While steeping into the class of #Advertising, almost 17 years ago, I was in awe. The world I was entering was new, energetic and creatively stimulating.

The professors fed my curiosity with theories of #consumerbehavior and marketing insights from #Kotler, and innumerable iconic campaigns to inspire. Breaming with all the information, I went for my first internship at #LeoBurnett. And was enamored by the the explosion of ideas, energies and attitudes.

Attitude of believing that even if advertising won’t save a dying man. “A good ad would save one from dying from boredom” - (Leo Burnett).

And this my 20 year old self thought was the mantra to live by. And to find the ‘Big Idea’ for the brand, as propagated by the father of advertising - Ogilvy (at least in my eyes).

Cut to the present scene, when people are scrolling mindlessly and ‘liking’ posts absent-mindedly, while they are being fed with content at a rate far more than their mind can assimilate.

In this data-driven, social media frenzy led scenario - where is the Big Idea?

Don’t get me wrong, Social media is surely bringing out the creativity.

Creativity of amazing photography, beautiful story telling through visuals and engagement through their personality, voice and content, which is helping not just big brands but also influencers in becoming brands. 

But amidst all the content you consume everyday on your social media, how many register your minds and stays there forever like the #marlboroman or Nike’s #positioning. Alas very few.

As AdAge mentioned “Some might say that our obsession with measuring success is exposing, and accelerating the death of the “leap of faith” Big Idea. Performance marketing has created a new level of certainty that Big Ideas never offered, and so today, in the choice between certainty and a leap of faith, more are inevitability gravitating toward what they can prove.”

This is in contrast to what David Ogilvy had envisioned - “If you have a truly big idea, the wrong technique won’t kill it. And if you don’t have a big idea, the right technique won’t help you.”. 

It seems with the right tools of working around the algorithm, to capitalize a performance led campaign, the smaller idea can do the job.

The post was originally posted on Linkedln