Vodafone's new ads are certainly cutting through. The ads, which feature adults with babies heads have been called out for being “creepy and weird” on Twitter, but the brand says most of the feedback has been positive.
Since the ad launched on Sunday night, the Twittersphere has been filled with comments that the ad is in fact “frightening”, “scary shit”. Others though concede that while it is “disturbing”, it's also “clever”.
The divisive nature of the creative idea was expected, a spokesperson for Vodafone told AdNews.
She said: “Our intention in using the 'kidult' in our creative was to make people take a second look, both at the ad, and at Vodafone. There's no question the ad has people talking and the feedback has primarily been positive or neutral. Of course there are some people who don't like the creative and that's to be expected - people are all different. This campaign is designed very much to speak to current and former customers who, according to our research, view the world differently from our competitors'.”
At a preview of the ad last week, AdNews did ask whether some of the scenes – particularly the three 'young women' in sexy sequinned outfits towards the end of the ad - weren't a bit creepy. But both the brand, and Ogilvy chief creative officer Steve Back appeared surprised at the implication.
Back claimed no one during the research or development phase of the idea had had a similar reaction.
Either way, expect more from the 'kidults' to come. Vodafone general manager of brand and communication Jana Kotatko, told AdNews ahead of the ad launch that the brand plans to use the creative concept as a long-term branding platform. More overtly product-based massages will role out over the coming months to communicate Vodafone's upgrades to its network, its roaming offers and new Red price plans.
Vodafone hopes that the creative will get consumers to reappraise the brand and consider returning to the network from rivals Telstra and Optus, now that it claims to have fixed its network problems.
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