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Who did it better? BP and Vodafone rescue lost animals in latest ads

Consumers to experience advertising déjà vu thanks to Vodafone and BP.

Campbell Gibson
Tue, 02 Jun 2015

Consumers are in for a sentimentality overload, with BP and Vodafone both releasing eerily similar brand ads at the same time.

Both companies have released ads with a common theme – a man embarking on a pilgrimage after rescuing a lost animal. Vodafone’s ad features a postman rescuing a pig and BP's sports a motorcyclist who rescues a rabbit.

Both show off the beauties of this country’s landscape, have the characters use social media to their advantage and are 90 seconds long. But the endings are slightly different.

In Vodafone’s ad, “Piggie Sue’s” charms are too much for her rescuer and he ends up keeping her. BP’s motorcyclist Peter ends up returning the lost rabbit to its owner.

Vodafone says its ad, via FCB, was intended to show the breadth of its network, particularly for rural New Zealand. “Vodafone’s network reaches 97.5% of where Kiwis live, work and play and delivers super-fast 4G to over 80% of the country.”

Meanwhile, BP says its ad, via Ogilvy & Mather, shows the strength of its service station network. “The strategy is about recognising the myriad of individual ways people make the most of their time at BP... [Peter and the rabbit] make the most of our network, food, coffee and of course fuel."

The petrol provider says further iterations will be rolled out in the near future..

Vodafone released its ad on 21 May and BP’s came out nine days later.

Vodafone's ad:

BP's ad:

Campbell Gibson
Tue, 02 Jun 2015
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Who did it better? BP and Vodafone rescue lost animals in latest ads
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