Tackling your Big Idea

May 18, 2011 | Posted by Craig LePan

I'm half way through the Blog-a-day for the month of May Challenge and I feel a little bit like the guy in 127 hours when he starts drinking his own urine. Desperate. As I'm typing now I have no idea what will fill the page, I only know that the sun is going down fast, just like the final couple hill jumps in little wings before you're shut down.

Sometimes it's under this pressure that the best creative ideas are born. If you've been a part of a creative team, as your deadline closes in, you know the adrenaline rush of feeling you're running out of time. Since my days at Emily Carr I've been addicted to that rush of creative problem solving. The stress and frustration of not quite having the right solution was always rewarded with the satisfaction of nailing it. 

Earlier this week we were under that pressure at FLIPP and looking at nothing more than a seed of an idea. At this stage the most important part is not giving up. It's obvious when you see some advertising creative that the towel has been tossed in and the team decided to mail it in, instead of working past the bell for the best solution. The most important ingredient to coming up with a really big idea is a team that you trust 100%. You can work as hard as you want with idea generation on your own, but you're limited to one dimension. You need to be comfortable with your team to say absolutely anything, no filters and no concerns of saying something stupid because it's usually the stupid remark that grows into the great idea. 

At FLIPP this week, that seed of an idea developed into what I think was our most original campaign idea of the last couple years. Of course with any idea that big it will require a forward thinking client willing to embrace it. In the end whether or not they decide to go with the big idea or the safe one is up to them. The satisfaction for us is knowing that we didn't give up on delivering the best solution.

Wow, look at this I've filled the page. I'll let you know how the presentation goes tomorrow morning... and if they go with the safe solution, give us a call. We've got a big idea in our pocket ready for the right client.