Vivo wants to create joy through superior-yet-simplified tech: Karun Arora

At the seventh edition of the exchange4media OOH Conference held in Mumbai on May 8, Karun Arora, Head of Marketing Communications at Vivo, took the stage to present the brand’s thought-provoking and emotionally resonant 'SwitchOff' campaign. In a crisp and impactful post-lunch session, Arora detailed how the initiative, rooted in human insight and driven through smart use of Out-of-Home (OOH) and digital integrations, is aimed at encouraging consumers to disconnect from their smartphones and reconnect with their families.

Arora opened his address by offering context on Vivo’s journey. “Vivo is a global brand with a strong presence in the country. We have almost 120 million smartphone users,” he said, adding that the company celebrated its 10-year anniversary in December. He emphasised that Vivo’s vision goes beyond product sales. “As a smartphone brand, we have a much bigger dream and a purpose to us. It’s not only about selling the product, but what this product can give you.”

That broader purpose, Arora explained, is encapsulated in the brand philosophy: Live the Joy. “We want to create a world of joy through superior yet simplified technology and experiences for our consumers,” he said. “We want to inspire and enable our consumers to experience joy—whether it is within, or it is about relationship or the exploration.”

But the emotional tug of modern tech usage forms the heart of the 'SwitchOff' campaign. “Technology obviously brings you closer, but technology also pushes you apart,” he observed, offering a personal anecdote about his own nuclear family, where each member, including his young children, uses a phone primarily to stay connected. “Technology is so personal, especially when it comes to smartphones.”

Vivo decided to investigate this duality in depth. “We said let’s do a deep dive understanding into what is the impact of smartphone between parent-child relationships,” he shared. The findings were startling. “Almost 7.7 hours average time is spent by parents on their smartphones daily,” he said. “One in three internet minutes can be attributed to social media platforms.” More significantly, “Three out of four kids often express their concern about their parents spending too much time on their phones. And this has been spoken by a kid itself.”

These insights laid the groundwork for the birth of the ‘SwitchOff’ campaign. “Why SwitchOff?” Arora asked rhetorically. “Our vision, our purpose is to build our products through connecting consumers. So first is of course to have a higher order stance, to have a purpose attached to it.” He emphasised that 'SwitchOff' has been a long-term platform. “It’s not that only once we have done it. It’s over six years we are building it.”

In 2024, the campaign evolved from raising awareness to sparking behavioral change. “We felt that okay, we have been communicating about SwitchOff to our consumers… but we need to push ourselves a little bit more and add some kind of behavioral change,” he said, referring to everyday tech-free moments like family dinners or bedtime.

This year, the brand took its OOH strategy up a notch. “We used technology, we used digital OH, we also did activation with relevant restaurants to go into the consumer and make them experience what SwitchOff means to them.” One such example was a creative partnership with Gola Sizzler. “What we did very simply, we planted—there was a manager from SwitchOff, we called that person. We took up that place and said Gola, okay, we want to activate SwitchOff,” Arora said. At the restaurant, guests were gently encouraged to put their phones away and engage in real conversations.

The campaign also leveraged e-commerce platforms with contextual messaging. “During weekends in the evening on Friday, we noticed that usually you look for chips or you look for cold drinks, snacks. We said, okay, fine, can we add contextual messaging there?”

In closing, Arora underlined the campaign’s mission. “2024, we tried using SwitchOff campaign in much more meaningful way through digital, through social media and through in-app activations.”

He left the audience with both a challenge and an invitation—urging marketers and consumers alike to consider what truly meaningful connections look like in a hyper-digital world.