Vodafone brings pug back to promote its 'superior' network

The adorable pug, Cheeka, is back in Vodafone's television commercials -- this time promoting 'instant connections' on its network, while helping a young boy connect with a girl.

Vodafone India today said it is launching a series of new TV commercials, marking the return of cheeka, the pug, and focussing on the quality of its network.

"Through this new communication campaign, we would like to reinforce the belief that Vodafone network offers a superior experience across three key parameters that define the depth or quality of a network -- voice quality and clarity, instant connectivity and no call drops," it said.

The campaign would also highlight Vodafone's global network with presence across 72 countries.

The pug first appeared in 2003 in TV, print and outdoor commercials of erstwhile Hutch mobile services, which were later acquired by British telecom giant Vodafone.

Hutch's 'You & I' advertising campaign at that time promoted the company's strong network coverage through taglines like 'where ever you go, our network follows' and the pug was considered representing the network in those ads.

The campaign showed Cheeka following a small boy in unlikely locations, prompting the tagline, "Wherever you go, our network follows" and the duo had become instant celebrities all over the country at that time.

After acquiring Hong Kong-based Hutchison's stake in Hutch Essar in 2007, Vodafone unveiled a re-branding campaign while retaining the endearing pug.

Later, Vodafone replaced the pug with Zoozoos, but again brought Cheeka back with a little girl and a new tagline, 'Happy to help'. It has been said that 'Zoozoos' might also be back in Vodafone commercials at some stage.

In the latest pug campaign, Cheeka will be seen helping a young boy meet a girl to promote the message of 'instant connections on Vodafone'.

Besides the Zoo Zoos and the pug, Vodafone has also been doing commercials with actor Irrfan Khan for its various value-for-money services, while recently it also came up with a co-branding campaign promoting social networking platform Facebook on Vodafone mobiles.