The one thing we teach

The big
idea

Everyone in advertising says "big idea". Ask them what one is and most will wave their hands about. We think it's this.

A thought you can say in one breath that makes the ads write themselves.

If you need a slide to explain it, you haven't got it yet. If you can only think of one ad for it, you've got an ad, not an idea. Both are fine. Keep going.

Five ways to check you've got one

  1. 1

    The pub test

    Tell your pal in one sentence. If they get it before you've finished, good. If they say "so what is it", start again.

  2. 2

    The ten ads test

    Can you knock out ten different executions in half an hour? Poster, radio, a thing on a bus, something daft for social. A real idea keeps giving. A gag runs out at two.

  3. 3

    The nicked test

    Swap the brand for its biggest competitor. If the ad still works, it isn't yours. It belongs to the whole category, and nobody remembers those.

  4. 4

    The so what test

    Pretend you're the person seeing it at a bus stop in the rain with a dead phone. Do you care? Be honest.

  5. 5

    The stomach test

    Good ideas make you a bit nervous. If it feels safe enough to show your boss's boss straight away, it's probably too safe.

A worked example

Made up, but it's the kind of brief you'd get in week 2. Follow it from the top.

The brief

Get under-30s into Glasgow's libraries.

No budget for telly. Posters, social, and whatever else you can get away with.

First go

"Libraries. More than just books!"

Everyone writes this one first. It's fine to write it. Just don't show it to anyone.

Binned

The insight

The library is the last warm room in town where nobody makes you buy anything.

Where do you go when you just want to sit somewhere? A café wants £4 off you every hour. The library doesn't.

The idea

The free room.

Stop selling the books and sell the room. Wifi, heating, a desk and no one looking at your empty cup.

Then the ads write themselves

A flat white buys you 40 minutes here.

Round the corner, it's free all day.

Stuck on a café window, 20 metres from a library.

Heating: on.
Wifi: free.
Judgy barista: none.

Bus shelter. January.

Your flat is 14 degrees.
We're 21.

Social. Posted at 7am on the coldest day of the year.

Three ads, one thought. We could write ten more and none of them would need the word "books". That's how you know it's an idea.

Ideas we killed this week

Most ideas die in crit, which is the job of crit. A few from the bin, with the reason written on the back.

  • A talking toaster for a bankWhy a toaster? Nobody could say.
  • A fizzy drink ad written as a haikuShort, pretty, and gone from your head by the next stop.
  • Pigeons wearing tiny hi-visLoved it. Couldn't work out what it was selling.
  • "Life's too short for bad coffee"Found on 4,000 mugs already.
  • A QR code on a gravestoneNo. Just no.
  • A fake pothole for a car insurerGlasgow has enough real ones to shoot.
  • A 60 second film where a dog reads the terms and conditionsKept. Rewrote it as a 10 second one. Much better.
  • "Unleash your potential"Sounds like a gym sign made by a robot.
Have a go yourself