IDEAS IDEA IDEAS how to
fuel them, how to see them, how to make them awesomer heidi hackemer @BBHNewYork / Strategic Director @uberblond

First things first… The story
that planners must be able to define and tell (brilliantly)

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in

WHEN THESE CATEGORIES ARE TIGHT,
WHEN ONE THING FLOWS INTO THE OTHER, CONGRATS. YOU’VE BUILT THE PROVERBIAL STRATEGIC FORTRESS

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in Fuelling Seeing & defining Awesoming Our (general) role

fueling the ideas

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in Fuelling Seeing Awesoming Our (general) role

ADMITTINGLY, WE’RE GOING TO GO
A BIT ROGUE HERE (TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT… SERIOUSLY)

THE TRADITIONAL SYSTEM hand off,
hand off, hand off…

THIS PROCESS TENDS TO BE
INEFFICIENT SLOW FRUSTRATING BUILDS WALLS BETWEEN INTERNAL TEAMS

ADDITIONALLY, THIS HISTORICAL, INDUSTRY PROCESS
HAS GROWN AND FUELED THE MYTH OF THE ICONIC LONE WOLF STRATEGIST

THE GREAT STRATEGIC MYTH THE
STRATEGIST GOES AWAY GETS ALL ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND RESEARCHICAL PONDERS IN DARK ROOMS DEEP INTO THE NIGHT EUREKA! THE ONE TRUE INSIGHT REVEALS ITSELF! EUREKA! THE ONE TRUE THING FORMS! WRITES THE EPIC BRIEF PRESENTS IT TO THE TEAM ON A SHIMMERING GOLDEN PLATTER (CUE FAWNING ANGELS) TEAM OOH’S AND AAH’S AT THE BRILLIANCE CREATIVE EXCELLENCE ENSUES

THIS IS CRAP.

THE BEST TEAMS NATURALLY BREAK
DOWN THIS PROCESS - MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, THE BEST TEAMS SHOOT THE SHIT, TALK A LOT, BOUNCE IDEAS, COLLABORATE THEY GET ALL NEW BUSINESS, EVERY DAY

THAT DOESN’T MEAN WE DON’T
HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES AND ALONE TIME, BUT GREAT TEAMS DON’T LOCK INDIVIDUALS AWAY FOR PROLONGED PERIODS OF TIME AND ASSUME THAT ONLY ONE PERSON CAN GET TO OR OWNS PRE-DETERMINED PARTS OF THE SOLUTION

PS: ISN’T IT IRONIC THAT
WE BUILT AND IDOLIZED AN INDUSTRY ICON AROUND AN IDEA THAT DOESN’T REALLY EXIST IN NATURE? JUST SAYIN’

THE BETTER ANALOGY?

THE BETTER ANALOGY? THE MOTHER
EFFIN’ WOLF PACK TEAMS INTELLIGENTLY BOUNCING IN AND OUT OF A COLLABORATIVE GROUP ENVIRONMENT, ALL WORKING TOGETHER TO SLAY THE PROBLEM

SO INSTEAD OF THIS… hand
off, hand off, hand off…

THE MODEL STARTS TO LOOK
LIKE THIS…

THIS PROCESS TENDS TO BE
EFFICIENT FAST INCLUSIVE TEAM MAXIMIZING ONE ANOTHER NOTE: IT’S NOT ABOUT BLOWING UP WHAT WE DO AND OUR SKILL SETS; IT’S ABOUT WORKING IT DIFFERENTLY

STRATEGIST START THE PROCESS THEY
SET THE TONE YOU HAVE A LOT OF POWER OVER TEAM DYNAMIC FOSTER AN ENVIRONMENT OF EXPOSURE HOW TO FUEL THE WOLF PACK TO ULTIMATELY GET TO GREAT IDEAS…

ONE TOOL > KICK-OFF SESSIONS
STRATEGISTS RUN THESE BEST WHEN TEAM IS FUELED A DAY OR SO BEFORE EVERYONE IN ROOM TOGETHER (STRAT, CREATIVE, MEDIA IF NOT MORE) SPIRIT: HOW DO WE FIX THIS PROBLEM? SOLUTION-FOCUSED

STRATEGIST WALKS IN WITH WHERE
WE WANT THE TARGET TO GET TO (THE OBJECTIVE) AND WHY THEY’RE NOT THERE YET (THE BARRIER/PROBLEM) LOTS OF INSIGHTS ABOUT THE TARGET AND POTENTIAL PATHS TO GET TO THE SOLUTION BUT NOT THE INSIGHT OR THE BRIEF CULTURE OF RIFF AND BUILD

WALKING OUT… CREATIVE TEAM HAS
A JUMP START TO THEIR THINKING, OFTEN THE SOLUTION TEAM IS THINKING OF SOLUTIONS FROM MANY DIFFERENT ANGLES (SOLUTIONS AREN’T ALWAYS COMMS) STRATEGISTS CAN MAKE MORE INFORMED DECISIONS ABOUT WHAT THE BEST PLACE IS TO STEER THE MAIN INSIGHT, BRIEF AND TEAMS

WATCH-OUTS CASTING IS IMPORTANT (SOME
PEOPLE SUCK AT THIS) STRATEGISTS HAVE TO MEGA-PREP FOR THESE TO BE SUCCESSFUL (THE MORE SMART FUEL, THE BETTER) STRATEGISTS HAVE TO MODERATE THESE WELL

TWO MORE THINGS GET A
WALL USE GOOGLE DOCS IT’S ALL ABOUT EXPOSURE

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in Fuelling Seeing & Defining Awesoming Our (general) role

so we got some fuel
going, ideas are starting to roll how do you see and define a great idea?

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in Fuelling Seeing & Defining Awesoming Our (general) role

WHAT IS A GREAT IDEA
IN TODAY’S LANDSCAPE? AIM FOR PLATFORMS AIM FOR BRILLIANT ONE-OFF TACTICS DON’T SETTLE FOR JUST A CAMPAIGN

WHAT A PLATFORM IS, WHAT
IT ISN’T IT’S NOT A TV CAMPAIGN WITH SOME MATCHING LUGGAGE DIGITAL BITS TACKED ON IT’S A LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO YOUR PEOPLE (THAT IS, IF THEY WANT IT) IT’S SOMETHING THAT CAN LIVE ON AND HOLD A LOT OF DIFFERENT ACTIVITY

SOME PRETTY GREAT MODERN PLATFORMS
BEING GIRL NIKE+ CHROME FAST DATING BRIAN PEPSI REFRESH GREAT AMERICAN APPAREL DIET THE MAN YOUR MAN COULD BE, AKA OLD SPICE GUY

SOME PRETTY GREAT MODERN TACTICS
T-MOBILE DANCE IN LIVERPOOL STATION GOOGLE YOUTUBE SYMPHONY GOOGLE YOUTUBE PLAY CHROME ARCADE FIRE AXE UNDIE RUN

HOW DO I KNOW IF
I HAVE A GREAT PLATFORM OR TACTIC? THERE IS NO MAGIC ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION, BUT SOME QUESTIONS YOU’LL WANT TO ASK YOURSELF (AND HONESTLY ANSWER)…

HAS IT BEEN DONE BEFORE?
WILL PEOPLE LOVE IT AND BENEFIT FROM IT AS MUCH AS THE BRAND MANAGERS? DOES IT LEVERAGE A KILLER INSIGHT? IS IT JUST SO DAMN SMART? IS IT WILDLY ENTERTAINING, AWESOMELY FUNCTIONAL AND/OR EMOTIONALLY USEFUL? IS IT SIMPLE (ELEVATOR PITCH)? IS IT TRUE TO THE BRAND? IF IT’S A PLATFORM, CAN THE THOUGHT HOLD MANY DIFFERENT EXECUTIONAL ITERATIONS? IF IT’S A TACTIC, CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW IT WOULD BE RE-BOOTED/BUILT UPON IN THE FUTURE? CAN I BUILD AN ECO-SYSTEM AROUND IT? DO YOU GET SHIVERS?

WHEN YOUR TEAM GETS TO
AN IDEA OR THOUGHT WHERE THERE’S A LOT OF YES’ES TO THAT LIST, THEN START TO ARTICULATE YOUR CORE INSIGHT, POSITIONING, CREATIVE IDEA AND THINK WHAT THE HERO EXECUTION IS (MORE ON THAT IN A BIT)

GRANTED, THIS IS KINDA A
“GUT” PHASE OF THE PROCESS BUT HERE’S A CONSTRUCT THAT MIGHT HELP

PURE DELIGHT EMOTIONALLY USEFUL FUNCTIONALLY
USEFUL FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF YOUR PEOPLE, DOES YOUR IDEA FALL INTO ONE OF THESE AREAS?

PURE DELIGHT Nike + Pepsi
Refresh Being Girl Chrome Fast The Great American Apparel Diet The Man Your Man Could Be Dating Brian Google YouTube Tactics Chrome Arcade Fire Axe Undie Run EMOTIONALLY USEFUL FUNCTIONALLY USEFUL

WHERE IT STARTS REALLY THINKING
ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE WANT AND WHAT THE BRAND CAN AUTHENTICALLY DO FOR THEM

PURE DELIGHT Nike + Pepsi
Refresh Being Girl Chrome Fast The Great American Apparel Diet The Man Your Man Could Be Dating Brian Google YouTube Tactics Chrome Arcade Fire Axe Undie Run EMOTIONALLY USEFUL FUNCTIONALLY USEFUL Micro-goals are hella motivational Runners are anal people that love data

People genuinely struggle with their
consumption relationship with clothing and want to figure it out. Nike + Pepsi Refresh Being Girl Chrome Fast The Great American Apparel Diet The Man Your Man Could Be Dating Brian Google YouTube Tactics Chrome Arcade Fire Axe Undie Run PURE DELIGHT EMOTIONALLY USEFUL FUNCTIONALLY USEFUL

WHAT DEFINES GREAT PLATFORMS GENEROSITY
MULTIFACETEDNESS RESPONSIVENESS PROPAGATION

PURE DELIGHT Nike + Pepsi
Refresh Being Girl Chrome Fast The Great American Apparel Diet The Man Your Man Could Be Dating Brian Google YouTube Tactics Chrome Arcade Fire Axe Undie Run EMOTIONALLY USEFUL FUNCTIONALLY USEFUL Generosity & people propagation built into the core of the idea

PURE DELIGHT Nike + Pepsi
Refresh Being Girl Chrome Fast The Great American Apparel Diet The Man Your Man Could Be Dating Brian Google YouTube Tactics Chrome Arcade Fire Axe Undie Run EMOTIONALLY USEFUL FUNCTIONALLY USEFUL Multi-faceted: Creative doesn’t live on and on; the thought does Often, a new creative approach every month

PURE DELIGHT The industry’s latest
poster-child of responsiveness… and he’s back Nike + Pepsi Refresh Being Girl Chrome Fast The Great American Apparel Diet The Man Your Man Could Be Dating Brian Google YouTube Tactics Chrome Arcade Fire Axe Undie Run EMOTIONALLY USEFUL FUNCTIONALLY USEFUL

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in Fuelling Seeing Awesoming Our (general) role

How to make great ideas
awesomer (aka building awesome ecosystems)

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in Fuelling Seeing & Defining Awesoming Our (general) role

LET’S FIRST TAKE A STEP
BACK

BECAUSE WE’RE IN THE WEB
WORLD, REMEMBER, MORE AND MORE OUR IDEAS MUST EMBODY GENEROSITY MULTIFACETEDNESS RESPONSIVENESS PROPAGATION

OKAY, BACK TO ECOSYSTEMS

THE CLASSIC MISTAKE CONFUSING A
MATCHING LUGGAGE 360 CAMPAIGN FOR A ECOSYSTEM/PLATFORM “AND THEN WE CAN DO THIS IN PRINT, AND THEN WE CAN DO THIS IN OLA, AND THEN WE CAN DO THIS HERE AND THERE…” IF YOU’RE RAPIDLY FIRING OFF THESE EXECUTIONS IN A PRESENTATION, YOU’VE PROBABLY FALLEN INTO THE 360 SAND HOLE

FIRST THINGS FIRST COMMIT TO
THE CORE OF YOUR IDEA

MAKE A DECISION WHAT THE
EXECUTIONAL CENTER OF YOUR IDEA? WHERE DOES THE IDEA BEST MANIFEST ITSELF? BUILD OUT FROM AND POINT EVERYTHING ELSE TO THAT CORE

THE EXCEPTION TO THIS “FIND
THE CORE” APPROACH THE BIG FUCK OFF BRAND LAUNCH CAMPAIGN WHEN YOU HAVE A HUGE ASS BUDGET IN THAT CASE, MAKE EXECUTIONS UNDERNEATH A THOUGHT THAT ARE BESPOKE TO THE MEDIA THAT THEY’RE LIVING IN – NO MATCHING LUGGAGE BACK TO HONING IN ON THE CORE…

BUILDING ECOSYSTEMS HONING IN ON
THE CORE WILL HELP YOU DECIDE HOW YOUR IDEA SHOULD BEHAVE

HUMANS HAVE CODES OF BEHAVIOR;
THERE ARE WAYS TO BEHAVE… AT A SOCCER GAME AT THE OPERA AT WORK AT CHURCH ON THE SUBWAY IN YOUR CAR AT THE MALL AT A MOVIE

IDEAS NEED CODES OF BEHAVIOR
AS WELL

KEEPING YOUR PEOPLE, CORE AND
OBJECTIVES IN MIND, SHOULD YOUR IDEA FEEL… BOLD? CLEVER? HUMBLE? CREATIVE? PROVOCATIVE? INTIMATE? EXCLUSIVE? ETC… (DIFFERENT MEDIA AND SPACES WILL MAP TO THESE QUESTIONS)

DESIRED CODE OF BEHAVIOR WHERE
YOUR PEOPLE ALREADY ARE THINKING OF MEDIA AS A CANVAS, NOT AN OUTLET

DESIRED CODE OF BEHAVIOR WHERE
YOUR PEOPLE ALREADY ARE THINKING OF MEDIA AS A CANVAS, NOT AN OUTLET IDEA ECOSYSTEM

ECOSYSTEM: WHERE YOUR IDEA LIVES,
INTERACTS AND PLAYS

THE TRICK TO BUILDING GREAT
ECOSYSTEMS? UNDERSTANDING THE CULTURES OF THE MEDIA PLATFORMS

LET’S DEFINE HOW TV WORKS
PEOPLE HAVE RECEIVERS IN THEIR HOMES, SOMETIMES SEVERAL BROADCASTERS TRANSMIT CONTENT TO INDIVIDUAL RECEIVERS DIFFERENT CHANNELS HAVE CONTENT THAT SPEAK TO DIFFERENT TYPES OF PEOPLE THE BUSINESS MODEL IS BUILT ON ADVERTISERS PEOPLE CAN CHOOSE WHAT THEY WATCH

THIS DOESN’T HELP IN MAKING
A GREAT TV IDEA NOR UNDERSTANDING HOW TO BUILD IT INTO AN ECOSYSTEM

SO WHY DO WE MAKE
THIS MISTAKE? TWITTER IS A MICROBLOGGING PLATFORM PEOPLE HAVE HANDLES YOU CAN TWEET FROM ANY DIGITAL DEVICE PEOPLE FOLLOW OTHER PEOPLE PEOPLE RT, DM AND #FF

KNOWING HOW TWITTER FUNCTIONALLY WORKS
DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU UNDERSTAND TWITTER (NOR ANY OTHER PLATFORM)

WANT TO BUILD GREAT DIGITAL
STRATEGIES AND OVERALL ECOSYSTEMS? GET INTO THE SPACES THAT YOUR PEOPLE ARE IN THINK ABOUT HOW THEY UNIQUELY INTERACT WITH THOSE SPACES BUILD STUFF THAT HONORS THE PLATFORMS, BUT DOESN’T JUST FOLLOW THE RULES THINK ABOUT PROPAGATION AND DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT (1/9/90 RULE) IF YOU DO THIS CORRECTLY, EVERY IDEA WILL LOOK & BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in Fuelling Seeing Awesoming Our (general) role

Your people (With loads of
emotional and behavioral insights) The main insight The one truth your leveraging in your solution The message What you want people to know The creative platform The thought that holds it all together Hero execution/s The executional/spiritual center of the idea Engagement strategy The driving principle/s of the platform behavior The ecosystem All the stuff that gets built to make the hero shine The context The broader world that your product/brand lives in

LET’S TALK …