Vodafone pug is happy to help you .. or really?

Look at the above Vodafone ad, the latest one where a cute little girl is constantly getting help from a cute little pug in various situations while a beautiful jingle is played in the background. The ad ends saying that “Vodafone is all too happy to help you” when you need them.

Even though I am not particularly against cutesy looking beautiful ads, I strongly feel that when a brand goes out of its way to promise something, they better live up to it or customers start loosing faith in the brand. “We have a good brand ambassador (the pug) and highly creative advertising team hence we will make cute looking ads” is not always a good reason for starting another campaign. The campaign strength should correlate to what the brand is trying to offer.

For example, the vodafone customer service has been hostile and helpless to a bunch of my friends and to me on several occasions in the recent past. I am sure you know someone who felt bad after calling the customer care @ vodafone. So when I look at the ad all I could feel is “what a fraud” instead of appreciating the music or visuals.

I think marketing is nothing but effectively communicating(spreading) your ideas to others and advertising is just one of the ways of doing it. Often brand managers get carried away and assume advertising is “showcasing creativity” and this creates problems as the message and reality spread apart.

Can you think of some other brands that have fallen in to this trap?

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