The end of the Big Idea in Marketing?
Speaking at Advertising Week Europe last April, Tracey De Groose, CEO of Dentsu in the UK, waved farewell to the "myth" of the big idea, describing it as something that the industry will no longer refer to.
"I think the concept of the big idea is going to die."
Tracey De Groose,
CEO DENTSU UK
The mere idea that the big idea in marketing is outdated is not new. The debate seems to have heated though during the last 2-3 years.
The last days of the Big Idea?
On the one side of the argument you have those who believe that the concept of the big idea as a result of strategic planning is outdated and needs to be replaced. We can now have many smaller actions/stories that work in parallel to maintain the brand’s relevance with every individual audience and exactly fit every different touchpoint. Big ideas are no longer needed when you have “big data” goes the argument. It is this fundamental change in our capacity to be reflective and responsive real time that allows continuous iteration in building up multiple brand stories.
Big Idea as the only "True North"?
Those still believing in the power of the big idea to act as the “true north” in the relationship between brand and consumer highlight its absolute need during the turbulent times we live in. The big idea is needed more than ever to emphasize the distinct character of each brand, to help develop its unique positioning, to build the emotional bond between consumers and brands.
Big Idea is dead. Long Live the Bigger Idea!
The truth lies somewhere in between in my opinion. It is true that consumer empowerment and media fragmentation have created the need for an evolving and continuously optimized series of diverse activities across different touchpoints.
It is also true though that those exact conditions create the need for an even wider strategic framework. The big idea is not to be replaced that is by big data. On the contrary, it needs to use big data to get bigger, wider and looser so as to act as the connecting tissue within a complex marketing plan.
Instead of a rigid ideological brand system the big idea needs to transform to a much deeper “Sense of Purpose” that is flexible enough to cater for the needs of its constituents and drive all the marketing actions. Every brand needs to have a sense of purpose as a compass otherwise it is lost in our modern wilderness. Every marketer needs to always be accountable to one single question. How is she serving the brand's Sense of Purpose?
Realpolitik CMO2020?
The role of the CMO in the next years within this rapidly changing environment is obviously changing. A new Realpolitik “C” level executive archetype is needed. A model which is much closer to that of an engineer/scientist and moves away from the stereotype of the great general.
All marketing actions in this notion step from a sense of purpose and resemble research hypotheses based on which experimentation, learning and continuous iteration is happening.
The minimum set of skills that the CMO of 2020 will need in this transformation:
- An open non-dogmatic mindset with a strong ability to cooperate and experiment with a wide range of expert teams in and out of the organization.
- An always listening mode to reflect on the insights and act upon them.
- An agile way of taking and implementing decisions.
What do you think? Is the concept of the big idea a thing of the past in Marketing?
Senior Product Designer at VMware by Broadcom
8yIn the words of one guy who thrived on big ideas: the news of Big Ideas death is greatly exaggerated, also supported by people with the mindset of accountats, rather than marketers.
CEO, Home Credit Bank KZ
8yFully susbscibe to adopting Agile/iterative approach to marketing activities backed by rigorous measurement framework instead of traditional/linear one. Product lead times are getting shorter and there is little time for concept testing. Waiting for the BIG insight is a luxury marketers seem to no longer have
Digital Marketing Manager at KPMG | Digital Marketing & Transformation
8yVery interesting article Mr. Ntotsikas. I will try to share my point of view. In my opinion a Big Idea is a two way road. It is not just the message from marketers to consumers, but the holistic communication between companies and society. Therefore a Big Idea must help consumers answer to themselves instead of the “ Why this product“ question, the “ Why this company’s product”. In order to achieve that, the terms “ consumers “ and “products” should be better replaced by the terms “ users” and “goods”. Consumers and people are turning their stance more advertising-defensive (ad-blockers like you mentioned in previous article, banner blindness, backfire Marketing etc) To achieve this, a higher perspective should be implemented in the corporate way of thinking and acting, so as long-term every Marketing action to be considered as a new effort to add value to the society through the use of the goods or services. Thus maybe it is time to convert Big Ideas to Big ACTIONS. The solution might be to implement strong and caring activities through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability Plans (environmental, equality in the workplace, volunteering actions, etc). The result will be that customers/users will both receive the communicated message of the Big Idea as a positive Real Life impact and will make them feel more engaged as part of it.
Founder and Managing Partner at TDG
8ythanks Aris Pilitsopoulos. The notion of the big idea and big plan vs an emerging iterative strategy / idea is actually much wider than advertising or marketing itslf and central in any management debate for the last 20 years or so. (i.e. Porter vs Mintzberg) It has intensified along with the rise of data science to supposedly provide real time insights at scale.
E-Commerce & Business Growth Expert | I help Business Owners increase their revenues through Marketing, Sales & Mindset 🚀
8yThe Big Idea debate is a thing of the advertising industry , not a thing of Marketing. Marketers and Brands have a "Why" shaped by the functional and emotional attributes of the product/service they market. The "why" is this strong sense of purpose. The ideas that agencies develop are mere translations of the "why" in campaigns and content. So, having a Big Idea is really important as this is actually the "Big" Message that will make the brand's attributes more accessible and understandable to the consumers that could care about them. But again, you first have to know your product/service, its uniques advantages, the audience you are targetting and the things that they care about and then find the big Idea. Marketing is not just about the message, it's truly a lot more. The endless possibilities that big Data have given us should truly be a great help in understanding if our message makes sense to our target audience and if our product is of any value and not a test on whether an advertising slogan gets popular or not.