BANGALORE, INDIA: They look like the ETs in the comic books. And they speak an alien language. Still everybody understands what they say (what Vodafone has to say about its value-added services). They are ZooZoos, the egg-headed creatures that have taken the Vodafone brand to new heights.

If you thought the Vodafone-ZooZoos TV commercials have taken only the ad-world by storm, you may better leave that notion once and for all.

The world is much wider for them, as wide as the World Wide Web! Almost every social networking site has ZooZoos brand pages and admirers are following it crazily.

 “They are so cute, they remind me of Casper who was my favourite cartoon,” says an admirer, Khialani, on Facebook. However, Zoozoos are not cartoon characters.

Though they look like animated characters, the Zoozoos are actually human beings who were made to wear body suits. And the shooting was done in Africa. As of now the Zoozoos page on Facebook has more than 65,000 members, which is a rare distinction for any advertisement character.

Even the Facebook groups created after the Mumbai terror attack or the Pink Chaddi campaign following the pub attack in Mangalore didn't have that much of followers. Not even our politicians who follow the path of Obama to record an electoral victory has that much fans following them.

Interestingly, Vodafone has a special quiz page to know 'What kind of Zoozoo are you'. And yet another page allows you to download wallpapers, mobile wallpapers and screensavers. On YouTube too ZooZoos are real sensation.

One ad about beauty tips over the phone, was reportedly viewed 13,000 times on YouTube, in a few days. On Twitter Zoozoos have nearly 150 followers.

According to Neo@Ogilvy, the digital arm of O&M, which is managing the Facebook brand page of Zoozoos, the page has received more than 2.6 million page views till last week, since its launch on April 20. Curiously enough this is much higher than the page views of IPLT20.com, the website of Indian Premier League, of which Vodafone is a partner.

And ZooZoos are real stars during the ad breaks of the IPL. Is it that they are posing a potential threat to bat-holding brand ambassadors? What makes them so lovable, one may wonder.

According to Rajiv Rao, executive creative director of O&M, which created ZooZoos, “What makes them so endearing is that they are innocent people living in a simple world unlike ours, who laugh loud when they laugh.”

Last year, Vodafone advertisement featuring the popular pug dog had invited the wrath of Animal Welfare Board. Hope the new series will not invite some alien anger!