Vodafone's innovative internet fest at Rath Yatra

The Rath Yatra Festival in Puri attracts more than 10 lakh pilgrims from all across world every year. No wonder Vodafone leveraged this occasion to convey their message "Internet is fun with Vodafone”. The Outdoor medium has given the brand the right visibility, especially with the life size real Zoozoo's which excited the pilgrims.

Vodafone created a fusion of both branding and activities through various formats like innovative billboards, on-ground promotion (stilt walkers, umbrella promotion, drummer activity etc), wall painting, wallwrap, kiosk & experience zone. Effectively executed by Bates Chi& Partners, Vodafone targeted all the transit points like bus stand, railway station & highway to gain maximum reach (90%) for consumers. On highways, they used media like wallwraps (8000 sq.ft.),wall paintings (70000sq. ft.) & kiosks (400).The innovative campaign followed various branding activities such as:

Beach side innovation: To bring Vodafone internet closer to the local populace, the brand created a unique beach side OOH innovation. It added a fun element complemented with the actual experience of Vodafone data service installed in the stalls. It was not only informative, but was engaging too. It became a "Photo Zone” for visitors, and people were seen capturing the pictures with Zoozoo on the beach. It's a 3D life size Zoozoo innovation created to make a difference, which was spread over at 900sq ft area on the beach. The objective was to introduce people to the "fun-filled unlimited best data feature of Vodafone” by creating a landmark during these high footfall days.

•    Consumer engagement: At Grand Road, which had a huge conglomerate of pilgrims, Vodafone executed a number of consumer engaging activities like - a) Drummer activity- An on-ground activity which was in sync with the spirit of RathaYatra and the mood of celebration. At Grand Road, ethnically dressed drummers were deployed among the crowd which was in sync with the festivity and people danced with joy. Stilt walkers among the crowd at Grand Road depicted the uniqueness and made the brand stand tallest.

•    Experience Zone- The experience zones were created to make people feel the Vodafone Internet live. The brand had also arranged to provide drinking water for all with first-aid services to the consumers. Along with that it was also made informative with the data experience zone for consumer and this initiative helped them educate people about their services.

•    Umbrella Branding: As part of the'Happy to help' initiative, 50 people wearing Vodafone branded t-shirts & cape were busy giving shelter to the pilgrims throughout the humid  and sunny day.

Vodafone covered 25 cities in this  campaign   which includes:

Bhubaneswar,Puri,Cuttack,Rourkela,Bhadrakh,Balasore,Jajpur,Berhampur,Sambalpur,Badbil,Aska,Nimapara,Konark,Pipli,Khurda,Rayagada,Koraput,Jagatsinghpur,Jharsuguda,Keonjhar,Soro,Kendrapara,Gopalpur,Anugul and Dhenkanal.

The USP of the campaign has been the strategic planning of the activities and the placement of the mediums that blended with the concept "Happy to Help”. The on- ground activity at Grand Road had the feel of Odia culture, while the innovation on the sea side effectively communicated the "Internet is fun with Vodafone” message.

Conveying his greetings to the residents of Odisha, on the occasion of the RathYatra festival, Rajshekhar Metgud, Business Head - Odisha, Vodafone India said, "At Vodafone, we are constantly looking for innovative ways and means to engage with and win the hearts of our customers. Being an occasion that brings one of the largest human congregations in the country, we feel the RathYatra is a perfect platform to reach out to people and hence we created an Outdoor Innovation that we all love and are proud to showcase the much loved "Zumis” that were a part of our IPL campaign this year. The innovation has caught the imagination of the local populace to such an extent that it has become a landmark since last week when it came up. We would like to thank'Bates Chi& Partners' for coming up with such a fantastic idea in a very short notice."Imagery” has done an exceptional work in execution and has delivered according to our expectation.”

Creating 16 life size Zoozoo made of fibre was a big challenge in bad weather condition and a stiff timeline of just three days. Vodafone wanted to bring the feel of original Zoozoo that people see on television. 30 Zoozoo's were created out of which 16 perfect Zoozoo were selected for this innovative execution. Sharmine Panthaky, Sr. Vice President, Bates Chi & Partners, shared, "During festivals and other landmark events in different markets, all brands become active and visible, so the only way to stand out and get noticed is to do innovations. Odisha as a circle is proactive and involved in these visibility tactics over a long time, and despite the execution difficulties due to short timelines, weather complications, availability of quality resources, we managed to jointly create a property that stood out in the crowd.”

The innovation became a landmark for tourist thus creating a positive word of mouth effect. People took photographs with the innovation to preserve a memory. It helped Vodafone in terms of brand differentiation and imagery among the consumers in the biggest fair of Odisha by enhancing their brand image. Rakesh Kumar Padhi, Brand Manager, Bates Chi &Partners, Odisha, shares,"This Innovation will be remembered as one of the best innovations in Odisha outdoor industry. It's going to be a trend setter. Innovation does not mean placing a giant cut out upon billboard. In future it's going to inspire advertisers to think beyond cut outs.”