Zero-G Creative

Which ideas are the right ones?

Jun 16 2008

I’ve been telling this story for years and I’m sure that just about everyone who’s ever worked with me for any length of time has heard it. Early in my career I worked as a designer and production manager for a network security firm and I was always eager to impress our VP of Marketing with my boundless creativity. So I’d come into meetings prepared to present my very best.

But I very rarely made it onto the white board. Instead, my very best concepts usually got the following response:

“That’s a great idea… For a different company.”

I came to dread those eight words and I heard them often. But that experience taught me a very valuable lesson which I have carried with me for years… We are all capable of having great ideas — MANY great ideas. But you can’t implement them all. And most of your ideas, even some of your favorites — once taken into the context of your business — probably shouldn’t even make it onto the white board.

Effective marketing, and effective overall business management requires a degree of moderation. You’re always going to have more opportunities, more ideas and more creative insights than you will have the time, money and personnel with which to implement them. So don’t be afraid to kill the ones that don’t fit straight off, no matter how creative or innovative they are.

Published by Erik Wolf under Advertising, Strategy, Web/Interactive