The Big Idea is DEAD.

Joseph Jaffe (author of Life After The 30-Second Spot and the new Join The Conversation) recently proclaimed the death of "The Big Idea" and the birth of focusing on the Small Idea.

Says Jaffe:
"I'm sick and tired of this notion that there is a singular BIG IDEA out there. Marketers demand it from their agencies and agencies in turn expect it from media sellers and technology vendors. And they all want it yesterday PLUS no one wants to pay for it.

Big ideas take too much time to find and we don't have the time to find 'em.  Big ideas are equated to expensive ideas...hence the word BIG. They're meant to create a splash; secure buzz; enrapture the masses with pomp, grandeur and ceremony."

He's right.
One of the most common client claims that I receive when working to develop new marketing or promotional ideas is that they want something big, something revolutionary, something no one else can compete with -- but that's not REALLY want they want.  Because they don't want anything that takes time to ramp-up or needs explaining to their target demo.  New stuff always needs explaining. That's why the Forefathers wrote down their big idea back in 1776 -- someone needed to explain their big idea to King George (talk about 'revolutionary'.)

The big new ideas are almost always more expensive to execute.  I just had a meeting the other day with a client to whom I'd just explained a recommended marketing campaign. He said it was too much and I needed to "sharpen my pencil."  I said that if you need to reduce the price, I'd cut this component (indicating one of the elements of the plan.)  He responded by saying "But, that the most innovative part of the project!"  I could respond "Funny how that works, isn't it?" and try not to smirk as I said it.

Jaffe continues...
"Ideas are about potential. As Victor Hugo once said, there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come... but the idea is a catalyst; a conduit; a means to an end... and NOT an end unto itself.

Today, the only time BIG IDEAS are means to an end is when that end is winning a new business pitch or a Grand Prix at Cannes. Most new business pitch BIG IDEAS are unimplementable and how many Grand Prix winners at Cannes have gone on to change the world or transform businesses, business models and/or lives?

You won't hear me talking about THE BIG IDEA anymore, but rather MANY SMALL IDEAS...

It's time to get out of the business of desperately seeking the HAIL MARY or GRAND SLAM and focus on SMALL BALL or winning through a series of calculated gains of inch increments.
It's time to truly recognize the power of SMALL (being the NEW BIG as Seth Godin might say), which more often than not begins with one human; one individual; one life; one smile; one spark; one seed and grows and takes off from there..."

The Big Idea is Dead.
Long Live the Small Idea.

Comments

[Chuck McKay]

This reminds me of a conversation with a prospective client, in which he explained why a competitor got the assignment. He said "His ideas were a bit more exciting."

I said "You've had dealings with him in the past, and he never made deadlines. Sometimes it's not the quality of the idea, but the quality of the execution that makes the difference."