Cell C vs Vodacom: Who has the power?
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C have been engaged in numerous battles surrounding their advertising campaigns – all ending up at the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA).
In the latest action Vodacom lodged an ASA complaint against Cell C’s ‘Woza Whenever’ promotion which provides subscribers with “100% more minutes each time you recharge.”
It is however not the offer itself which got Vodacom and Vodafone hot under the collar, but rather Cell C’s use of the term ‘Power to you’ which appeared in both print advertising and TV commercials.
According to Vodafone, which holds a majority stake in Vodacom, it has been using the tagline “Power to you” in the company’s global marketing campaign (which included South Africa) in 2009.
“This unauthorised and offending use of the slogan was blatantly and slavishly misappropriated [with] the advertiser passing it off as its own,” said Spoor & Fisher attorneys, which acted on behalf of Vodafone and Vodacom.
Cell C responded, saying that it has recently re-launched its brand image, and adopted the pay off line “The power is in your hands.”
“Cell C has adopted a consumer focused, complaint reactive approach – putting the power in the consumers’ hands,” Cell C said.
Cell C added that it widely registered trademarks for “the power is in your hands” as well as “power to you” as part of the brand protection around the pay off line.
“The reason for this is that its intention is to build goodwill not only in the ‘power is in your hands’ line, but in the whole ‘power’ concept. The slogan ‘power to you’ has been registered as a trademark for Cell C, and this was done prior to Vodafone/Vodacom’s applications for the same trademark,” Cell C said.
“All the ‘POWER TO YOU’ advertising that Vodafone used in South Africa appears to link to Vodafone, and is clearly addressed to the Vodafone customer travelling in South Africa, not the Vodacom customer,” Cell C said.
The ASA was not convinced by Cell C’s arguments, saying that it felt that Cell C imitated the slogan “POWER TO YOU,” and has therefore contravened the advertising code of the ASA.
“Cell C submitted that it has registered the slogan with the registrar, but no such proof was submitted. In the circumstances, it is reasonable to deduce that Cell C did imitate Vodafone’s slogan,” the ASA said.
The ASA ordered Cell C to withdraw its “Power to you” advertising, adding that the term may not be used again by Cell C in its current format.
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