“Just think about it. Deeply. Then forget it. And an idea will jump up in your face.” (Don Draper, Mad Men)
There’s nothing more mysterious in marketing than the “big idea.” No one can put a finger on how we arrive at big ideas, yet everyone knows they are necessary. Sometimes we refer to big ideas as strategy, sometimes execution, sometimes the emotional dynamite.
Regardless of how it is referenced, a big idea is the difference between successful marketing and what we call marketing “clutter.” What does the big idea get us? Sales. Brand awareness. Brand loyalty. Higher stock prices. Long-term value. All the good stuff we seek.
So what is the definition of a big idea in marketing? Most believe it is the “magic” that connects brands to people. We like to think we’re all creative and can come up with a big idea at the drop of a hat, but a truly great big idea is one that changes the course of a business, creates unicorns, and causes a brand to go from good to great. We have a long list of such successes below, and you might be surprised at how many brands stumbled into their big ideas.
But before we get to those examples, we’d like to define the success factors of truly great big ideas. The components:
- The position: the differentiating idea that maximizes relevance to the customer and distance from the competitors – often referenced as a brand’s “ONLY.”
- The emotional trigger: no idea will be great unless it prompts a radical emotional response.
- The delivery: this is the medium through which the position and emotional trigger are delivered. This could be a TV spot, a radio spot, guerrilla marketing, or a billboard. Oftentimes, it’s a combination of many media, rolled out with the intention to first introduce the big idea, then keep the storytelling going without losing the customer’s interest.
In this era of outsourcing our thinking to AI, we don’t believe AI will ever match this capability of the human mind. Why? Because no one knows where a big idea will result. There is no formula for it. Just components that somehow work together and noodle in the mind somewhere between or beyond the logical and illogical sides of the brain. They are found in moments no one expects: in the shower, in abstract concepting, or in pure chance.
Nike’s “Just Do It” resulted from a brand manager watching a documentary of a guy in Utah who faced a firing squad and his last uttered words of, “Let’s do this.” Then, “just do it” was a subhead in an ad, then a tagline, before it became the long-time slogan of the brand. What did the slogan accomplish? It elevated the brand beyond sports apparel to performance apparel, prompting an emotional trigger that even the regular athlete could achieve more by wearing Nike apparel. Once this big idea was in place, the ads almost wrote themselves. The delivery was in the who (e.g., Michael Jordan) and the how (e.g., mostly TV to start).
Did the world really need another pizza chain?
One of the best known examples of a big idea framing how to position a brand was the brandchild of agency friend and inspiration, the Father of Positioning, the late Jack Trout. He not only helped position the Papa Johns brand, he provided a bonus in the form of one of the best slogans in the history of marketing. To illustrate his recommendation to focus on product quality by focusing on how the product is made, he coined a simple three-sentence sequence comprised of only two words each — one of which was repeated: “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa Johns.”
Some other classic examples of a big idea in marketing inspiring how to position a brand were:
- The Volkswagen Beetle turned what was perceived to be its weakest attribute into its strongest selling point. Using the genius line, “Think small” (itself a reversal of the common phrase, think big), the low-cost alternative repositioned all other brands as relatively big and expensive. Once you reposition your competition, you put them in a tough spot from which they cannot respond.
- When you’re always a distant second, making that second-class status your inspiration can lead to a big idea about how to position a brand. Two companies did this same thing, but coming from different angles. Hertz was #1 (with O.J. Simpson!), while Avis lagged behind as the #2 rental car agency. Avis then invested a lot of money to admit they were in second place — but — “We try harder.” Within a year, Avis went from losing $3.2 million to earning $1.2 million — the first time it had been profitable in more than a decade, also jumping in market share from 11 to 29%.
- Understanding that everybody’s always looking for the next big thing, the second-place soda brand Pepsi went straight at its #1 rival, Coca-Cola with a big, big idea. The thinking was that “The Real Thing” could be repositioned as “The Old Thing” by proving consumer preference. Lighter and sweeter in flavor, Pepsi beat Coke in taste tests that formed the basis of one of the best ad campaigns in history. “The Pepsi Challenge” made the underdog the winner, using the positioning line, “The Choice of a New Generation,” to refashion Coke as old-fashioned. While many point to Coke’s success in holding on to its leadership in the Cola Wars, what’s less known is that when consumers actually had a choice, it became a near tie at one point, though the fountain/restaurant stranglehold by Coca-Cola helped keep Coke as a strong #1 overall.
- A bonus example of taking advantage of a contrast between leader and follower was by Apple. “I’m a PC” was personified by a schlub, while “I’m a Mac” was portrayed as more of a hipster. Would you want to be bulky and sluggish or sleek and stylish?
Livin’ large.
Innis Maggiore has hit the big time as well. We’ve had some big ideas in marketing influence how to position a brand.
We made sports coats out of upholstery material worn by our spokesperson, The Erasable Man, to demonstrate how Sharpie and pen marks can be wiped clean at trade shows; introduced a coaxial cable that keeps communications alive through a two-hour, high-intensity fire by naming it DragonSkin and marketing it as if a consumer product; repositioned Massillon Museum with the nickname MassMu to make it a more accessible art + local history destination; reimagined Stark Library more like a retailer than a traditional library by calling it The SmartStore, where everything is free.
However, it’s important that a big idea in marketing be used in the service of brand positioning rather than instead of it. Too often, advertising agencies want to get noticed for big ideas and skimp on the fundamentals. Without a clear, defining, competitive brand position, the biggest idea can only be a temporary measure that does not contribute to overall branding or focus energies to building and differentiating a brand.
Don’t settle for second best with something as important as how to position a brand.
The truth is, #2 doesn’t actually try harder (and if they do, they don’t necessarily succeed). So contact the #1 positioning ad agency in the nation, Innis Maggiore. Then ask us, “What’s the Big Idea!?!”