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Tag: Vodafone

  • Vodafone’s pug comes back to announce SuperNet

    Vodafone’s pug comes back to announce SuperNet

    MUMBAI: Vodafone couldn’t have had a more impactful and adorable way to introduce its latest 4G services, Supernet, than to bring back its iconic pug. The K9 brand ambassador had been a witness to the brand’s growth over the years on the network front and the star of many a brand communications. Therefore the latest series of 15 seconds ads to announce Vodafone’s much anticipated 4G services was a good way to bring back Cheeka the pug and evoke a sense of nostalgia. 

    Announcing the launch of Vodafone SuperNet, Vodafone India consumer director Sandeep Kataria said, “Network plays a crucial role in enhancing customer experience. In our continuing endeavour to provide superior voice and data services, we have made significant investments to expand, upgrade and modernise our network across the country. To cater to evolving consumer needs, we use multiple technologies to provide over 194 million (19.4 crore) customers across the country, all-round benefits of a seamless network experience, beyond just speed.”

    The new campaign is being promoted with a high decibel 360 degree creative communication. Conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather and produced by Nirvana Films, the three ads released so far, namely –  Pug drums a beat, Pug ride a truck and Pug paints — effortlessly create a sense of familiarity and draw audience into their new 4G network, ‘Vodafone 4G SuperNet.

    “The pug was a character we generally used when we did networks ads, with the last one being in 2012. Vodafone’s 4G service SuperNet required a network campaign and that’s why we thought to reintroduce everyone’s favourite Vodafone pug,” said Ogilvy & Mather Group creative director Kiran Anthony.

    These aren’t really long stories that the creatives usually do for the brand.  The new films are hardly 7 to 10 seconds of content and 15 second overall. It comes, does it work and is gone.

    Explaining why they didn’t go for a full-fledged 60 seconder and stuck to a 15 second ad film, he added, “It is not always that you require a lengthy ad film. Sometimes a post-production can also do the job. Moreover, these 15 seconders will get much more frequency when shown on television, especially with the cricket matches that are going on. Normally there aren’t that many 60 sec ad slots. A 60 sec ad can come once or twice during a match, this can come 20 or 30 times.”

    The agency is currently working on expanding the campaign and come up with a lengthy version of the ad soon.

  • Vodafone’s pug comes back to announce SuperNet

    Vodafone’s pug comes back to announce SuperNet

    MUMBAI: Vodafone couldn’t have had a more impactful and adorable way to introduce its latest 4G services, Supernet, than to bring back its iconic pug. The K9 brand ambassador had been a witness to the brand’s growth over the years on the network front and the star of many a brand communications. Therefore the latest series of 15 seconds ads to announce Vodafone’s much anticipated 4G services was a good way to bring back Cheeka the pug and evoke a sense of nostalgia. 

    Announcing the launch of Vodafone SuperNet, Vodafone India consumer director Sandeep Kataria said, “Network plays a crucial role in enhancing customer experience. In our continuing endeavour to provide superior voice and data services, we have made significant investments to expand, upgrade and modernise our network across the country. To cater to evolving consumer needs, we use multiple technologies to provide over 194 million (19.4 crore) customers across the country, all-round benefits of a seamless network experience, beyond just speed.”

    The new campaign is being promoted with a high decibel 360 degree creative communication. Conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather and produced by Nirvana Films, the three ads released so far, namely –  Pug drums a beat, Pug ride a truck and Pug paints — effortlessly create a sense of familiarity and draw audience into their new 4G network, ‘Vodafone 4G SuperNet.

    “The pug was a character we generally used when we did networks ads, with the last one being in 2012. Vodafone’s 4G service SuperNet required a network campaign and that’s why we thought to reintroduce everyone’s favourite Vodafone pug,” said Ogilvy & Mather Group creative director Kiran Anthony.

    These aren’t really long stories that the creatives usually do for the brand.  The new films are hardly 7 to 10 seconds of content and 15 second overall. It comes, does it work and is gone.

    Explaining why they didn’t go for a full-fledged 60 seconder and stuck to a 15 second ad film, he added, “It is not always that you require a lengthy ad film. Sometimes a post-production can also do the job. Moreover, these 15 seconders will get much more frequency when shown on television, especially with the cricket matches that are going on. Normally there aren’t that many 60 sec ad slots. A 60 sec ad can come once or twice during a match, this can come 20 or 30 times.”

    The agency is currently working on expanding the campaign and come up with a lengthy version of the ad soon.

  • Vodafone launches marketing campaign for app featuring ZooZoos

    Vodafone launches marketing campaign for app featuring ZooZoos

    MUMBAI: The popular army of mini ZooZoos, Zumi Army, is back to help customers discover the world of Vodafone with the MyVodafone App.

     

    Vodafone launched the app, which hcan be accessed by customers as per their convenience 24X7, free of any internet charges (in India). The app provides a personalised experience to postpaid and prepaid customers as well as non-Vodafone customers.

     

    Vodafone India retail and digital national head Kavita Nair said, “Customers are gaining comfort with apps and are using them to shop, subscribe to services and access news/information. Keeping these evolving needs of customers in mind, the MyVodafone App is designed to provide them at their fingertips, a personalised interface of everything that is Vodafone. From accessing their services to managing their accounts or transacting or even getting their problems resolved, the app is a manifestation of Vodafone, on the smartphone.”

     

    An energetic and spirited television campaign, supported by presence on social media, prominent and a series of on-ground activations will communicate the app’s various features and benefits.

     

    Speaking about the theme of this marketing campaign, Vodafone India brand communication and insight national head Siddharth Banerjee added, “The new MyVodafone app campaign aims at citing feature-led benefits of adopting and using the app, thereby driving home the key point that one can avail of Vodafone services, now on one’s phone. Accordingly a 360 campaign has been designed that clearly establishes MyVodafone App as a one-stop shop for all Vodafone related services. The much loved Zumi army will engage with customers through different mediums, showcasing key features of the all new MyVodafone App.”

  • O&M bags maximum statuettes at IndIAA Awards

    O&M bags maximum statuettes at IndIAA Awards

    MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather bagged the maximum number of six awards at the IndIAA Awards, which are organised by theIndia Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA).

     

    O&M was awarded for its creative work on brands such as Titan, Kinley, SBI Life, Hero Indian Super League, BMW and Vodafone.

     

    On the other hand, amongst media agencies, Maxus won four awards for Dabur Vatika, Vodafone, Titan and Hero Motocorp.

     

    IndIAA Awards, which held on 13 October at ST Regis Hotel, saw 16 winners from various creative and media agencies. It also included various agency partners from digital, activation, PR and events.

     

    IndIAA awards chairman Pradeep Guha said, “The IndIAA Award format ensured that ‘ads for awards only’ didn’t come through and this itself was the differentiator.”

     

    IAA India chapter president Srinivasan Swamy added, “With the IndIAA Awards, IAA has added another interesting concept to its existing cache of clutter-breaking events. We attempted IndIAA Awards as an experiment; we wanted to create a different way of awarding creativity. With the response to our call for entries and the turnout today, we know that this concept has been very well accepted.”

     

    On the jury for the awards were Unilever COO and Hindustan Unilever non-executive chairman Harish Manwani, Titanmanaging director Bhaskar Bhat, Standard Chartered Bank group head of brand and chief marketing officer Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, State Bank of India managing director and group executive (national banking) B Sriram and Kelloggs India managing director Sangeeta Pendurkar.

     

    “Great brands are built around insights, not analytics,” said Manwani, while addressing the audience in the ceremony.

  • Vodafone to launch 4G services in Kerala by December 2015

    Vodafone to launch 4G services in Kerala by December 2015

    MUMBAI: The Indian telecom sector is gearing up for the  4G wave. After Reliance Jio and Airtel’s plans to launch the same, now Vodafone India is all set to  launch its 4G services in Kerala by end of December 2015.

     

    Important centres including Kochi, Trivandrum and Kozhikode will be part of the first wave of the 4G roll-out, which will be launched across the circle in a phased manner.

     

    Testing of 4G services has commenced successfully. With some of the latest technological developments on the anvil, Vodafone is building robust and resilient network architecture with a strong backup to support the volumes and need for speed from customers.

     

    In addition, to offer its 3G customers a faster, smarter and better experience, Vodafone has taken several measures over the last few months. This includes making significant investments and upgrading its own network plus modernising the radio network and switching systems to deliver a new enhanced 3G experience.

     

    In addition, charging platforms have also been upgraded to facilitate a wider bouquet of products and services.

     

    Further, Vodafone is investing heavily into high capacity Fibre to significantly increase the internet connectivity to the rest of the world, which will benefit all its data subscribers. Kerala is a significant and key focus market for Vodafone India.

     

    With around 15 per cent of data revenues, it is one of the top data markets for Vodafone in India and is growing at over 80 per cent YoY, exceeding the pace of growth of the previous year. 

     

    Vodafone India business head Kerala Abhijit Kishore said, “This is an important phase for Vodafone in Kerala and our customers have a lot to look forward to. We are excited to launch our new 4G services in the superior 1800 MHz band and also provide a faster and enhanced 3G experience for our customers.”

     

    He added, “Having launched 4G services in several countries, Vodafone has the requisite expertise and experience to ensure that its service in Kerala will be best in class. We will continue to pursue our customer centric strategy of continuing to meet their evolving needs for better and smarter connectivity for both voice and data.”

     

    In the first six months of the current financial year, Vodafone has already invested more than Rs 350 crores in Kerala towards its network upgradation.

  • Broadband subscribers see 4% rise in July despite mobile growth

    Broadband subscribers see 4% rise in July despite mobile growth

    NEW DELHI: The number of broadband subscribers increased by 4.1 per cent between June and July to touch 113.32 million at the end of July. The total at the end of June stood at 108.85 million.

     

    Expectedly, the largest growth was seen among mobile devices users (phones and dongles), which rose from 92.7 million to 97.04 million signifying a rise of 4.68 per cent.

     

    According to information provided by service providers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), wired subscribers grew from 15.7 million to 15.84 signifying a minuscule growth of 0.9 per cent. But there was a fall of 2.84 per cent among fixed wireless subscribers (WI Fi, Wi Max, Point to Point Radio, and VSAT) from 450,000 to 440,000.

     

    The top five service providers constituted 83.83 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of July. These service providers were Bharti Airtel (26.51 million), Vodafone (22.71 million), BSNL (18.43 million), Idea Cellular Ltd (17.43 million) and Reliance Communications Group (9.93 million).

     

    Some wireless service providers exclude incidental data users from their subscriber base, based on minimum usage decided by them.

     

    As on 31 July, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.92 million), Bharti Airtel (1.50 million), MTNL (1.13 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (0.75 million) and YOU Broadband (0.47 million).

     

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Bharti Airtel (25.01 million), Vodafone (22.70 million), Idea Cellular (17.42 million), Reliance Communications Group (9.81 million) and BSNL (8.51 million).

  • Netflix inks first TV deal in Spain with Vodafone

    Netflix inks first TV deal in Spain with Vodafone

    MUMBAI: Vodafone Spain has inked an agreement that will bring Netflix onto a Spanish TV platform for the first time.

     

    Using the Netflix app, Vodafone TV homes will be able to watch a broad variety of series, films documentaries and kids titles through their set–top box. Netflix will be available through Vodafone TV when Netflix launches in Spain in October.

     

    The Netflix offering will include exclusive original series such as Narcos, Marvel’’s Daredevil,Sense8, Bloodline, Grace and Frankie, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Marco Polo and critically acclaimed documentaries Virunga, Mission Blue and docuseries Chef’s Table as well as various stand–up comedy specials. Additionally, younger viewers will find a wide selection of programming for kids.

     

    Viewers will continuously be offered new titles and can look forward to the first Netflix original feature films, with announced titles including Beasts of No Nation, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon The Green Legend, Jadotville and The Ridiculous 6. Netflix is fully localized, offering a choice of subtitles and dubbing.

     

    Netflix will be available on Vodafone TV through an app on the decoder. Viewers will also be able to find titles using the search engine or recommendations section of the Vodafone service, two of the features customers use most. Vodafone customers will be able to enjoy Netflix in high quality thanks to a collaboration between the companies on Vodafone’s ultra high–speed fixed and mobile broadband networks.

     

    Vodafone TV customers will be able to enjoy the Netflix service without having to update their set–top–boxes. Netflix will also be available on smartphones and tablets, the Netflix app for those devices will be available in the app stores.

  • Vodafone revenue down 0.9%; India revenue up 6.9%, leads growth

    Vodafone revenue down 0.9%; India revenue up 6.9%, leads growth

    BENGALURU: The Vodafone Group reported resurgence in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific region (AMAP), with Turkey showing a 15 per cent y-o-y organic growth followed by India with 6.9 per cent organic growth. The Group’s reported service revenue declined 2.9 per cent y-o-y to €9169 million, while growing organically by 2.9 per cent.

     

    Note: Organic growth presents performance on a comparable basis, both in terms of merger and acquisition activity and movements in foreign exchange rates.

     

    The Group’s India reported service revenue grew by 10.6 per cent to €1133 million in Q1-2016 as compared to the €1024 million in Q1-2015 on with continued customer base growth and acceleration in the take-up of 3G offsetting continued pressure on voice pricing.

     

    Also, data revenue in India grew 65 per cent supported by the addition of 3.1 million new data customers, taking the total to 66.8 million. Vodafone says that smartphone penetration in India is now 26 per cent across the country and 47 per cent in the four metro circles and now has 22 million 3G customers compared to 10 million a year ago.

     

    The Group says that while total voice traffic continues to grow, the outgoing rate per minute has continued to decline, reflecting increased competition. The average minutes of use per customer is lower than a year ago but has increased slightly compared to the previous quarter. Total mobile customers increased 1.6 million giving a closing customer base of 185.4 million.

     

    Further, the Group informs that the progress on Project Spring in India remains strong with 1,000 2G sites and 1,100 3G sites added in the quarter (14,000 2G and 21,000 3G since the build commenced), taking Vodafone India’s 3G outdoor population coverage in targeted urban areas to 91 per cent. Vodafone India is now trialing 4G services across selected areas and continues to expand its M-Pesa service and now has 501,000 active customers supported by 94,000 agents.

     

    Q-o-q, Vodafone India led subscriber base growth with an increase of 0.86 per cent to 185.384 million with net post-paid (contract) additions of 449,000 and net prepaid additions of 1.132 million as compared to the 183.803 million in Q4-2015.

     

    Overall, Vodafone Group’s subscriber base grew 0.75 per cent to 449.193 million with 1.296 million post-paid and 2.111 million prepaid customers as compared to the 445.836 million in Q4-2015.

     

    Vodafone Group’s AMAP region continues to grow strongly, with organic service revenue increasing 6.1 per cent (Q4: 5.8 per cent) with growth in all major markets. Excluding the impact of MTR (Mobile Termination rates are the charges which one telecommunications operator charges to another for terminating calls on its network) cuts, organic service revenue increased 7.7 per cent (Q4: 7.3 per cent). The region continues to see strong customer growth, with 4.3 million added in the quarter, and an increasing number of the Group’s customers are now using data, with 6.6 million active data users added in the quarter. Customer usage continues to grow throughout the region, with voice and data usage up 7 per cent and 97 per cent respectively. Total AMP revenue increased 5.5 per cent, including a 2.5 percentage point adverse impact from foreign exchange movements.

     

    Europe reported and organic revenues declined y-o-y by 6.2 and 1.5 per cent respectively. The Vodafone Group reported revenue declined 0.9 per cent in Q1-2016 (Quarter ended 30 June, 2015) to €10113 million, while organic revenue grew 3.3 per cent.

     

    Vodafone’s Europe reported revenue declined 3.1 per cent to €6501 million, but grew organically by 1.1 per cent as compared to the €6768 million in the corresponding year ago quarter. As mentioned above, Europe’s reported and organic service revenue declined by 6.2 and 1.5 per cent respectively to €5793 million in Q1-2016 as compared to the €6367 million in Q1-2015.

     

    Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said, “We have made a good start to the year. Our emerging markets have maintained their strong momentum and more of our European businesses are returning to growth, as customer demand for 4G and data takes off. We continue to hit our Project Spring build milestones and customers are beginning to value the improvement in service that is resulting: contract churn in Europe is now falling and mobile ARPU trends are stabilising in a number of key markets. Our other key growth areas – unified communications and enterprise – are performing strongly, benefiting from the increased capabilities and footprint that our higher levels of investment are delivering. However, our markets are, as always, highly competitive and we therefore have to remain very focused on efficiency, cost control, and excellent value and service to customers, while continuing to deliver a good return for shareholders.”

  • Mobiles boost broadband usage by 4.17% during May

    Mobiles boost broadband usage by 4.17% during May

    NEW DELHI: Mobile users helped give a spurt to broadband usage in the country to touch 104.96 million by the end of May, which signified a monthly growth rate of 4.17 per cent.

     

    It may be recalled that in April this year the broadband users in the country crossed the 100 million mark for the first time.

     

    Mobile devices users (phones and dongles) went up from 84.79 million to 88.96 million between April and May, signifying an increase of 4.91 per cent.

     

    However, Fixed Wireless subscribers (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point to Point Radio and VSAT) showed a minor decline of 0.17 per cent thus remaining at just over 440,000 users.

     

    Wired subscribers went up from 15.52 million to 15.56 million, showing an increase of 0.23 per cent.

     

    Based on reports received from the service providers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the top five service providers constituted 83.75 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of May.

     

    These service providers were Bharti Airtel (23.39 million), Vodafone (21.27 million), BSNL (18.50 million), Idea Cellular Ltd (15.76 million) and Reliance Communications Group (8.99 million).

     

    The regulator noted that some wireless service providers exclude incidental data users from their subscriber base, based on minimum usage decided by them.

     

    As on 31 May, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.90 million), Bharti Airtel (1.45 million), MTNL (1.14 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (0.66 million) and YOU Broadband (0.45 million).

     

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Bharti Airtel (21.93 million), Vodafone (21.27 million), Idea Cellular (15.76 million), Reliance Communications Group (8.88 million) and BSNL (8.59 million).

  • Broadband subscribers breach 100 million mark in April

    Broadband subscribers breach 100 million mark in April

    NEW DELHI: Even as the Government is making efforts to reach the north east and to create awareness of Digital India, the number of broadband subscribers for the first time crossed the 100 million mark to register a base of 100.76 million at the end of April.

     

    This was a slight increase of 1.57 per cent over the figure of March, which had shown 99.20 million subscribers.

     

    This was primarily due to mobile devices users (phones and dongles), which grew from 93.24 million to 84.79 million, thus showing a growth of 1.86 per cent. Fixed wireless subscribers (Wi-fi, Wi-Max, Point to Point Radio and VSAT) showed a meager growth of 0.35 per cent and stood at just over 440, 000 while wired subscribers showed an even lesser growth of 0.04 per cent at just around 15.52 million.

     

    The top five service providers constituted 83.40 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of April.

     

    These service providers were Bharti Airtel (22.63 million), Vodafone (20.30 million), BSNL (18.02 million), Idea Cellular Ltd (15.01 million) and Reliance Communications Group (8.08 million).

     

    Some wireless service providers exclude incidental data users from their subscriber base based on minimum usage decided by them.

     

    As on 30 April, 2015, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (9.92 million), Bharti Airtel (1.44 million), MTNL (1.14 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (0.68 million) and You Broadband (0.45 million).

     

    As on 30 April, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Bharti Airtel (21.19 million), Vodafone (20.29 million), Idea Cellular (15.01 million), BSNL (8.10 million) and Reliance Communications Group (7.97 million).