A cat with attitude

FCB Johannesburg says it has been tickling the South African viewer's funny bone with its zany new television commercial for client Vodacom. The 45-second commercial flighting on national TV for Vodafone Live! features an animated Meerkat (so that's what it was?!) performing a "striptease" to the tune 'I believe in Miracles' by Hot Chocolate.

23 May 2005

The Meerkat ad was conceptualised by FCB Johannesburg's creative director team of Mike Barnwell and Catherine Thomson. On the production front, Ministry Of Illusion and Animmate who worked to tight deadlines to meet Vodacom's launch requirements.

FCB's executive creative director Brett Morris explained that the Meerkat character was designed with one goal in mind - to illustrate that, with Vodafone Live!, users really do get pretty much any form of entertainment on their phones: "To appeal to the youth market, we needed to break the mould and come up with a device or character that had never been seen before...

"So although our character is animated, he's not your regular, cutesy cartoon character. The Vodafone Live! Meerkat has some serious attitude!"