Creative Juice Harvest

Bill,

This is where a lot of advertising agencies are struggling. The common consensus still seems to be that even with a shift away from traditional advertising, that "Good ideas" are what will continue to drive the industry in the future, and that it just means adapting them to new mediums. That's why if you look at Saatchi & Saatchi's website, they have shifted away from talking about campaigns and moved into promoting ideas.

I think it is going to take more applying ideas to new scenarios. If agencies want to survive, they are going to have to start taking on new (maybe less glamorous) roles, guiding client companies to help them become closer to their consumers, helping them become more agile through prototyping and relying more on consumer insights, and they are going to have to help clients move into the digital space, helping them to listen and respond to conversations.

As always thanks for the insightful comments.

"Good ideas" is just this old farmer's way of talking about the good old days where having a good idea in advertising was mostly all you needed to get you started on the TV Industrial Complex cycle that Seth Godin talks about. Now there are plenty of award-winning good ideas during the Super Bowl, but their shelf life and usefulness aren't what they used to be.

Wrong. It is not ideas. It is (and always has been) execution. Other than Monty Python (and even then on many if not most occasions,) I do not get English humour.

This video for me, was in poor taste.

Seth Godin is often brilliant (and as he takes a lot of swings, often not so brilliant), he pointed out years ago that ideas are a dime a dozen. Actually, he even shared a link whereby you can be sent a new idea each and every day.

I will take the right people (with passion) over "ideas" every time. In fact, without the right people, you get products like the Edsel. As well as the financial loses from what seemed like a good idea at the time.

Back in the days just prior to the "dot com meltdown" it was all about "first mover advantage" -- except it wasn't. We told ourselves it was, but that did not make it so. As many have pointed out in the subsequent years, a solid business plan is never a bad idea. Complete with Biographical data on the key players. But I digress...

-ski