What’s your big idea?
What is the big idea of your life?
The term “Big Idea” is perhaps one of the most used words in the marketing communications industry — Advertising to be precise.
According to Milward Brown, The Big Idea is the driving, unifying force behind a brand’s marketing efforts.
Underscoring the importance of the big idea, another advertising legend, David Ogilvy says “You will never win fame and fortune unless you invent big ideas. It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.
The Big Idea is the essence of a brand’s being which ensures that the brand reaches full potential. It is that core, from which direction is derived. While originally an advertising concept, the big idea applies to every sphere of human activity, from business, governance, leadership, to even marriage and social relationship.
Understanding it and applying it is what sets the exceptionally successful people apart from the average folk.
To identify the big idea, it is crucial to know the qualities to look out for to see if you are working on the big idea or not. To this end, I share my seven qualities of a big idea:
1. Attention-Grabbing: The Big Idea is attention-grabbing. The big idea cannot be missed. It stands out when it appears. It makes its presence known, evoking attention from its environment. It is a news-maker. So, if you are working on something, and it is organically attracting attention, without you necessarily trying to draw attention with it, then you are working on a big idea.
2. Personalization: The Big Idea must be personalized. It must be about you the carrier. It must be about improving you, growing you, developing you, multiplying you and enhancing you. It should be about projecting you to the world and helping you be the best you can be. Therefore, if you are at a place in your life where what you are doing is not adding any long term value capable of getting you closer to achieving the purpose of your existence, then you are not working on the big idea of your life.
3. Transformational: The Big Idea is transformational. It transforms you, your environment, your society, and the world at large. It changes perceptions, opinions, world views and theories. The Big Idea never leaves the world in the state it meets it. It leaves it improved, transformed, better. If what you are doing is causing people to change their thinking, their beliefs, their perceptions and aspirations, then you are working on the big idea of your life.
4. Ownability: The Big Idea is ownable. It is original. Just as there are no two same thumbprints in the world, no same genes, there can never be two same big ideas. The Big Idea is unique in its constitution. No two stories of the big idea are ever the same. Michael Bolton and Michael Jackson may share first names, profession and nationalities, yet their stories, which emanates from the big idea of their lives, are not the same. Your big idea story must be unique to you, ownable by you and you only.
5. Magnetism: The Big Idea is magnetic. It attracts people. It is a vision that attracts provision. Why do you think sports managers stumble over each other in their bid to sign an aspiring potential athlete? Why do some people apply to 10 universities and don’t get admitted to one, while another applies to 1 and gets admission letters from 10? That is the magnetism of the big idea at work. If people are attracted to you, to help you, to be a part of what you are doing, being your friend, to be associated with you, then you are working on the big idea of your life.
6. Infectious: The Big Idea is contagious. It quickly catches on like wildfire. People are quick to want to imitate you. They are ready to want to replicate it. That explains why people want to barb their hair after the fashion of successful sportspeople. That also explains why we take on the mannerisms of our favourite actors, religious leaders and political leaders. If you are doing something, at whatever scale, and people around you catch the bug and want to do the same thing, or act the same way as you, you are probably aligned in action with the big idea of your life.
7. Simplicity: The Big Idea is simple TO YOU. The simplicity of your action and its incredible huge result/impact is proof that you are working on the big idea of your life. The ease with which Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi mesmerize the world and the inability of their teammates of years to replicate same skill is a proof that Ronaldo and Messi are working in the realm of the big idea of their life.
So, how do you identify the big idea of your life?
I like to see the big idea of our lives as a combination of two aspects of our lives — Our Profession and Our Vocation.
Your profession is what you do for a living, while your vocation is what you do to live genuinely. Your profession is what you do so the world can pay you for your skills. Your vocation is what you do using your skill to give back to the world for the gift of life. Your profession is your ying, while your vocation is your yang. To be truly fulfilled, there needs to be an alignment between both.
Therefore, at the point where both meet and instead of a duel, you have a duet, that point is where you find your big idea. That is why professional boxers workout in the gym all day, wince at the pain of their strenuous exercise, yet smile at the awesome fun they are having.
To bring your big idea to life, I will like to take us to the marketing world, and break down a marketing campaign into four parts: The Brief, The Strategy, The Execution, The Evaluation.
The brief is a document that tells you about the identified problem of the brand. It tells you the aspirations of the brand. Have you identified what you want from life? Have you identified your challenges? Have you articulated your life vision and mission? Do you know what you want? If you are a job seeker, and when asked what kind of job you desire, and you say any job will do, then you don’t have the brief of your life yet, and as such you will be stuck with mediocrity.
The strategy is a plan of action articulating how the brand intends to move from its present position to its desired position. So you have identified what you want from life, do you have a plan? That plan is your strategy.
The execution is the implementation of the plan. Are you implementing your plan? In marketing, we may break the execution into three parts viz: Channels, Media and Messages.
Channels in marketing communication would refer to Public Relations, Advertising, Promotion etc. For you, channels would refer to what you are doing daily to actualize your big idea. As someone who has realized he has a good ear and a beautiful voice, are you choosing to be a singer, a conductor, a composer or a pianist? Those refer to your channel.
Media in marketing communication would refer to the platform through which you communicate your big idea to your audience. For you, as a pianist, your media would be a combination of the various ways people engage with you. A pianist member of a church choir? A pianist member of a band that performs gigs at events? A pianist staff that plays full time at a bank reception or an airport lounge? You may also add whether your audience sees you live, or via social media — to the media.
Messages refer to content. What are you telling your audience? So, are you a gospel pianist? A classical pianist? A reggae pianist? I’m sure you get the drift. After interacting with you, what does your audience leave with? What is their takeaway from their interaction with you? That is your message.
The final phase in bringing your big idea to life is evaluation. There is a constant need to evaluate your execution to be sure you are on track. It is also essential to help you learn from mistakes you are bound to have made in your journey so far, so you can iterate, and improve the process.
So, my question to you again is this: WHAT IS THE BIG IDEA OF YOUR LIFE??
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