DIARY: Stories we could tell ... Griffith's latent X-factor wows kids

<p>Here's a story to warm the cockles of one's heart, and don't we all </p><p>need a strong dose of feel-good tonic in these days of anthrax and other </p><p>nasty scares. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>So what if the story has a commercial side to it, at least it's an </p><p>attempt to encourage young ones to read. Here goes: just about everyone </p><p>has probably heard about Harry Potter, the blockbuster from J. K. </p><p>Rowlings, which is now a movie with sponsorship rights belonging to </p><p>Coca-Cola. Coke is leveraging on this and has roped in its business </p><p>partners, including M&C Saatchi Singapore chief executive Huw Griffith, </p><p>to read to kids in its 'Magic of reading' tour. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Diary hears Griffith has become something of a hit with his young </p><p>audience. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The kids just went crazy for Huw," gushes Kate Bristow, M&C's strategy </p><p>planning chief. Griffith's even ended up on the nightly news. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What's Griffith's secret? Maybe it's the many client presentations he's </p><p>been to - after all, don't client storyboards look like pages from a </p><p>kid's story book. That and one other similarity, says Bristow. "All the </p><p>kids get so excited and were putting up their hands wanting to speak to </p><p>Huw. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I've been to client meetings which is also a bit like that." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>