Vodacom launches mobile soapie

“It is incredibly exciting for us to be able to offer our customers the first-ever soapie designed for cellphones and moreover, because the mobi-soap is ad-sponsored, Vodacom customers can watch it free of charge,” says Shameel Joosub, MD, Vodacom South Africa.

Mobile advertising is personal, always-on, presented at the point of creative impulse and the first media where the audience can be accurately identified - a new advertising channel just as effective as television.

“There are more cellphones in the world than all televisions and PCs combined and mobile is emerging as the seventh mass medium for marketers,” Joosub continues. “It [mobile] rivals Print, Recordings, Cinema, Radio, TV and Internet mediums and due to its wide reach, for the first time provides a comparable channel to outdoor advertising.

“Mobile media is quickly becoming massive-customised media and the cellphone is at the cutting edge of this revolution. Entering this space is in line with Vodacom's strategy to diversify into multimedia.

Sponsored by Nokia

SoLikeLife was produced for mobile by Ochre Moving Pictures and is sponsored by Nokia. It tells the story of two 20-something South Africans who meet, fall in love and are drawn into a relationship, within a virtual world that plays out on the cellphone. Although the storyline contains all the elements of a traditional soapie, including drama, romance and comedy, SoLikeLife breaks all the conventions of traditional TV as it is presented from the perspective of the two central characters - offering viewers a fly-on-the-wall, voyeuristic perspective of a relationship unfolding in a digital age.

Vodafone life! customers can choose to view the story as it unfolds, free of charge, by downloading a new episode to their phones daily. The first series of the mobi-soap consists of 40 mobisodes (episodes).

SoLikeLife will run for two months, with one new episode added daily from Monday to Friday, and each previous mobisode will remain available for viewing.

To view SoLikeLife on a 2.5G & 3G WAP-enabled cellphone, Vodafone live! users can go to the “Celeb & Entertainment” section on the Vodafone live! menu, or Vodacom customers can send an SMS with the keyword “SLL” to 31116 (50c per SMS) and follow the link provided in the return message. While the soapie can also be viewed by non-Vodacom customers, only the content will be free.