An idea is an idea is an idea
Whatever happened to ideas?
Lately I’ve been reading a lot about consolidation. The big advertising agencies have woken up (it’s said) to the fact that there’s this big thing called the internet and that many of their clients are wanting to get face time with their audience on there. Personally I think that’s a bit of an oversimplification (of an oversimplification). But who cares? We’re all businesses first and foremost right? And businesses expand, acquire other businesses, close down, split up. It’s just life. Business life anyway.
But somehow, in the whirl of talk about web 2.0, social marketing, open web, something gets lost. It’s not enough to have ideas any more. You have to be seen to be surfing the next wave.
So these big agencies are buying up the digital agencies, strengthening their teams by purchasing the skills needed to go online. It seems an odd move. Not because being online isn’t an important part of a campaign but because these agencies should have the skills in place already. Because the skill most needed to go online is the skill of ideas.
I’m sure Head First isn’t alone in being an advertising and design agency capable of having ideas. I’ve heard rumours of one or two others in the North West alone. We don’t see our ideas as being print ideas, or TV ideas or online ideas. We see them as ideas. And the better the ideas, the more exciting it is, the more strategic it is – well, these are the ideas that transcend media. They are the lynch pin of campaigns that clients ought to be chasing.
To take an example from an old issue of The Drum let’s look at Vimto’s site. The idea there is “seriously mixed up fruit”. It’s a fun idea. It informs the development of the site but it’s easy to view it as bigger than the web side of Vimto’s new marketing direction. The idea isn’t tied to the web but is open to interpretation for any purpose. Need a print ad? No problem, the line looks sufficiently stout to withstand a whole forest of them. TV? Yep, I see from the site they’ve already been there too. How about a novelty coaster – I could rustle up some neat concepts for those too.
Our work on Bionic Commando started from a similar position. Establish an idea strong enough to carry a campaign and the rest falls into place. It helps having a team talented enough to translate the big idea into media specific projects but the fact remains that it is the idea which excites the entire campaign. And that idea must be a tangible communicable concept.
As technologies merge and consumer behaviour shifts, this need to focus on the idea first will only increase in importance. As the line between advertising, PR and online disappears the primary skill-set will be in having the ideas needed to start the conversations or open brand ears to what the consumer wants.
An idea can cut through all the hype and sounds of lumbering agencies swinging into line with consumer trends. By rushing around buying up skills, all big advertising seems to be advertising is their lack of said skills.
