Why Really Good Ideas Rule

Companies that are prepared to commit to thinking about what consumers want give themselves a chance to be remembered

Ideas link stuff. Days, nights, months, years? all our lives, even. They shape our thinking and attitudes, if they’re good. Yet how much of our time is spent working out brand plans, ads, pricing, packaging, research and budgets?

The commitment to innovate and create ideas that will really make their way into ‘great’ status with the ultimate judges — the consumers — is, at best, poor and therefore unlikely to be championed unless your business really is marketing–driven to its core.

Feeling better about yourself is easier than ever, if you can just track down that clever drink to put you back on course for your five–a–day, for example. This positive step you are taking, after missing breakfast, is achievable because of somebody´s really good idea. The excellent positioning, branding, flavour selection and recyclability of the product are forgotten.

How often do we start by trying to work out how an innovative idea can become top of the ‘really good idea’ charts with consumers, beyond the usual conversations about rebranding, gondola–end, and buy–one–get–one–free activities?

The concept of how you could listen to all your favourite music, keep track of appointments, share photos, contact details and keep in touch with friends wherever you are didn’t start from a meeting to ‘do something like we did last year, a bit better, for less money, in half the time’.

Ideas are the bedrock of experience; they allow us to start the conversation and trigger the plan to draw richer connections with consumers, because we know what makes the difference.

Let’s look at what we know. One training session with a personal trainer may make you want to extol your commitment to your friends, but it doesn’t get you ready for the London Marathon. We should use this knowledge in developing marketing and communication plans to deliver great ideas and innovation.

I believe that we can all run faster, eat healthier, drive safer, communicate on the go and experience the best virtual worlds because someone has made these ideas for us to try, rationalise, have an opinion on, or just make us stop and think.

How we continue to measure these ideas will need to be more creative, too. The quality of contact, thoroughness of message delivery, improved perception, enjoyment and increased value. Do consumers really have more time in their day for ideas that they like? Could they become an everyday priority? Can these ideas start to own consumer dialogue, time, belief and rituals?

The brands that win will be the ones that use the power of ideas, that live in a ‘why not’ rather than a ‘because’ environment — because consumers want really good ideas.

Honesty is a great place to begin; using your objective nous, backed up with accurate robust research is a stable place to start. But sometimes you need to go further — a lot further. You need to harness a vision of what ideas consumers want in the future, not just next year.

I am sure one of your agencies can work with you to get this idea–based focus into your planning; but if they seem reluctant to spend an hour developing a nice, crisp, fresh idea for you, live in person, then maybe they should leave their passes at reception on their way out.

Shay Boyd is the founder of Clay London

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