India’s GoaFest: Uncertainty is also part of life, the democratization of creativity on a global level, and no bullshit from DDB’s CCO Amir Kassaei

Over this past weekend Claire Davidson (pictured below on right), Executive Producer, ASIA and MENA @ The SweetShop attended GoaFest 2013 in Goa, India. It’s India’s largest advertising festival, with well over 3,000 delegates. Here Davidson gives a comprehensive rundown of the seminars from the two day festival.

The 8th South East Asian advertising festival, Goafest, commenced today in iconic Indian style.

Held in Goa, on India’s west coast at the delightful Zuri White Sands Resort, the two day event features numerous key speakers, knowledge seminars, a Marketing Wizards initiative for young delegates, and of course awards for the best of the best, held this evening and again tomorrow night.

The theme for Goafest this year is ‘Just What You Unexpected’. 

The key focus here is to celebrate excellence in both creativity and the power of ideas, and with over 3000 delegates in attendance and more than 5000 entries in the awards, we should be in for a fun couple of days.

Day One’s seminars were both interesting and informative.  First up was Roger Mulchandani (below), Director of Warc Asia Pacific. Mulchandani’s topic was “Seriously Social”. He started by telling us that today everybody wants to talk about social media.  Everyone has an option on social media.  It’s always a hot topic at advertising festivals. Moving beyond the hype research shows that ‘the power of social media is that it is a tactic, looking for a strategy’; advice given to us by the Head of Samsung.

One of Warc’s focuses is on case study analysis, and reporting on smarter social marketing – pertinent as today’s statistics indicate that over half of all marketing campaigns use social media.  The key now is to create content that people want to share.  Attributes in the studies that made content sharable included the following 7 elements:

Broke rules or taboos;

Enabled users to co-create. Looking at Coca Cola on YouTube, only 10% of content is work commissioned and created by Coke itself. 90% is created by users;

Provided utility by saving time and money. Take the Nike Fuel Band and the company’s current philosophy ‘This isn’t marketing any more. This is how we do business’;

Advocated a cause that provoked or inspired;

Used humour;

Made quirky use of celebrities; and

Deployed media surprisingly;

Consumers need to be able to create what they want, when they want, and the key for clients is getting the brand idea right. Mulchandani touts the following three tips for getting real bang for your social media buck:

1. Focus on content sharing;

2. Use insight to create currency for the audience; and

3. Treat the consumer as the ‘hero’, and not the brand as ‘hero’

TV nowadays has a different purpose. It’s TV + Social. It’s integrated, and not TV or Social.  TV is now used to explain things briefly, then direct viewers to somewhere else – ie the digital environment.  Digital’s job is to give people things to share, things to do, questions about a brand – to engage them and drive the purchase. 

Nick Vale, Global Planning Director for Maxus Worldwide brought us “What Does Great Work Look Like in Our Changing World?”  With his key focus on media, communications and ideas, Vale believes our business is going through a very interesting period.

Over time, people have been influenced by word of mouth, followed by broadcast media – starting with the invention of the printing press, then (arguably) climaxing in the US on the night of Feb 28th, 1983 with the highest-ranking TV viewership in history – the final episode of M.A.S.H. 

Since then, messages and communication seemed to be on the decline, until da da da daaaaa Mark Zuckerburg and his Feb 4th, 2004 launch of our good friend Facie. This was the commencement of proper social media as we know it.  It was then that we were able to start focusing on the individual, collecting data on the individual, and speaking to the individual directly.

Vale went on to say that with all these streams for communication currently available to us, and all these directions we can currently go in, it can get pretty confusing.  There’s a whole lot of not-particularly-useful information out there, lurking around corners or down blind alleys.  Some might bring a little bit of fluffy excitement for today, but looking at the sheer amount of data available to us, and avenues for consumer connection, what should we be learning from and developing further?

Vale believes there are 5 key areas we should explore:

1.  Movement from big ideas to long ideas.  Bigness doesn’t really measure anything.  Does it mean good?  Strategic?  Can it translate across different disciplines? Does it provide the glue to create links?  Is it really exciting?

Long ideas are tangible – you can see them and point at them.  They aren’t just a couple of words.  Nike Plus is a great example, evolving over time to meet Nike’s business needs, and the needs of its consumers.  It always has a backbone and Nike can change it, improve it and spin things off it;

2.  Digital ideas that live beyond the screen.  Cool digital stuff exists off screen as well.  Now we’re in the business of augmenting humanity with user-friendly technology that lives amongst us every day and makes our lives better.  Nike’s chalkbot is a good example.

3. Storytelling across channels.  Smart media planning (with great creative, naturally) will allow a brand to tell a story outside of 30 seconds, and across multiple channels.  Understanding which channel can best portray a message, and portray it over a long period of time is the tricky part.

4. Social media at the heart of the campaign.  Creating beautifully social ideas, to live socially.  Contrasting Mulchandani’s view above, Vale believes you don’t necessarily have to use paid media to direct people to the internet to share it.   A good example is the Vodafone / Cricket Australia campaign.

5.  From participation to scaled protagonism. We need to encourage people to participate with the brand. This could be an event (such as GoaFest), a promotion or a piece of content that people interact with in some way. Another good example is the Australian Coke campaign in which Coke put consumers’ names on their bottles and cans – making the consumer feel valued and important.

Vale left us quoting Bon Jovi and ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’.  He warned us not to get carried away with all the shiny new toys from this era – as the fundamentals remain valid and we can’t lose sight of those. We need thought-provoking, brave commercial ideas, rooted in simplicity.

Ray Velez, Chief Technology Officer of Razor Fish, spoke about “Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology”, and gave us a formula to focus on for the duration of his talk: Technology + Media + Creativity = New Brand Experiences.

He says we have a new palette of media, which allows for a conversation. Today the customer has a voice to talk back – it’s no longer a one-way street. This allows us to dream up and enable customer experiences like never before.  So how do brands evolve their businesses to change their thinking and embrace this?

Put the customer at the centre. Think of your brand as
a service. Reject silos, act like a start-up and embrace diversity;

Your organization must be structured around the customer;

Your strategy must be based on data from actual customer activity. Netflix is the perfect example of this. As they stream video, they are collecting customer data, and ooh hello soon enough we find ourselves all watching House of Cards made just for us;

Incentivize collaboration within company functions and even the consumer; and

Meet the Makers Movement.

The final speaker for the day was Dave Alberts (left), CCO of MoFilm, who discussed the “Democratization of Creativity”. Alberts refers to Mo Film as the biggest creative department in the world, with a tiny 65,000 filmmakers from 140 countries around the globe. It’s definitely the most successful crowd-sourcing company we have seen, having produced over 15,000 films to date. These filmmakers work with some of the largest clients in the world, including PlayStation, Mountain Dew, Coca Cola, Unilever and P&G.

As with everything we know and love, it starts with a brief.  The filmmakers take the brief, make the project with their own money, then present it to the decision makers – who choose five to broadcast or integrate. MoFilm provides a stage for creative people to demonstrate their work – which can be anything from animation to advertising, webisodes to documentaries brought together by events and celebrities.

Democratization of Creativity is the creative that comes from total freedom. You make the film/project that you want to make (novel!).

Traditionally speaking – with a client to an agency to a film director – there may be 30 or 40 people involved in the production process. With MoFilm’s approach, it’s just you. MoFilm prides itself on thinking globally and executing locally, or thinking locally and executing globally.

Interestingly enough, the MoFilm seminar was the least well-attended today. I think everyone here was terrified they might soon lose their jobs if MoFilm continues its rise in the marketplace.

So really, we’ve already had a taste of ‘Just What You Unexpected’ in the lead up to this year’s festival – it’s all been terribly exciting. 

The first shock came as Ogilvy – the biggest hitter in India, and dominant power winner of many prior awards – pulled out of the competition. This was followed by Sajan Raj Kurup, chairperson of the Digital Jury at Goafest, withdrawing from judging and yanking all entries and all involvement from his agency – Creativeland Asia.

Kurup’s dramatic decision to step down was apparently ‘an award hunger strike’, to drum up awareness of what he says are the scams occurring within the advertising culture here. 

Hmmm maybe he’s talking about the fiasco two weeks ago with JWT India and their sexually inappropriate Ford Figo campaign ‘mistakenly’ being client presented and approved, ‘mistakenly’ published and released for all of us to see, and then ‘mistakenly’ entered into Goafest oopsie…  As we know this created waves in the industry on an international scale – with National CCO Bobby Pawar, plus two of his senior executives axed from the agency, as well as the executive at Ford (who endorsed the ads) also let go.

However judging by the activities today, and the healthy numbers attending the festival, India is on track to put that nasty, negative ‘Unexpected’ juju behind them, and get back on track with a more positive and inspiring connotation.  Let’s see what day two delivers tomorrow…

Right now I’m off to see the first Awards Show – tonight’s categories include the Media, Digital, Mobile, Design and Direct Awards.

Day Two – Spiritual Keynote Speaker Swami Sukhabodhananda was our opener today, with his entertaining “Uncertainty is also part of life.” What a cracking way to start Day two – a stand up comedy seminar – brilliant!  With his material about taxi drivers, lorry drivers, God, fish, sportsmen, bosses, receptionists, wives, husbands, neighbours’ wives, neighbours’ husbands, nagging, Sukhabodhananda had us captivated from the very beginning.

Nicknamed ‘the Corporate Guru’, he threw out a whole range of questions and statements for us to ponder. 

How many of us never think, but think we do?  

Are you following…? 

Sukhabodhananda concluded by telling us if you didn’t understand what he just spoke about, simply enjoy the fact that you didn’t understand it. 

Excellent, that’s what we like to hear.  He was given a standing ovation.  Let’s see if we can all put this into business practice…

After Sukhabodhananda’s talk we all w
ent outside to either participate in or watch the rain dance from the sideline.  The photos should speak for themselves.

Tom Bernardin from Leo Burnett was up next, bringing us “Specialisation and Integration”.  Integration has been an agency buzz word for a long time, but how do we do it correctly?  How do we deliver that clear and consistent brand idea and message?  Clients want specialisation that helps drive integration.

Leo Burnett champions social media, mobile, shopper and design as crucial to growth. Social has not always been easy to execute successfully. Bernardin believes that Holler is one of the best companies in the world at doing this, and also referenced the Coke Polar Bear campaign as a good case study of integration with relation to social and mobile.

When it came to the shopper, he referenced the IKEA human coupon campaign. For design, it was Nike, IKEA, Smirnoff, Fiat and Uno as examples. 

Speaking from his own company’s experience, Bernardin took us through the McDonalds/ London Olympics 2012 case study, praising the fast food giant’s openness to an integrated strategy.

Shiv Singh, the Global Digital Head at Pepsi, commenced his talk by drinking some Pepsi.  After hydrating, he told us “No One Cares about Marketing. Do What Matters”.  He warned us that he might lose his job today based on his speech content – he wants to shake up all things marketing.  Turn marketing on his head…

1. Leave Marketing Behind in the traditional sense.  We looked at Beyonce’s message 04.04.2013 9am EDT #BeyHereNow.  This one message caused an uproar among her fans, consumers, and the media.  What is Beyonce doing? What is she about to do? Is she releasing a new single or album? Is she having another baby? Is she retiring from the industry?  From CNN to Perez Hilton to E this created a firestorm in the industry.  Everyone was wondering what she was about to do.  No one spoke to the press, this did not run on air anywhere, rumours spread like wildfire across the internet and on TV too, and Pepsi refused to comment.  All the conversations online were about Beyonce, not about Pepsi.  Pepsi had contracted her for a small fortune to be their celebrity ambassador, but they weren’t part of this buzz.  Where was the return for them?  Well it soon came, as it was revealed she was releasing a new song online around the world in collaboration with Pepsi.

2. Think about lifestyle experience, not more ads.  It’s about living in culture, being ready to respond, and not taking yourself too seriously.

3.  Bet on Facebook Buffy, in fact overinvest there. Singh believes immensely in the platform.  Having a lot of likes on facebook is like having a lot of empty chairs in a ballroom.  You need people sitting on those chairs.  Have a smaller room with lots of highly engaging people sitting on them is what is required. A facebook post can be as powerful as a 30 sec spot.  Pepsi are monitoring posts and when they have seen a positive and growing post they will often put a little bit of money behind it.  This simple act has caused growth of 179% of people engaging and 1133% viral reach generated.  It’s the power of digital and data combined.

4. Develop a 365 Day Culture mindset.  Pepsi looked at Twitter and at music.  Pepsi has a deep heritage with music.  They analysed music on twitter looking at the songs that were most talked about as well as popular albums and artists.  Pepsi then gave a song free to subscribers once a week for 52 weeks a year.  And they ran twitter feed concerts where fans could influence playlists etc that they would live stream.  This saw immense engagement online.  30% of music conversations online now involved Pepsi.  This in turn drove an increase in purchase.

5.  The India Opportunity.  India has made a name for itself as a true global power in so many areas of business and industry, but not yet in marketing and advertising – and it’s time to capitalize on this.  Indians have the talent, the capability and the drive, and there is no reason this shouldn’t translate across the advertising space as well.

Next to the stage was Abishek Kapoor, Bollywood Director and local celebrity. Kapoor hasn’t ever spoken to advertising folk like us in a festival setting before, and decided to talk about his early life – failure and success.  He grew up in a film-y family and with film-y friends, and commenced his career as an actor.

He wasn’t happy acting.  He then invested in a start up. He still wasn’t happy, so started to write.

Without backing, he wrote a film script. Talking to his friends and peers, eventually over five years he drummed up enough funding to produce the film.  Despite a run on TV, then a cinema release 12 months later, the film flopped.  Kapoor was satisfied though – feeling he could finally put this to bed.

His next film took eight months to produce, and this time it was a success.  So after a lacklustre career with multiple setbacks during a 15-year period, he was finally on his way.  But Kapoor still questions why is it so difficult to do what you want to do and what you believe in?

He encourages us to keep the passion alive.  He’s very humble about his failures, and feels that success is just the garnish.  He attributes nearly all of his success to his failures.  He follows the ‘never give up’ mantra – no matter how hard it might be to achieve you dreams.  

The final knowledge seminar was the much-anticipated talk by Amir Kassaei, the Global Chief Creative Officer of DDB Worldwide. Kassaei spoke on the “New Creative Revolution”.  He began by telling us that we will not hear any bullshit today.

He’s a creative.  

So no bullshit. (Mass cheering from the crowd)

Kassaei told us that we are living in an intersection of a time – during the next 10-15 years we will see a lot of changes, and advertising is only one element that will be affected.

Kassaei identifies the first creative revolution in advertising as the period 1960-1995, but feels the last innovation that happened in advertising was 70 years ago – and no other industry other than ours is quite this backward.  What we desperately need now is another innovation.

Back in 1950 DDB opened, and started to see things in a different way; they thought of customers as human beings, not a
s monkeys. Revolutionary! It was an age of awareness and seduction. 1995 brought us the internet and a new age, one of digital & fragmentation, and it seems this age is ending and we’re on the cusp of entering another.

He believes that during the next decade or two we will see three main changes in the world:

1. Technology – everything will be connected.  There won’t be a difference any more between online and offline.  It will change the way companies are producing, distributing and communicating;

2. Many people in the world are asking themselves what they need to do to be a happy human being.  Do I need the latest car, the best fashion, to have big money?  The focus is on the mindset of the people, based on what is going on on this planet;

3. The system of capitalism is no longer working.  We are living in a system crisis, not a financial crisis. Growth should not just be related to quantity – in free markets of the past, quality would always win.

Kassaei feels this new age will be the age of Brand Networks.  You need to deliver on every single touchpoint for your customer.  You can no longer bullshit.  You have to walk the talk now.  Ooh I like that. 

You have to live the purpose – not just claim the purpose. 

For the first time as human beings, everybody knows everything in real time. The main company doing this already is Apple. The genius of the brand is around the touchpoints for their customers – not their advertising. They have stores relevant to the customers for them to experience, and talk about in this digital infrastructure. You need to build the brand network. You don’t have to do something completely new – just refocus.

There are two key words here – social and creativity.  Social meaning deep respect for human beings to add value to their lives.  Creativity meaning combining creative talent with know-how.

The job we have is to find / create the relevant truth, deliver it in a fresh way, and people will care.  It was founded in the 50’s and it will never change.  We have 1000 different ways of doing this today and we should use those.

Quoting Steve Jobs, “technology is not enough, it’s married with the liberal arts and the humanities”.  This is an asset that we, as an industry, have. Technology is not replacing an idea – just use it as a tool to make the idea happen.

Kassaei gave us some further words of wisdom to follow…

Treat people as friends, not as target groups.

Digital is not a media. This is why currently a lot of online campaigns are not working. Digital is an infrastructure. If you do your homework, however, you can build a community around your brand. Change the perception.

Keep the idea simple. The customer wants to say I care about it, it’s adding value to my life, and I want to share it with my friends because I like it. Make it relevant to real life and to their life.

Creativity is effectiveness. Creativity in our industry is about creating results. If you believe you are an artist, you are in the wrong industry. You have to prove to the client that your solution is the most effective for their brand.

You almost have the solution if you define the problem correctly. Spend time defining the problem of your client’s brand. Is it sales, awareness, product likeability?

The brand is about one fact – the sum of all of the experiences you make as a company. You have a clear responsibility. It’s about delivering. It’s not about promising. If you promise happiness, you should deliver happiness. If you promise freedom, you should deliver freedom.

Kassaei closed by telling us if you believe you are in the advertising business you should leave the room straight away. 

We are in the business of making our clients’ brands relevant.  It’s not about winning awards (uh oh).  Use your creative talent to help your client and change the world for the better. If you just care about winning awards, the only thing you’ll be good at is winning awards. You have a problem and that’s not our business.

The best advertising does not look like advertising.  People care about what is interesting.

Stop thinking about awareness.  It’s more important to create relevance.

Kassaei was given the second standing ovation of the Festival.

Again, it’s time for the awards now. In store tonight are Print & Print Craft, Film & Film Craft, Outdoor & Ambient, Radio & Radio Craft, Integrated and Branded Content. Call me crazy, but I have a hunch Kassaei might not be attending…?

Claire Davidson (pictured left), Executive Producer, ASIA and MENA @ The SweetShop reporting for Campaign Brief Asia at Goafest 2013.