Comments on: It may no longer be about the big idea, but those little ideas better be damn good

By: Anthony Butler

Anthony Butler — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:10:38 +0000

Best small idea I ever saw:

Business Card for a handyman in NYC.

COPY:
John Simpson-Handyman
TAGLINE: “No job too small”
212-355-8675

ART:
Card had been ripped in half and stapled back together.

By: edward boches

edward boches — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:10:58 +0000

MBSI:
Not familiar with the Russell post, but now you have me intrigued. Will have to go find it.
Thanks.

By: edward boches

edward boches — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:09:12 +0000

Eamon,
Based on what I know, you are half right. The original ad was Introducing the Ultimate Driving Machine. It was done by Ammirati and Puris, great NY agency, since folded into someone else. Here is link to article on tagline http://bit.ly/VtYJc. In the old days, Joe O’Neill a copywriter there wrote some remarkable prose. I have headlines like “The forerunner of imitators to come,” committed to memory. I studied those ads. They were brilliant. Thanks for the reminder.

By: Making Better Smaller Ideas « Alternative marketing thinking

Making Better Smaller Ideas « Alternative marketing thinking — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:31:44 +0000

[...] Comment! Interesting discussion out at Edward Boches Creativity Unbound blog on how important it is these days to get smaller ideas working better. In an age where many people are writing off big ideas (This is a great read from BBH Labs) as irrelevant, Edward feels that there’s not a brand out there that does not think it is important to have a big idea. But since they are so rare and elusive, maybe we need to get really good smaller ideas that build into the big brand thought. It was Russell Davies who started this debate in 2006, in a post called the Tyranny of the big idea, where he wrote that the first and foremost thing a brand needs to do is to be interesting. And interesting by saying new things or old things in new ways. So you go out and create smaller ideas that build into the big mother theme. In fact reading Russell’s post again, I discovered an interesting nugget that could become a whole post by itself. The politics of a big idea, on how when agencies and marketing departments think they have nailed a big idea, they just get stuck to it as if it is gospel and by the time they discover the big idea isn’t working anymore, it’s all too late for the brand. Russell has some advice on how to constantly create a bunch of small ideas. There are lots of interesting bits on ideas big and small and how maybe we could go out and get them right. Also don’t miss out on the comments under each of these posts. We think questioning the big idea is like shaking up the foundations of our business and many people have extreme views on this one. As we discovered on Edward’s post. [...]

By: Eamon Gilmartin

Eamon Gilmartin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:57:36 +0000

I’m in agreement with the conclusion. The big idea is the glue that holds together a ton of brilliant executions.

So, all I can add is this story about the BMW tagline. I was once privileged enough to own a 1973 BMW 3.0. Power windows, sunroof and a beast of an engine. My step-dad once told me that this is the car the line, “The Ultimate Driving Machine” was written about. It was intended as a headline but the brilliant writer showed it to his brilliant Creative Director and the line became a big idea. The headline that ran instead? “Bavarian Cream Puff.”

I haven’t been able to confirm this story even with the vast archival power of the internet but if anyone out there can, I’d love to know.

By: The Big Idea must die « Black Sheep

The Big Idea must die « Black Sheep — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:12:37 +0000

[...] Edward Boches [...]

By: Big Little Ideas « Small Sight

Big Little Ideas « Small Sight — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:43:49 +0000

[...] Creativity Unbound (via Something [...]

By: David Saxe

David Saxe — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:31:07 +0000

Interesting…our agency has struggled with departmentalization (if that’s not a word, it is now). Projects pass from UX to Creative to Development and so forth. I’m a huge proponent of utilizing each department in every step. Reality is that there are usually budget challenges if you have an hourly model, but I couldn’t agree more that these groups need to be brought into every step of the engagement.
If I’m being totally honest, I’ve just begun to prioritize this over the last year and seen tremendous success from it. The challenge has been getting the UX, developers, analytics folks to think as creatively as the creative team. It’s a shift for them.
.-= David Saxe´s last blog ..I’m Not Ready for the Big Idea to Die =-.

By: edward boches

edward boches — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:12:44 +0000

David:
Didn’t mean it that way. Just not sure what else there is to say. Time for us to go and do it. Yes? Generate big ideas and bring them to life in new ways. As for “concepting” phase, my interest is in redefining creative team to include UX people, more developers, folks who know who to create memes and concepts that propagate, not just guess that they can come up with a video that might be viral. Hoping to see agencies (ad ones anyway) change quickly. Let me know what works for you.

By: David Saxe

David Saxe — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:50:20 +0000

I certainly read the post – my disagreement was more so with the concept of the Big Idea being dead (not your point). I’m in total agreement with the idea that the way we define the big idea must change.
I’m hearing in discussion around this topic that the way we approach the concepting phase needs to change with the added mediums we now have to work with. This is where I struggle a bit. The implementation of the idea is where the approach and the players have certainly changed.

Idea for next week’s topic: would love to hear your approach at Mullen to internal culture. Sorry to burn ya out on this topic – I’m late to the party.
.-= David Saxe´s last blog ..I’m Not Ready for the Big Idea to Die =-.