7 Up's mnemonic Fido Dido as 3D character on TV

Sumedha Srivastav - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
Many marketing professionals believe Fido Dido to be 7 Up's brand mnemonic much like the Michelin Man or the Amul girl. Now, the mascot of Pepsi's 7 Up, will soon reincarnate as a high-definition stereoscopic 3D animated character on Indian television screens.

Graphiti Multimedia, a Mumbai-based animation studio, is working on 13 one-minute Fido extreme shots, which will have a 3D Fido applying his unique fidosophies to extreme sports like wake boarding, surfing and parasailing.

Munjal Shroff, chief operating officer, Graphit Multimedia, says, "We want Fido to play an important role beside just being on commercials. Each of the 13 shots is unique. For example, in one of the shots, Fido will be seen in a boxing ring, while in another he is parasailing."

"We started working on the idea of creating extreme shots on Fido in September 2008 and are scheduled to complete it by the end of 2009. Its first cut launch will be in US on the Nicktoons channel." K Pandyan, director, Graphiti Multimedia said.

Pandyan explains that these one-minute shots will be released in English and its worldwide release will take place later. He says, "We are launching Fido as a story teller. It will take 6 months to complete all the 13 one minute Fido extreme shots. So far 5 Shots are completed the rest eight will take nearly 3 months to complete."

According to Fido Dido's co-creator and custodian, Joanna Ferrone, Fido is more than only endorsing the brand. While most people are familiar with the tale of how Fido came into being - being scrawled on a cocktail napkin by Susan Rose in 1985 - few know that he had a life beyond 7 Up.

By the time Pepsi began its association with Fido in 1989, he was already a popular character, featured on t-shirts and merchandise. Ferrone recalls, "We didn't do that just to make money, but to put across a philosophy."

Ferrone recalls, "We had Fido's credo on the back of every t-shirt which summed up the attitude of it being good to care. He became extremely popular, took off more than we'd imagined and drew the attention of Pepsi, which was looking for a hip ambassador at the time."