An interesting POV came up in one of my meetings last week. An agency shared that they no longer say “the big idea” to refer to the crux of a concept. Their feeling was that big ideas don’t have to be “big” anymore. A new logo, a change to packaging, a digital video– while tactically small– have all constituted big ideas that drove business results for their clients.

Is there merit in abandoning the term “the big idea” and replacing it with something that encompasses all big idea tactics? Or can we keep the term as long as our definition evolves with changing media and mindsets?

We’ve been in hundreds of agency presentations, and quite honestly, the term takes on a number of variations. From our perspective, it may be less about agreeing to the term itself and more about acknowledging that a big idea doesn’t always have to be “big.” A series of small ideas that drive better results can be just as effective.