The 30 Year Idea

“I doubt if more than one campaign in a hundred contains a big idea” – David Ogilvy

In his all time classic, David Ogilvy outlined his criteria for a big idea: “Could it be used for 30 years?”

The wisdom of the 30 Year Idea, is that as a Brand you position yourself to benefit from the miracle of compound interest – with a 30 Year Idea, you have brand equity that Brands and suppliers can continue to draw from, that gets even more valuable month in, month out, year in, year out.

The Marlborough Man was a classic example of a 30 Year Idea – the symbol of freedom, untamed ruggedness and ultimately, manliness.

In Ogilvy’s day, the 30 Year Idea was a recall device that lent itself well to broadcast, one way, Industrial style advertising.

In today’s Connection Economy, the 30 Year idea morphs to become the long term Hero’s Journey a brand can now take followers on, in relationship, over time.

Digital strategy then changes from the shifting sands of continual, temporary, transient, here today, gone tomorrow, attention getting campaigning to evergreen questions of Lifetime Customer Value metrics: For those in our funnel, how do we increase the frequency and order value per customer over time? and once we find our segment where this is happening, how do we get more of these people into our funnel?

Yes, Click Through Rates, Engagement Rates and even Conversion/Sales rates are important, but these are not an end in themselves – they exist to place followers into the funnel of your ’30 Year Idea’ journey.

Who are fans going to become over time by following you?

Begin with the end in mind.

4 Comments

jonathonsciola
September 2, 2015 9:40 am

Wow. Prolific.. Brilliant.

Sarah Deutscher
September 3, 2015 9:11 am

A very timely and helpful reminder. Thanks Adam!

Adam Sugihto
September 4, 2015 1:38 pm

Thanks for the kind words Sarah!

Adam Sugihto
September 4, 2015 1:38 pm

Thanks for the compliment Jon!

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