Where Big Ideas come from

Big ideas are the life and soul of successful marketing (and advertising) campaigns. They rise above the din of cacophony and shine like beacons of light through the fog capturing the attention of prospects.??

The advertising legend David Ogilvy said a ‘big idea’ should be able to be quickly understood, be unique and still stand out after 30 years (digitisation may have shortened that timeframe).

Nike’s big idea for example is to celebrate great athletics and this is enshrined in its famous slogan: “Just do it”. It encourages a mindset of achieving greatness.?

Big ideas can make eye-catching promises, describe a unique mechanism, be novel and interesting. But they must be relevant and desirable to the prospect. They should also be succinct enough to be summed up in one sentence.?

So how to find these illusive unicorns??

Probably one of the most famous techniques for coming up with ideas was expressed by the former J. Walter Thompson advertising executive James Webb Young.?

His book ‘A Technique for Producing Ideas’ outlined his 5 step formula:?

1. Thoroughly research your area of focus
2. Analyse all the material for outstanding trends, themes, ideas, connections and interesting information
3. Incubate. Go and do something completely different while your subconscious chews over all that information
4. The birth of the idea - The ‘Eureka’ moment
5. Develop the idea and bring it to life?

Types of Big Ideas

There are a number of ways to classify big ideas:?

Contradict the prevailing wisdom in your market. In the 1960s VW ran a series of ads for its ‘Beetle’ car in the US. The beetle however was a small car in a land of big gas guzzling giants. That put it at a disadvantage. However, that along with its quirky looks, was turned into an advantage with the slogan “Think Small”. It emphasised why small was good: fuel efficiency and ease of parking.

It threw down the gauntlet to the ‘bigger is better mentality’. It certainly appealed to enough buyers to make it a success in the US and spawned a series of minimalist ads.??

This approach can work very well in a B2B setting.?But this must be backed by facts and strong arguments. Even better if the argument can be supported by an authority figure to dispel scepticism.???

Find a new angle to an existing problem or solution. It doesn’t even need to be that novel providing its new to your audience. A great example of that is the big idea behind the famous Schlitz beer ads by Claude Hopkins in the early 1900s.?

Brewers back then were all talking about the purity of their beer, such as using a unique source of spring water. Hopkins broke the mould by simply describing the way Schlitz made its beer - sterilising bottles, filtering out impurities etc … - all very standard brewing processes. But not well known to the general public. It propelled Schlitz to the number one position in the US beer market.?

This can be highly effective in a B2B setting, but given business buyers tend to be more knowledgeable, the system or process needs to be novel with logical reasons given as to why it's better.?

Idea combinations. In reality there are no new ideas. Rather a new idea is a new combination of existing ideas. Coca Cola did this by combining personalisation with social media engagement with its “Share a Coke” campaign.?

Coca-Cola replaced its logo on its bottles with 250 of the most popular names among teenagers and millennials. It encouraged people to find bottles with their friends' names, share photos on social media using the hashtag #ShareaCoke, and even created custom bottles online.

In fields such as asset management, management consultancy or economics, borrowing ideas from other disciplines such biology or psychology, can sometimes reveal exciting new breakthroughs. The same applies to marketing.

Controversial. When I mention Donald Trump or Nigel Farage (if you’re in the UK), I’m betting that triggers a reaction, probably disgust or admiration depending on your political leaning. Polarisation is risky in marketing - but used effectively it can create loyalty and lots of publicity.?

Unilever’s east spread - Marmite - has done this very well for decades. You either love the salty flavour or you hate it. And it's a big idea that has lasted for decades and spawned dozens of successful ad campaigns (maybe Ogilvy is still right after all about the longevity of big ideas).

In fact it's even become part of the UK lexicon for describing polarising figures. You could say Trump and Farage are ‘marmite’ politicians, for example.??

For a while the Italian fashion brand Benetton Group thrived using controversial images in its ads highlighting gender issues, terrorism, and racism. However, they took the ‘shock’ factor too far and eventually alienated their market.?

This can be highly effective in a B2B setting where an industry is divided between two poles of thought. For example, there is some division in the automotive industry between electric engine technology and hydrogen when it comes to transitioning away from hydrocarbons.?

Big ideas can be driven by transformation (Apple: "Think differently"), emotion (Dove soap: "Real beauty"), Functionality (Dyson: "Say goodbye to the bag") or Purpose driven (Patagonia: "Buy less, Demand more").

But research stands out …?

When looking through James Webb Young’s 5-step formula - research is undoubtedly the most important. It’s the wellspring of all great ideas and it's where the greatest effort should be made.

After all it was the economist Joseph Schumpeter who argued that economic advancement came from new combinations of productive means. While the economic historian Abbott Payson Usher wrote that invention is an assimilation of pre-existing elements into new syntheses. Marketing is the same.?

It’s a case of talking to customers, end users, studying how products & services are made & delivered, how they’re used, identifying their real benefits, gathering social media feedback, analysing how other industries do their marketing etc …?

Big ideas in marketing are usually found rather than created out of thin air, hence the importance of research. However, once that gem of a ‘big idea’ is unearthed and polished up - it really can make the marketing and advertising campaign fall into place and more importantly - be successful!?