Chasing brand mascot: Vodafone brings iconic pug back for a new campaign

Do mascots help or hinder a brand's growth?

Vodafone India’s latest advertising campaign brings back the brand’s iconic ‘Cheeka the pug’, several of them in fact, recreating an image that the brand crafted for itself over a decade ago. While the company says that the pug acts as a powerful clutter breaker in an industry that is becoming increasingly defined by cheap plans and aggressive discounts, experts are divided over whether mascots are a boon or a bane. Do they help a brand move with the times or do they hold it back?

The first Vodafone ad with the pug appeared in 2003. It showed Cheeka following a boy