The Problem with Great Ideas

By Adam Turteltaub
adam.turteltaub@corporatecompliance.org

I spent 13 years in advertising agencies, and every time a new ad would be done there were always copy points that needed to be included.  These ranged from the brand’s slogan down through things like “contains flangernanagan to prevent” whatever it is we were trying to prevent.

Creating something that was catchy and memorable is difficult to do in a 30-second spot, and having to jam in the usual copy points makes it harder.

Making things worse was that someone always had a great idea of something else to say, or several somethings else to say.  And for one brand, all those great ideas added up to 10 things we had to say in 30 seconds.  By the time the whole campaign got chucked in the waste bin, pretty much the whole ad was someone staring at the camera reciting the list of copy points.

What that demonstrated is the danger in great ideas.  They tend to captivate people’s attention and make them want to say, “yes, let’s do that.”  Everyone gets excited, and a new mandate is created.

The problem is that no one likes to be the one who says, okay but:

• We only have so much time in the ad (or in the employee training program) what are we going to give up?
• That costs money and we have to cut something else out of our budget to afford it
• How does that fit with everything else we’re doing? Does it support it or take it in a new direction?

Great ideas should, absolutely be pursued in compliance as elsewhere.   But they should fit into the strategic mission, otherwise they risk distracting from or even hampering your efforts to achieve key goals.

So next time someone has a great idea, be grateful, but also appreciate the consequences.

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