Marketforce launches BoB for Westnet
Westnet have launched a new retail TV campaign introducing their very own version of BoB (cheap calls and broadband in a box). Produced by Marketforce and Splitscreen, the spots feature BoB as an important (almost human) member of the Westnet team.
“The BoB campaign is an excitingevolution for the Humanology brand that is focused around the launch ofa new product with a human name and some very human attributes,” said Westnet Marketing Manager Dan Scott.
BoB has already had his share of success when Westnet’s parent company iiNet launched it last year.
Senior Account Director Will Peart said “We know Westnet customersaren’t typically excited by the hardware or the technology – they careabout getting the best service, making sure it works, and paying aslittle as possible for it. So the campaign clearly communicates theservice benefit – super cheap phone calls. We worked closely withScott, and Dan and his team to get this turned around quickly – andwe’re pleased that we’ve got some spots that move the brand into asuitably light-hearted territory”.
Watch the spots:
Credits:
Client: Dan Scott & Caroline Foot
Senior Account Director: Will Peart
Account Manager: Evan Murie
Creative Director: Andrew Tinning
Creative Team: Andrew Tinning, Ryan Albuino, Andrew Chu
Director: Scott Wright
Producer: Lee Guy-Wallis
Agency Producer Catalina Clema
Photographer: Rob Simeon
40 Comments
There is more personality in one of iiNet’s BoB ads than any of Westnet’s humanology ads… may as well fold Westnet into iiNet if they are going to offer the same product?
Funny. Like the tag too.
makes me think of iinet
Could someone please walk me through how Broadband In A Box is abbreviated to BoB? BiaB, anybody?
BoB is so inherently iiNet that any ad for it under Westnet brand is simply strengthening iiNet and bastardising Westnet. Great for GC that their hard work on iiNet has resulted in such strong recall. Merge time?
1:51… That’s rather Katty.
So did andrew fly to nz to shoot these?
6.43 I thought Bob was created by Meerkats?
Ha ha I wish! We shot these spots here in Perth at the Westnet offices in one day. Scott and Lee did a great job making it happen.
7:05… not Katty, just fact.
6:42 – correct, my bad!
This is terrible, just terrible. Feels like a ‘me too’ campaign from an ISP who haven’t even positioned themselves as a contender. Both this and the iinet campaign don’t say much, as the information would be confusing anyway. At least the iinet ads are entertaining and have personality though.
Seems crazy to me that Westnet would call their product Bob too… kind of leads the creative in one direction doesn’t it…
10:48… aren’t they a regional brand? – where iinet aren’t, not sure how this would feel ‘me too’ to the people watching it.
Could have gone for Robert or Bob 2, but straight Bob is too close – what were they thinking?
10.48 You can’t be that naive, unless you happen to work at the top of the hill!
4:27. Just cos the same audience as iinet won’t see it doesn’t mean in Ad Land it doesn’t feel like a ‘me too’ idea.
Westnet didn’t have to call the product BoB. iinet have already branded Bob. It seems like a copout to me.
And why are you asking me if Westnet are a regional brand? Sounds like you know a fair bit about them already.
Question: what did Westnet Bob cost to make vs iinet Bob? One shot in little ol’ Perth CBD,the other close to a Samoan choir. Good point about Bob name – just plain bizarre. Maybe client can explain so us mere mortals can understand.
Absolutely me too in feel. I wonder if Marketforce ever pointed this out to their client?
I’m not sure but I think that the BoB name is trademarked by the maker of the unit, so whoever uses it, westnet, iinet or anyone else, has to call it Bob, that’s why it is written in a different typeface on the posters and there is a TM top right next to the name. A bit like Telstra Optus and Vodafone all selling iPhones
Re BoB, here’s an extract from Meerkats’ Agency of the Year submission that might shed a bit of light on the name: “Meerkats named the product and designed the logo and packaging. In line with our rather anal brand personality guidelines for iiNet (handcrafted years ago when first shaping their challenger brand model) we poo-pooed dull category gems such as HomeHub and TeleNet and recommended something more creative, quirky and consumer-friendly. The result is BoB, a dubious acronym loosely standing for Broadband in a Box.”
A reviewer on technology website Gizmodo proclaimed it “…the best named gadget ever”, although at the end of the review he says it’s “…one of the weakest acronyms I’ve ever seen…”
(http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/08/bob-is-the-best-name-for-a-gadget-ever/)
So, the unit is made by Belkin, named by Meerkats and ‘BoB’ presumably trade marked by iiNet.
Martin Trevaskis
5 out of 10 for me
8.14
I wonder what Meerkats would say about this. Are they happy that Bob’s name has been sullied by an inferior campaign?
Wasn’t there an island called Bob?
9:18 – and that is what a COMMUNICATIONS agency should do – more than just ads!
The spots are great and apparently one tenth of the Meerkats cost.
Thanks for the clarification Martin. I’d love to hear a Marketforce planner’s reasoning behind adopting the Meerkats/iinet name. (Just sign in as anonymous and call your comment an educated guess.) If you’re introducing a new product, you know you’ve been successful when your brand name is adopted for the category. Meerkats’ successful branding of Bob makes life very difficult for Marketforce, but it feels as thought they’ve raised the white flag from the get go.
Oops, forgot to mention. Well directed Scott!
4.29… There is meaning to the David vs. Goliath parable perhaps?
Am I the only one who noticed that the ads don’t “clearly communicates the service benefit – super cheap phone calls” ? A girl talking to a machine about her troubled love life hardly tells me why I should choose Westnet over Telstra, Optus, AmCom, iiNet…. etc etc etc…
Lets hear from an official MF person. Surely a gaff.
Does iiNet own Westnet? Would not surprise me. Hmmmm.
Mike E. Must be pissing himself laughing at this lot going on.
12.02 – Sounds like a weak MF reply to me. ‘apparently’ – what a strange way to phrase a reply. It reminds me of people in the legal system using phrases like ‘its been suggested’, or ‘allegegly’. I mean do you know they were one tenth or not? Please confirm!
Yes 6.27, you’re right.
iiNet/Meerkats already showed us why BoB is great.
Just like Apple already showed us why the iPhone is great.
I just want to know who is giving me the best deals on them now…
4.29pm – is your agency team responsible for naming every new product your clients launch? Or is the product name sometimes predetermined? Perhaps you could ask your own planner to explain the myriad brand, product group, management and marketing stakeholders who have an interest in such decisions.
The iiNet Group (which owns Westnet), in consultation with both of its agencies, determined that Westnet’s product would also be called BoB.
The recommendations from both agencies are now irrelevant. What matters is that we created the campaign to answer the brief (even if the product name was a mandatory). Our intention was to create a campaign for Westnet’s regional audience to deliver the product benefit – cheap calls. Like it or not, it does that (well, not for 6:27, who I suspect is over thinking this in his/her own under-thinking kind of way).
Regional audience – this means that iiNet’s BoB is not known to these people, so 8:31, they don’t know anything about BoB or why it’s great, unlike you.
Yes, 7.55pm, there are budget considerations for all campaigns – but let’s not forget we’re in the business of creating solutions to clients’ business problems within the clients’ budget – not winning the collective approval of an iiNet vs Westnet creative showdown amongst introspective ‘Ad Land’ audiences (yes you 10:48am).
8:31 exactly!
10:40– What does that even mean? The ad doesn’t tell me why I should buy BoB… Plain and simple, no over (or under) thinking needed. 6:27.
Thanks for your comments Will. Interesting to read that using the name Bob was mandatory. And I can see why it wouldn’t matter so much to iinet/Westnet as the money is heading in the same direction. You’ve got to admit, although it may not have been your decision, it’s still an interesting one.
6.27 – you must be a bit thick.
I think its a great campaign – it answers the brief. I know there is a new product, that I can get cheap calls with it and it still ties back to Westnet’s brand position of ‘Humanology’ by humanising the product.
Bobisms is funny! My kind of humour!
Well done Will and team
Well said, Will. For all you campaign-slagging, jugular-lovers: BAZZINGA.