What if we replace the 'one big idea' with something bigger?

Mobile technology has radically altered how people are connecting with information. "Mobile" isn't just devices or a channel, but more a private concierge for peoples' lives. It has become the primary way for many people to seek products and services, or interact with the world at-large. 

This has resulted in significant behavioral and other changes. For instance, mobile use patterns are providing real-time views into geographic spread of diseases and health triggers, sometimes even before the CDC. And Mobile-friendly "snackable" formats have become ubiquitous because the short-form dopamine bursts they enable are transforming what people find meaningful.

Mobile platforms—and a slew of companies offering intermediary services through them—are increasingly weaving different facets of people’s lives into a seamless web of interconnected experiences. Savvy marketers are beginning to recognize this. Which is why they are moving away from serving up disrupting messages, to "simplifying options" or "facilitating needs" instead. Engagement in the moment of need has become the most useful, provable—and thus desirable—metric. The traditional one Big Idea—hyperfocused on spraying out brand messages—reveals its limits in this more user-centered web of interconnected experiences.

But what if we were to alter the character of the Big Idea itself? Let’s start by replacing the one big product-centered Idea with the one generous behavior-driven Ideal. That shifts the focus to brand behavior and value exchange along a customer’s journey. It's like moving from 'The best running shoe ever' to "Just Do It". This shift recasts marketing as a continuous, dynamic conversation, opening up new possibilities for connecting with customers. With a big behavioral ideal at the helm, brands are compelled to seek new ways to deliver value. It's a process we start by asking “What’s Powerful Now?”

A fertile behavior-driven ideal that keeps on giving: "Just Do It"

For a recent client we did exactly that.

After inheriting “tested” product-focused campaign messaging, we convinced the client to think in behavioral terms instead. Conducting quick, targeted surveys over social channels we rapidly synthesized insights, prototyped conversations, and rolled out a fresh set of experiences. 

That not only gained them 40% open rates on emails (an important channel for their audience) but also doubled their benchmark click-through rates on digital media. It gained our client 130% engagement above their goals in other important channels. By understanding evolving patient values and behavior, we were able to offer them a health conversation they would positively respond to.

The retail brand Target went a step further a few years ago when, by asking 'What's Powerful Now?', it studied subtle shifts in purchasing behavior and cross-referenced data from their credit cards to correctly predict when female customers were pregnant. That allowed Target to talk better, topically and proactively with them.

And this is powerful now not just because we have the technology that allows us to do that.

People’s actions are tied to the value they seek. By paying attention to their behavior and synthesizing the right insights, we can deliver value at their most important moments. By getting them to engage with us in their moment of need, we are delivering What’s Powerful Now to them – which is the most important moment to any brand.

The way people are living seamlessly is giving us views into what was not possible before. We are getting finely attuned to quickly parsing the enormous amount of information flowing through the systems and responding with new value. But this not about speed. Speed—while critically important—is not the driving factor of health marketing activity today. Relevance is. Because relevance moves people to act, turning possibility into reality. And nothing is a big idea until that happens.