Besides the beach and the bubbly, the knowledge sessions are a big draw at GoaFest. Richard Pinder, COO, Publicis, during his session talked about ‘contagious’ ideas that change brand conversation. He talked about the changing world that we are living in, which is a new world of digital, mobile and viral marketing. Because of this, the way conversations transpire around brands seems to be a totally different landscape. Pinder said, “Over the next 10 years, new media will increasingly become the main media.”

If this is the case, then what contributes great advertising in the new world? Pinder explained, “Conversations are the way brands and categories live today. It may be surprising to know that 3.5 billion brand conversations happen in the US everyday, and that’s just online conversation. The numbers in India, too, may actually surprise us. So, the fact is people are talking about brands and there is no way one can manage such conversations as they are becoming faster, broader and more influential with the rise of digital.”

To prove his point further, Pinder explained that that an agency might be doing a reasonable amount of work for a client, but when one does a search on YouTube, the reality may be that the result will show stuff that’s not done by the agency and that number is staggering, which explains what is said about the brand today is largely out of control.”

Then what are the ways in which one can influence the conversation on a brand – by having more people to talk positive about the brand or fewer people speaking negative about the brand. But this is easier said than done. Brands with recommendations change the paradigm of the way brands are perceived. Hence, it’s about contagious ideas that change the conversation. Pinder presented the case study of TGIF, which used new media to create contagious ideas that helped in creating new conversation about the brand and making it relevant to its consumers.

He concluded by saying, “The creative power of great work is valuable like never before. Contagious ideas live to a new standard in today’s time. So, it’s all about a truly contagious idea that changes conversations about the brand.”