Vodafone Australia embraces its inner ‘Kidult’ in new television spot via Ogilvy & Mather Sydney

In its boldest campaign creative to date, Vodafone has launched the first in a series of TVCs that introduce the ‘Kidult’; a creative treatment that characterises adults who embrace their inner child via Ogilvy & Mather Sydney.

The Kidult campaign marks a significant return to brave, fun and youthful positioning for Vodafone, and is part of a far-reaching refresh of its overall brand. The first of the TVCs went live last night (Sunday, September 15) with a range of other creative executions to be rolled out in coming weeks.

WATCH THE SPOT

Says Nathan Quailey, general manager of Ogilvy & Mather Sydney: “The Kidult creative is bringing the brand back to its customers’ attitudes. They’re people who look at the world in a different way, as though seeing it for the first time.

“It is deliberately different to the rest of the category, to capture the attention of consumers out there who relate to being adventurous, optimistic and cheeky. People who may currently be with another mobile provider but find they don’t ‘fit’ with the brand.”

Ogilvy’s chief creative officer Steve Back confirmed the creative was designed to “grab people’s attention and reappraise the brand”.

Says Back: “The Kidult campaign deliberately sets a new course for the brand, one that is bold and confident and reflects the positive changes at Vodafone.”

Shot in a variety of locations in Sydney and New York, the TVCs were directed by Ash Bolland from Curious Films.

With broad experience in directing TVCs for some of the world’s leading brands including HSBC, Coca-Cola, Discovery Channel, HBO and Unilever, Bolland also has a slew of creative awards under his belt.

Under Bolland’s direction the ‘Kidult’ TVC took six days to shoot on location, with babies filmed separately over a period of days in a studio on green screen. Their heads were then composited onto the adult bodies during a lengthy and involved post-production process.

Curious Film executive producer Peter Grasse was impressed with how Bolland executed the unbelievable believably.

Says Grasse: “It was a brave idea and Ash pulled it off. It’s a universally fun script created by and for a fun collective of wildly creative people. We are very proud.”

Says Back: “The process posed a pretty big technical challenge. First we shot all sorts of scenes with actors, wearing caps with special tracking markers on their heads, and then we edited those shots into a final 60 sec spot.

“After that was finalised, we moved into baby time, which involved a massive three-day exercise of getting exactly the right looks, moves and reactions out of more than 60 babies. It then became a technical challenge of seamlessly and painstakingly joining the baby heads to the action, frame by frame to come up with the finished product.”

Back said this process was undertaken by some of Australia’s most talented post production specialists, Alt.vfx.

Says Back: “We also chose the memorable ‘I feel just like a child’ track by Venezuela-born Devendra Banhart to bring energy and life to the idea. The music is guitar pop at its best and keeps the spot stomping along with childish abandon.”

The TVCs are part of a broader, multi-million dollar brand campaign which began rolling out in Australia last week, which asks consumers to “Discover the New” Vodafone. More than 50 billboards have already been launched with press and outdoor furniture instalments to come, also developed by Ogilvy Sydney.

Vodafone’s general manager, brand & communications, Jana Kotatko said it was hoped ‘Kidults’ would grab the attention of Australian consumers and encourage them reassess Vodafone and see what’s changed.

Says Kotatko: “We wanted to powerfully land the message ‘this is a new Vodafone’. With lightning-fast 4G, 40% more coverage across Australia, launch of our highly competitive Red plans and market-leading $5 global roaming offer, this is more than an advertising campaign – it’s a signal that we’ve changed the way we do business and what we offer to our customers.”

The brand refresh and Kidult campaign was created by a major collaborative effort across a number of STW’s leading agencies, including Ogilvy Sydney (creative), Bohemia (media strategy), Ikon (media buying), DT Sydney (online) and OgilvyOne (customer communication strategy). It forms part of a world-wide refresh of Vodafone’s core brand design elements, with Australia the first market to rollout the new look.

Says Quailey: “We are extremely proud that as a group we can be a part of this moment, a moment where we start to really step change a great global brand and help to restore it to its rightful place here in Australia.”

Client – Vodafone

Rachael Butler – Head of Brand & Creative Strategy

Rob Morrison –  Head of Creative, Vodafone

Executive Producer: Takeshi Takada