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Buckle up: Vodafone shows the future is closer than we think—UPDATED

The future is here, or is it? Vodafone’s new campaign by FCB takes a look at how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.

The first of the two observes Evelyn and Margaret, two grandmothers bragging about their grandchildren. While Margaret does so with a photo album, Evelyn whips out her tablet and with the push of a button closes the blinds to turn the living room on to a cinema with the children on the screen.

“Buckle up, Margaret! This is the future of bragging,” says Evelyn.

The second of the videos watches a barista, Emma, take to her smartphone to communicate with two Swedish customers. However, while the translation app allows her to ask if they would like the Kiwi breakfast, the use of “Kiwi” as a reference to New Zealanders and not the bird causes some confusion and concern.

“But Kiwis are endangered, no?”, asks one of the Swedes.

UPDATE:

The two videos mark the next stage of Vodafone’s brand positioning, and its manager of network brand, says it focuses on the future today – with a distinctly New Zealand flavour.

“Everyone has a different view of their future. Their hopes, their dreams and the things they want to do. But the future isn’t years away, it’s happening right now. With today’s extraordinary technologies, people are living their lives in ways that were inconceivable ten years ago,” she says.

James Mok, FCB’s chief creative officer says technology is at the centre of people’s lives today and it wants Vodafone to be the celebrators of making lives better.

“It’s been a great opportunity to take Vodafone’s global platform and tell it from a distinctly New Zealand perspective.”

The two spots are the first in a series of TVCs and other broader communications that will be released over the coming months. The campaign will be the first major piece of work delivered by Vodafone’s new media agency, Wavemaker, since it was appointed in April. 

Last year, WPP unveiled Wavemaker as the name of the agency formed by the merger of MEC and Maxus. 

Prior to Wavemaker’s appointment, Vodafone had been working with Y&R Engage.

The new campaign follows a rebrand by the telco last year, for which it replaced the eight-year-old ‘Power to you’ slogan with ‘The future is exciting. Ready?’.

The announcement came in the form of a TVC telling the evolving story of how the word ‘hello’ has been communicated between people over the decades.

While the campaign was developed by WPP agencies MEC, Santo, Brand Union and Kantar, the local version includes a few elements introduced by FCB.

Credits list:

Client: Vodafone
Head of Brand: Delina Shields
Manager, Network Brand: Nileema Allerston
Network Brand Lead: James Mason
Agency: FCB New Zealand Media: Wavemaker​
Production Company: Finch Director: Alyssa McClelland 

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