Idea hill - May the fun be with you

Guillaume:
"So you have an idea... You are going to be a star. You're idea will amaze the world. You explain it to the ones who have to buy the idea. They say it is brilliant But maybe a bit too extreme? They say they are not creative but they have a few suggestions to help your idea live. They give you constructive criticism. To make your idea more acceptable to a broader audience, they say. With a few compromises, you get your idea done.

Here's what you should do:
Leave the first idea and find another one. A bigger one. Bigger again. And again. Until they are tired and want to go home. Two possibilities: they buy the new idea, or, they go back to your first idea, saying; "hey, it wasn't that bad was it?".They'll let you do it without compromise.

Your idea will be a success. They will be a success. They'll love you forever."

May the fun be with you — Duval Guillaume

10 rules of advertising engagement

• If it doesn't sell, it's not creative.

• Media should be planned in order to benefit the impact of the idea, and not because of the profit or fee it generates to the agency booking the media (they'll benefit in the long run).

• Ideas were and will always be the core of good advertising. BUt it mustn't be forgotten that execution is as important.

• Advertising is all about creating good content. If that content is really good, a conversation will emerge. If conversations continue, they grow a community. Communities tend to grow their own content collaborating with the existing ideas and message thus creating new content that can be enhanced by new Big Ideas. Generating more sales in the end.

• Blow the line: Big Ideas come from above. Below makes those ideas really work.

• Sell products not advertising. Be business minded and never create for the sake of creation.

• Will online replace others soon? Never. Online will amplify advertising to become attractive, and effective, again. It is the very core of the future, the backbone of all communication and thus the most important traffic driver to the product or service advertised. Online pushes advertising to fuse with editorial, which is a good thing. Advertising was nothing but editorial back in the days (1875 > 1950's)

• Focus more on the importance of customer services. Because a better service helps create a better product. Customer services will not only tighten the relationship between brands and their customers but will allow agencies to grow closer to the customers.

• Ideas are, and will always be, what differentiates the agencies from what customers do for brands. The power of what keeps agencies alive are those Big Ideas.
Sure, a good product tends to sell itself but the true profit for the manufactures really comes from advertising their products, of course. Yes, I believe in advertising. Advertising is giving information. Products still need to be explained and clarified, their strenghts communicated to it’s possible buyers. A message needs to be send telling why it is a good product.

• To me advertising is a story that sticks.