THE PRINCIPLE

Offering your product free can lead to fame and fortune

Simon Tofield didn’t set out to produce an internet phenomenon, it just turned out that way. He created some simple, funny, black-and-white animations about his cat, called, fittingly enough, ‘Simon’s Cat’. He posted them on YouTube and they became an immediate hit, with more than 20 million hits. They also won awards including Best Comedy at the British Animation Awards and YouTube’s Blockbuster Award.

Now publisher Cannongate has won a spirited auction for the world rights to two illustrated books by Tofield and they are in discussion with a number of film, television and merchandising companies about taking advantage of the Simon’s Cat brand.

The key to what may turn out to be a hugely profitable franchise was, first, a charming product with wide appeal (there is no dialogue, so the cartoons can be appreciated worldwide) and, second, exposing it for free to people who could then let all their friends know about it.

Giving things away goes counter to the old model of marketing, but via the internet it can offer you a quick way to establish yourself and create conditions for profiting massively later.