Far be it from me to try to speak for fine artists or famous novelists and the genesis of their ideas. But in the commercial creativity business called marketing communications, ideas come from strategies.

A strategy is a single-minded direction. What is the one thing an army needs to know to act? Go that way. Yep, “thataway” is pretty much all they need to know. Now that’s a strategy. It’s direction that is simple, unadorned, and essential.

Those of us who do battle in the marketing communications arena need to remember that kind of simplicity when generating strategies and ideas. Strategy equals sacrifice. Find the one truth. The singular direction. Give up on the other 11 directions. Boil it down. Yes, that means even sacrificing those sacred-cow strategies #2 and #3. Don’t try to jam everything in!

Written by:

Steve Johnson, Managing Partner