Is the Big Idea Dead?

PR News has published my latest Management POV column in the July 2 issue, tackling an issue that’s becoming more prevalent in the communications and marketing industry: the demise of the big idea.

I know, that’s a pretty bold assertion, but since the U.S. was celebrating its Independence Day, there was no more apt time to let the fireworks fly.

While I won’t give away all of the column (and disrupt PR News’ paid content model, which actually works!), here’s an excerpt:

"Too many practitioners are trying to be everything to everybody at every minute of the day. Since when has throwing tactics at the wall, hoping at least some of them stick, become a substitute for a differentiated strategy?

Who’s to blame? We could point toward the rise of social media, which has the tendency to make pros and audiences alike have the attention spans of squirrels. Or how about the pressure to do more in less time with less budget, the new normal for business?

Throw away the excuses. The accountability for this change in behavior lies squarely with our senior practitioners who have allowed brute force – ramrodding messages into the public consciousness – to supplant one-of-a-kind insights.”

Let us know why you’re standing in solidarity with us, or why we’ve got it all wrong. But just don’t remain on the sidelines — get in the game, and help bring creativity back before it’s subsumed by the “more, more, more; now, now, now” mentality!

Mike McDougall, APR