PHD Perspectives: What's the Big Idea? - Steve Piluso - MediaBizBloggers

As an industry, the media community has become obsessed with ideas. "Never Been Done Before" (NBDB) innovations that (allegedly) turn pennies into dimes and put brand managers safely ahead of their volume goals.

I sit in a lot of meetings and the discussion is often around not just "the idea," but… THE BIG IDEA (cue Roman Gladiator fanfare horns). "What's the BIG IDEA?" is often the first thing heard at any multi-agency or multi-discipline kick-off meeting. At this point, and in various rounds of formal and informal meetings, ideas are debated along many lines… not only whether they are GOOD ideas, but whether that idea constitutes a BIG idea.

The intent of the Big Idea is to shake the pillars of heaven by evoking unprecedented consumer and trade response that makes our clients rich and famous. But so much time and emphasis goes into determining whether the idea is big enough that we forget what we're really after; the RIGHT idea.

The Right Idea is the idea that… whether it's flashy or not… whether it gets mentioned in the trade press or not… drives results. Its singular focus is delivering on client objectives and meeting, or beating, expectations. The Big Idea gets a blurb in the trade magazines' daily blasts (woo hoo!) -- recognition that it's different and innovative. The Right Idea puts your client on the cover of Brandweek — it's the supporting character in a long, editorial missive rife with those darned, boring POSITIVE RESULTS.

The Big Idea seems to have no focus on accountability and aims to dazzle CMOs and stroke the ego of the client. But without accountability, the Big Idea is NOT mitigating risk; while it may increase reward, it actually increases risk. In a recessive economy where results are the ultimate arbiter of performance, can anyone really afford to focus on the Big Idea?

The purpose of the media agency is ultimately to mitigate risk and ensure bigger wins on bets. The Right Idea is arrived at through a rigorous process focused entirely on achieving client objectives. While brainstorming meetings are fun and often the path to free sandwiches and a seemingly endless supply of cookies, the heavy lifting to get to the Right Idea happens well before the conference room is reserved and lunch is ordered.

Media agencies use research to mitigate down-side; we derive insights or at least provide evidence that our recommendations are in fact grounded in actual consumer behavior. And while this is not wrong, it's only part of the equation. A preferred word for this step is RECONNAISSANCE. Reconnaissance is about gathering data and exploring other sources that can lead to better, more original insights. Focus groups, client experience and customer data, online panel surveys and ethnographies, all help us triangulate onto better insights grounded in ACTUAL consumer motivations and behavior. The Right Idea is ultimately built off of this process that, for some reason, most media people find boring.

I find it fun to disrupt a brainstorming meeting or planning kick-off meeting by saying, "Are we looking for a Big Idea or The Right Idea?" then listening to the ensuing debate and watching peoples' heads explode. There's no doubt that we need ideas. But when you think about it… in the day to day gamble of business… would you rather your marketing be Big or Right?

Steve Piluso, EVP, Managing Director, PHD East, an Omnicom Company

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