Making sure that your spark of genius has the substance to support
every
element of a well thought through contact strategy separates the pretty amazing (instantly impactful piece of creative) from the absolutely outstanding (idea that keeps on giving).
Does it have the legs to carry all campaign assets? Is there a strong enough thought leadership strand to stack up in a PR, social media and content marketing context? Can it meaningfully translate the key messages in multiple formats? From email, dmail and video through to more overt sales support tools, THE big idea needs to be long enough to deliver against all outputs over a defined period of time. In other words, you don’t just need a big idea; you need
The Big Long Idea
.
Brand owners will often only realise the creative falls flat when frustrations set in too far along to backtrack without losing face and a large chunk of investment.
That’s why it pays to put your proposition to the contextuality test at the outset.
So, before you go any further, consider our seven commandments for creative differentiation.
Thou shalt not bring forth any idea that isn’t big enough or long enough to be:
1.
Contextual to its industry
2.
Different to the competition and what has gone before
3.
Meaningful to all the identified stakeholders at once
4.
Meaningful to all the stakeholders individually
5.
Adaptable to the chosen channels
6.
Useful to the creators of content at each stage of the purchasing timeline
7.
Credible and useful to the salespeople during face-to-face contact
This checklist helps safeguard against common client/agency frustrations – enabling the creative team to prove the size and length of the idea and facilitating objective discussion in what has always been marketing’s most subjective arena.
By satisfying all seven markers, clients can be confident that they’re not getting carried away on a creative hiding to nothing. We all know how easy it is to get bowled over by a brainwave at the beginning, only for it to bail out long before the target audience is successfully nurtured into desire mode.
Moreover, it gives us all the proof points we need to get buy-in across the board and the opportunity to bask in the glory of getting it right together.
