Goafest 2010: "Don't be a printosaurus": Andy Greenaway

Andy Greenaway, regional creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi, spoke about the end of broadcast as we know it, and the beginning of participation

Andy Greenaway, regional creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi began his presentation at the Goafest with the words, "Don't worry, this is not just another presentation on social media!" While that had the audience chuckling -- going by the number of presentations on the subject at the Goafest this year -- Greenaway launched into facts about internet consumption around the world.

He stated that the internet was exploding with one billion users worldwide; China was the number one internet market in the world; with 400 million Facebook users in the world, the site was capable of being a country on its own; and one out of every eight couples married in the US last year met online.

Coming to India, he said that it was the fourth largest internet market in the world with just 7 per cent penetration; and while India had less than 13 million internet users in 2008, this figure now stands at 81 million.

"Newspaper readership is going down globally…there's a new dynamic relationship that has evolved between people and brands," Greenaway said. "You have two options: you can either embrace this new world; or you can be what my art guy coined - a printosaurus."

He was referring to the mindset that believes the internet is just a passing fad, but still wants to keep an eye on it, just in case it is something to watch out for. "Let's face it, the internet has changed things forever, and newspapers aren't resurging anytime soon," he said. "This is the end of broadcast as we know it, and the beginning of participation." What this is not, he said, is the end of ideas; what, in Saatchi terms, is referred to as 'The Happenings'.

Greenaway went on to cite the various models that can be used to communicate effectively in this changing consumer-brand equation, the first being the Entertainment Model. This model involves three stages: Create (content), Promote and Infect.

"Most clients are risk averse and hence shy away from creating entertaining content," Greenaway admitted, citing the Cadbury 'Gorilla' film as a path-breaking example of a brave client who embraced this model; that too when the commercial had flopped during the testing stage in a Millward Brown study (Cadbury subsequently changed its research firm). However, the client went ahead with the commercial anyway, and it was a runaway success, particularly on YouTube.

The 'promote' stage involves the use of relevant media, be it TV, cinema, other screens, mobile phones, or YouTube. The 'infect' stage is about allowing the content to spread like a virus, particularly online, on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and so on. He cited the case of T-Mobile, a brand that spent £5 million on a flash mob activity, the videos of which spread like wildfire on the internet.

The activity, conducted in January 2009, had scores of people suddenly break into different forms of dance at a subway in the UK. Their antics on the station, which lasted a few minutes, were captured on videos by the brand and put up on the Web, where they became a huge talking point. The tagline of the brand captured it all: 'Life's for sharing'.

The second model that Greenaway spoke of was the Creative Platform Model. The first stage would be recruiting the platform; followed by promoting it (on TV, print, radio, outdoor, search, blogs and social networking sites); creating involvement and 'infecting' people. An example here would be how Sony Ericsson battled its plummeting market shares over the last three years - largely due to sophisticated devices and PDAs by the competition - with the creation of the 'hopper' concept.

The brand shot large-scale videos of people seated on balloon shaped 'hoppers', and bobbing about the streets of a city, until it becomes a movement of sorts and the whole city is submerged in the Sony Ericsson hopper culture. A website, www.hopperinvasion.com, was created to support the activity, where the videos were open to be viewed by the public. People were even invited to create their own videos, through which a sense of involvement was generated. Needless to say, the buzz worked, and 3.2 million people saw the 'Hopper Invasion' on its website, as well as on YouTube.

Greenaway concluded with quick points on what the new principles of communication are. "Don't broadcast. Attract," he said. "Use traditional media differently. Employ advocates. Involve, encourage participation. And lastly, don't be a printosaurus…don't die!"