Carphone Warehouse unboxes classic mascot Mowbli with a modern twist
Carphone Warehouse has resurrected its classic mascot Mowbli with a new look, modernising the blocky Nokia-style character to reflect the latest smartphones.
Mowbli returns
Mowbli was put in a box and buried in 2008, but the mascot returns to the front of the brand’s marketing efforts with an unboxing video from tech influencer Super Saf.
In it, Mowbli makes a brief appearance before escaping the frame, with viewers informed that the hunt for the character is on, a search that will culminate in the brand’s upcoming engagement efforts. Those who succeed in the yet undefined hunt will be in with a chance of winning the new iPhone X.
Georgina Bramall, head of brand and advertising at Carphone Warehouse talked The Drum through the resurrection and what is to come from the Mowbli. She said: “We have always had Mowbli as part of our heritage, he has been around a long time, but the market has moved significantly. We are bringing a character back that is familiar, it felt like a real natural return home, he brings us a lot of charm but he has been reimagined.”
The brand looks to underline that the mobile is central to modern life, but also use Mowbli to announce its expansion between mobile comparison into new tech areas and products.
The figure makes a brief appearance in the ad, and does not speak. Bramall hints that Mowbli’s voice will tie into the upcoming campaign pointing to the importance of voice assistants like Alexa, Cortana and Siri in modern life.
On revealing the return with an unboxing, Bramall stated that this is an area the brand is familiar with having broken records unboxing phones in weird places like underwater.
“We are using customer insight to get to the heart of the issues, consumers appreciate our independence and expert advice. We are pivoting the business into different comparison categories, they can continue to shop with us there but we are extending our expertise into other markets where they can get the same level of help.”
In 2018 the mobile comparison brand now offers deals in TV, broadband and energy tariffs.
The campaign kicks off 1 February online and in print.