One of the great things about being a company that operates in over 70 countries is the imaginative and inspiring ideas from the creative minds across the entities. To celebrate its 10 year anniversary at the start of this year, the foodpanda team set out on a very special cross company project; to bring to life their new brand ambassador, and as a result Pau-Pau was born. Described as a personification of the brand, read on to find out more about what it took to bring this cute panda to life.
As foodpanda approached its 10th birthday, the team wanted to find a way to unify the brand across Asia, in a unique fashion that would be the first of its kind among food delivery platforms in the region. This is how Pau-Pau came to life. He was first introduced in December 2021, as the new face of the foodpanda brand, complete with his personalized identity and values. Pau-Pau was created to be a symbol of championing empowerment and sustainability, values close to not only foodpanda but also Delivery Hero’s heart.
Who is Pau-Pau?
Cheeky and boldly pink, Pau-Pau was made to embody the fun, warm, and vibrant personality of foodpanda. With a mischievous glint in his eye Pau-Pau made his first appearance in Japan, Taiwan, and Cambodia. From there he was rolled out in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Laos, before being launched across the rest of the foodpanda network. By Q2 2022, Pau-Pau had become a familiar sight to millions of people across 11 markets in Asia.
A big part of bringing Pau-Pau to life was determining what he should look like. The initial spark was to give the already existing panda logo a body. From there the ball began rolling as the various teams collaborated to bring the vision to life. Soon the idea was expanded from just creating a new look for the panda, to combining projects and giving Pau-Pau his entire universe (his own pandaverse!) to live in. Pau-Pau’s creation opened the door to endless opportunities to build the foodpanda brand beyond traditional advertising, like exclusive merchandise brand collaborations (Pau-Pau ice cream, anyone?) to sticker sets on Telegram and LINE or even AR filters so Pau-Pau can connect with consumers on a deeper level, beyond just a foodpanda order. The internal team collaborated with an external film company to bring a 3D version of Pau-Pau’s world to life, showing the customer what Pau-Pau does inside their phones when an order is placed.
In creating Pau-Pau, we wanted him to also have a dimension of purpose — that he stands for something more than just being an adorable mascot. Pau-Pau embodies and brings to life the foodpanda spirit by helping our communities reimagine how they use delivery and thereby adding vibrancy and fun in their lives.
Eunha Bhang, Chief Creative Officer, Delivery Hero Asia.
The next phase will be to introduce him in the Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
His own personality
To make Pau-Pau truly unique he was given his own language: Pandanese. Before settling on the name Pau-Pau the team tried 30-40 different name ideas such as Peter Panda, Kingster, and even just Peter. However finally they decided upon an easy to pronounce name that even a real human baby could say. The winning name was based on the paw of a panda, originally being called Paw-Paw the team played around with the name to give it a more original spin and finally Pau-Pau was born.
Pau-Pau is most passionate about three things — living life on one’s own terms, the environment, and food and fun. As a platform, foodpanda is an enabler of convenience for customers, freeing up their precious time by making it easier to get food and groceries delivered quickly around the clock.
Brand ambassadors such as Pau-Pau and the visual consistency they provide are vital in contributing to a harmonious company culture and caring for our entire ecosystem in a way that is complementary of our core values. With his cheeky personality and mischievous glint Pau-Pau is a delight to the entire Delivery Hero team and beyond. Find more about what Pau-Pau has been up to here.
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