Dave Racine is a founding partner at Punch PR where he specializes in communications strategy and brand storytelling for a digital world.
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The “big idea” is in trouble.
We’re hurtling toward a future where consumers have a deeper and more nuanced definition of influence. A future where their awareness must be earned, trust is mindfully built, and popularity and vanity simply don’t pay off like they used to. Yet the creative element has never been more important.
The trouble with the creative industry today is that its evangelists have failed to distinguish between the simple process of being creative in the abstract and the infinitely more arduous process of being creative in everyday business operations.
Creativity is often misdefined or, perhaps, simply misunderstood. All too often, creativity is defined as having great, big, original ideas. These big ideas have an emphasis almost entirely based on a singular thought. Go big or go home. Admittedly, this is certainly not a losing mentality, but all too often these big ideas are judged more by their novelty than by their pragmatic value. And that can be troublesome.
Clients want the big idea. They deserve the big idea. They’ll ask for the big idea. But it’s also entirely possible that sometimes what our clients really need is lots and lots of little ideas.
When challenged with the “big idea,” agencies could serve themselves better by redefining what “big” actually means. In getting down to brass tacks, we’ll often find the size of the marketing budget is not relative to the size of the problem that needs to be solved. Expectations and reality are frequently misaligned, but the agency can’t disregard the client’s ambition. It’s essential to strike a balance.
It’s time to think smaller. Because small is simple. Small is quick and nimble. Small can also be scalable. No idea, big or small, implements itself. And you’re going to have a future client who will ask you to build awareness, earn trust, and do it on a budget. And because agencies are remarkably organized to “get things done,” here are a few ways to start thinking smaller:
• Define what success looks like. The agency needs to know precisely what must be achieved for the client. Only then can it begin to do the math: If the investment is $X, then the return must be $Y.
• Don’t boil the ocean. “More is better” doesn’t always result in market expansion. Consider further defining your target and concentrate on areas that might already be winning. It’s okay to have multiple targets and multiple opportunities because small is nimble.
• Optimize at the edges. Maximizing anything means optimizing what you already have. Never discount the power of a small, passionate audience. These are the groups that can fuel big movements.
• Consider ‘small’ as the incubation period. Every idea can be divided into smaller parts that make any project easier to handle. If we can reduce the number of variables within a project, then we can effectively execute a better idea.
When push comes to shove, every agency already possesses the capability to make a small idea feel big. But the execution of an idea is the ultimate demonstration of its extraordinary creativity. The challenge lies in tying enough of the small ideas together that they’re generating the kinds of sparks that build bonfires. And that’s genuinely the big idea.
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