv Rao tells Mint how

What was the client’s brief?The brief was simple: to launch the Vodafone brand. We couldn?t just go ahead and launch the brand. The idea was to communicate the change in brand to consumers. To tell them that brand Hutch was now going to be known as Vodafone. That is what we wanted to communicate.
How did the team zero in on the campaign?We decided to keep the communication as simple and uncomplicated as possible. We were absolutely sure that we wanted to use the pug, which was synonymous with brand Hutch. In the past, the pug was used to make that seamless transition from brand Orange to Hutch. We used the pug as a link between the old brand and the new one, this time round as well. And, I think it worked beautifully. It was a simple, uncomplicated, charming story. Even the music in the background, which is the original Hutch You & I jingle, was tweaked a little to make it sound fresh and happy... to signify a new beginning. These are also the values that brand Vodafone stands for internationally.Critics say the ad campaign isn't a patch on the campaigns you have put out for Orange and Hutch.The response to this campaign has been very positive. We really didn?t want to try too hard and complicate the whole thing. I guess people were expecting more. The story, about the little boy and the pug that follows him everywhere, was essentially a network story. This campaign was about how the network had found a new house.