The Red Papers: What's The big ideaLTM? Colin ... - Ogilvy & Mather

What’s
The big ideaL?
The Red Papers:
The uses of The big ideaL
Although The big ideaL is not a silver bullet
for driving brand growth or doing great
communications, having one can be extremely
helpful when it’s deployed correctly. These are
some situations in which a big ideaL can
be most helpful.
When an organization needs its purpose articulated
Imagine someone in your organization meets a stranger in a pub or
a café. They get talking. The stranger asks what they do and they say
they work for you, on your brand. The stranger says: “What’s that like
then? What do you get out of that?” For many CEOs, imagining this
conversation can be a little scary. Most people are not going to recite the
company’s mission statement or brand values at this point. But ideally,
they’ll be in a position to say something positive and anecdotal, like
they’re putting a smile on people’s faces or they’re bringing good design
to a wide audience. A well-written big ideaL can help here, simply by
giving employees an easy-to-remember purpose that is as suitable for the
pub as it is for the boardroom or the shareholder meeting.
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