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Case Study on Vodafones Re-Branding Strategies in India: Hutch toVodafone

Launch of Vodafone Essar

Vodafone is the worlds leading international mobile communications company. Itpresently

has operations in 25 countries across 5 continents and 40 partner networkswith over 200 millioncustomers worldwide. Vodafone has partnered with the Essar Group as its principal joint venture

partner for the Indian market. The Essar Group isa diversified business corporation withinterests spanning the manufacturing andservice sectors like Steel, Energy, Power,Communications, Shipping & Logistics andConstruction. The Group has an asset base of over Rs.400

billion and employs over 20,000 people.

Vodafone Essar was launched in India on 21st September 2007. Vodafone waswelcomed inIndia with the Hutch is now Vodafone campaign. The popular andendearing brand Hutchwas transitioned to Vodafone across India. This marked asignificant chapter in the evolutionof Vodafone as a dynamic and ever-growingbrand. This brand unveiled nationally through a

high profile campaign covering allimportant media.

Vodafone, the worlds leading mobile telecommunication company, completedtheacquisition of Hutchison Essar in May 2007 and the company was formallyrenamedVodafone Essar in July 2007. The transition from Hutch to Vodafone is probablythelargest brand change ever undertaken in this country and arguably as big as any intheworld. It is even larger than Hutchs own previous brand transitions. The migrationfromHutch to Vodafone was one of the fastest and most comprehensive brandtransitions in the history of theVodafone Group, with 400,000 multi brand outlets,over 350 Vodafone stores, over 1,000 mini stores, over 35mobile stores and over 3,000 touch-points rebranded in two months, with 60% completed within 48 hoursof the launch.

The Vodafone mission is to be the communications leader in an increasinglyconnected world enrichingcustomers lives, helping individuals, businesses andcommunities be more connected by deliveringtheir total communication needs.

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their total communication needs.Vodafones logo is a representation of that belief The start of anew conversation, atrigger, a catalyst, a mark of true pioneering.

Vodafones Advertising Strategies: Hutch to Vodafone

Advertising is probably one of the most frequently used vehicles for Rebranding, as itis fairlyeasy, flexible and quick to change. It is a powerful way of reaching a broad or targetedaudience quickly and is effective at signaling a change in positioning,however real or broadthat may be. There are many examples of where advertising haseither repositioned orstrengthened brands, other good examples of where advertisinghas built a new position for a

brand or built a strong emotional link with the public arewhere companies have created a sortof soap opera out of their advertising.

The Advertising agency of Hutch and now Vodafone, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), hada two-fold task to achieve: announce the entry of Vodafone into India and highlightthemetamorphosis of Hutch into Vodafone. O&M realized that they had a fantasticproperty in

the Hutch pug, which they had been using for about five years. Therefore

to show the transition from Hutch to Vodafone, O&M launched a rather direct,thematic adshowing the trademark pug in a garden, moving out of a pink coloredkennel which symbolized Hutchmaking his way into a red one that is the Vodafonecolor. A more energetic, chirpier versionof the You and I tune associated withHutch was played towards the end, and it concludes withChange is good. Hutch isnow Vodafone.

O&M has also rolled out four Commercials featuring Hutchs animated boy andgirl,introducing the new brands logo to consumers. The four creatives which wereof five seconds each included the duo peeping over a wall to see the logo; parasailingwith thelogo flying high behind them; releasing a rocket bomb wherein the explosionreveals the logo;and lastly, drawing curtains aside to show the logo.

Four other ads with the pug did the rounds of telly screens. These five and 10 secondspots cast the dog insituations where he, literally, saw red, using the color as a visualmnemonic to remember the

brand by. The pug was shown in a red basket, popping upfrom a red cart, drying himself on a redmat, and hiding in a red blanket. Each of thesemade use of the Hutch is now Vodafone tagline.

The print ads, in all major languages in several leading dailies, were keptunbelievably simple:

a still shot of the pug inside a red kennel. The same creative wasused in outdoor hoardings as well,in all the 16 circles in which Vodafone nowoperates.

It wasnt easy integrating Vodafone with Hutch; the latter, as is known, is asubtle,understated brand, while globally, Vodafone represents high energy, dynamismandyoung vitality all represented by its bright red speech mark logo. And so they put inelements such as amore energetic tune and feel to the ads.

A few advertisements include:

1)

Hutch is now Vodafone: If you watch any of the star channels or tuned into 20-20world cup, youwould have seen this ad On 11 February 2007, Vodafone agreed toacquire the controlling

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interest of 67% held by Cheung Kong Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion and now had torebrand itself so it has decided to run a new ad

series which piggy banked on Hutchs dog mascot and the theme Change is Good .This required nearly250 crores of spending by Vodafone but they have successfullypainted the town red. Aninteresting part of this campaign was on the opening dayroadblock where they made a dealwith Star India so that besides them no other commercials were aired (apart from in-channel

promos) on the Star Indias channelsfor 24 hours.

2) Vodafone Valentine Day Special Ads: Vodafone had released a simple and sweet adformusical greetings targeted at couples during the valentine week the feature ofthiscampaign is its simplicity and believability and is quite well received. It usesthepositioning Make the most of now enjoy the video

3)

Vodafone Chota Credit Ink Ad: This new ad had come as refreshing change and moresothat this ad takes a very refreshing look at school and at fountain pens. This adcreates awonderfully subtle message which really puts the point of chota (small)credit across.