The Case Against Ideas

Great reactions already!

I needn't have worried quite so much; The Case Against Ideas is already getting some great feedback. One of the world's most popular marketing gurus (who I can't name as he was commenting in a private email) yesterday called it a 'neat think piece'. Senior colleagues from the UK and US (I've released the book in pdf form free to the entire organisation) have called it 'just great' and said that it 'left a strong impression'.

Sneaking out a few copies online...

...to see what people think. Having very consciously and determinedly gone for a) self-publishing and b) treating the book as an argument, a personal polemic, and therefore not consulting anyone else's opinion or feedback before publication - I hadn't anticipated what a crisis of confidence this would engender! The book could have been out weeks earlier if it hadn't been for my (mostly unconscious) prevarifications, all of which were symptomatic of that unanticipated fear of exposure. Goodness me, our internal emotional architecture can be an odd edifice.

Download the book here

Download TheCaseAgainstIdeas.pdf

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What have I got against Ideas?

Well, nothing actually.

The provocative title is there to grab attention and get people reading and debating.In fact, I think about the whole book as A Provocation.

The 'Ideas' referred to are very specific ones, the so-called 'Big Ideas' that have been regarded as the essence of effective advertising and advertisements for several decades. The thrust of this book is the argument that 'Big Ideas' simply cannot cope with the complexity and interconnectedness of communications which are becoming both increasingly digital - and digitised.

I argue in the book that the 'Big Idea' needs to be superceded by a new way of thinking, a new conceptual model that will form the foundation of a new generation of advertising solutions. These are already starting to emerge, from all corners of the advertising, media and communications landscape. But there is no systematic body of thinking about how you create, plan and execute these new solutions. I want to kick-start the process of developing that new way of thinking.

This book, perhaps surprisingly, was written entirely on the No.68 London bus, over a six-month period commuting to and from my home in Tulse Hill, South London and the office where I work most days in Covent Garden. What's more, it was written entirely on a BlackBerry, which I regard as a neat little writing tool. You can fact-check as you go using the web browser and email your work to yourself as back-up just before the end of each journey.

The only downside is that I now have thumbs that are as mobile as those of a teenage gamer; slightly odd in a man in his late fifties!