Ghosty and #MustDo's of Security

Security practices are a very serious concern for an organization, so it is very important to make security practices training/communication fun!

It is an established fact that a happy mind is the most receptive mind. Vodafone known for their famous "Zoozoos" understood this well. Also, they believed in the "Power of Animation". They developed a character named "Ghosty" to drive their "Corporate Safety Practices" Communication within the organization. The entire communication was distilled into 5 essential "Must Do's".

Ghosty is a malicious tech savvy ghost always on the lookout for an employee to make a mistake to steal confidential information.

The concepts/storylines were to be developed in a fresh art style aligned to the Vodafone Branding. To make the videos relevant to all, Vodafone offices across the globe (including non-English speaking regions) the videos needed to have "no" Voice overs and least possible Text on screen. Also, the videos were to be played on various screens mounted across the organization on "mute" which made the task more challenging.

Multiple art styles were explored from semi-realistic cartoon styles to abstract human forms keeping in mind the "ghosty" character developed in "Line art Style" to be integrated into it. The team at Vodafone was all up for breaking the norms and went ahead with Girgits recommendation (4). The characters were derived from simple absurd shapes with a prominent face allowing maximum canvas for them to emote and express. Realistic depiction of hair/skin colors were avoided and a balanced representation of male/female genders was ensured.

Multiple story drafts were developed, tweaked and modified with inputs from the Vodafone Team making each story wackier than the other. The effort was to try and get across the messaging in a fun fashion by exaggerating the outcomes of fallout by the stakeholder. Girgits are master at crafting such stories within given constraints and filling each shot with fun nuances that would make the audience want to watch the videos multiple times.

A jolly upbeat soundtrack was picked to compliment the videos and mixed to enhance the animated nuances, for occasions where there was a possibility to view it with audio.

The #MustDo video series

The First video was on "Lock your devices". In a modern scenario, people own multiple devices to access their official work apps. It is important to remember to lock every such device when not in use. If any such device is left unlocked and unattended one could compromise confidential information, passwords, etc. The closing line reminds you of being a superhero who cannot afford to make such mistakes!

The second video was on "Clear your desk". In the haste of leaving, many a time one tends to forget to clear one's desk of documents or notes, leave printouts in the printer/scanner or leave notes on whiteboards after important strategic meetings. Such actions can make one the weak link in leaking compromising important/confidential information. Inspired from King-kong/Godzilla the video cautions one against it.

We all have been in situations when we had to take that urgent call while we are just about to board the flight...or when we are opening our heart out to our colleague while on the go in a public transport citing the announcement made during the town-hall...or pull out our laptops to send that urgent email while at a cafe. If we are not careful enough we might be unknowingly revealing sensitive information to our competition. Hence this 3rd video on "Be mindful of your surroundings".

This 4th one on phishing is relatable to all whether working in corporate or not. Cause we all have got those "too good to be true" emails saying we won millions of dollars that we can claim by simply sharing some inSIGNIFICANT details about ourselves. If we turn our deaf ears to our inner intelligence yelling at us saying "THIS IS SCAM!!!" we find making a fool out of ourselves.

The last video in the series was about being alert and responsible by preventing others from faltering on security protocols.

Launching the videos

The videos were well received by everyone at Vodafone across the globe and became a cafeteria conversation starter for security practices.

With organizations increasingly focusing on improving employee experience, the communications made to them must catch up too. Animation if used suitably keeping in mind the audience and objective of the communication can ensure astounding effectiveness and engagement.