Ad:Tech Sydney: http://www.ad-tech.com/sydney
Host: Iain McDonald, Amnesia Razorfish (far right)
Panel: Sudeep Gohil, Droga5; Ashley Ringrose, Soap Creative; Brian Gieson, Ogilvy
I’m at ad:tech Sydney for the day and will try to post a blog from most sessions. Session 1 covered what a big idea is and some examples.
Key takeouts
- A big idea is an idea that’s sustainable over time in lots of different ways
- Executions of a big idea don’t all need to look the same (‘matching luggage’)
- Big ideas are powerful but measurement tools and approaches need to catch up
Favourite quote
“The less control you have of an idea the more chance it has to become a big idea.” Sudeep Gohil
What makes a big idea?
Ash: It needs to be able to evolve and change over time and be carried across multiple media. iSpyLevis was just a one-off use of Twitter.
Sudeep: Big ideas need to have a sense of momentum around them – they come from nowhere and take over. The notion of the big idea was the glue that held everything else together.
Brian: Big ideas need to travel and be sustainable.
Philsophical discussion
Should brands execute one idea with a single message across multiple executions or follow a structure with multiple ideas executed differently but with a coherent message?
I think the panel agreed with the latter – multiple ideas executed differently but with a coherent message. The challenge with this question is that the discussion can get lost in semantics: what’s a big idea? Couldn’t you have one big idea with multiple ideas executed differently off it – and with a coherent message (ie a hybrid of the two options above)?
The barriers
Ashley: applying traditional advertising mindset to online – ‘run ads’
Brian: Traditional models of ROI need to evolve
Sudeep:Wanting control over everything
Final thoughts from the panel
Brian: Think: what can you do for me?
Ashley: Stop making ads and make people’s lives better
Sudeep: Don’t stop making ads;make them better. Push to make them part of popular culture. Getting ads on television is just the starting point. The other stuff is as important as the other stuff.
Tim Burrowes: How much of a barrier are the marketing directors to getting this style of thinking out there?
Sudeep: It’s as much about the way those ideas get presented – as it is the individual marketing directors being risk averse. Agencies often present the stuff people are comfortable with and slide in the random stuff around the edges where this is often what gives the idea momentum.
Ash: There will be a generational shift where the younger marketers who are used to this world will expect it.
Brian: It’s about proper planning, research. If you have a roadmap and process to take people along with and there are checkpoints along the way I believe you can convince people and change people’s minds.
Some of the examples discussed
Joga Bonita, We are Hunted, The Great Schlep, Farmville
My point of view
I think the issue is in the definition of what a ‘big idea’ is. Personally, I think this discussion gets confused because ‘big ideas’ in communications are too much about words and pictures vs non-artistic lateral thoughts. The panel seemed to agree about the power of ideas – big ideas – but big ideas are increasingly focusing on utility – adding value to people’s lives.
The Twitter stream: #atsyd1
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