Where the hell is your idea?

Hi everyone

You may have heard about Matt Harding from his 'Where the hell is Matt?" videos.

You may recall he travels around the world, doing crazy dances in different countries and creates a video of his journeys - but you may not have seen his latest 2008 video.

Please watch it - you won't regret it. It runs for about 4 minutes, although most of my friends said they played it all weekend.

Fantastic huh? In one short video he makes an incredibly bold and risky statement for these cynical times, but with a big dose of understatement and bundles of pure joy. As Matt himself says, "Everybody knows that we (humans) can all be small-minded and petty. But we also like to be reminded once and a while about what we can be, at our best."

Of course, producing this latest effort wasn't easy - 14 months in the making, 42 countries and a cast of thousands. I've said before I'm no fan of viral marketing for viral sake, but this was the opposite of that. Meticulously thought out, planned, produced and edited - resulting in something fresh and incredibly inspiring.

Can we all say that for the campaigns we are working on now? If not, how can we learn from Matt?

Lesson 1: Whether it's from our brands or not, these campaigns are being produced - Unless we convince our brand's to embrace this type of work we won't get 20 million visits, dozens of interviews, a lecture series, a web site, millions of fans and even imitation videos . We won't become cultural icons that are embraced globally unless we too embrace new ways of doing things.

Matt's latest campaign was actually sponsored by Cadbury's Stride Gum - but the campaign could have equally, or perhaps even better, have been sponsored by a global clothing brand, camcorder maker, travel company, airline or global beer brand. The message is that universal. And that powerful.

Lesson 2: We won't get there by formulaic strategies - Great campaigns are not just a matter of looking up the digital marketing checklist and including (a) user generated content (tick), (b) web promotion (tick), and (c) social media integration (tick).

It actually comes back to creating insight and meaning around our work. And it comes back to realising that following a load of brand guidelines, insisting on inserting the product at every opportunity, having the idea pass through 6 layers of change committees, and then using every avenue to avoid perceived risk (and reward) - will not result in great work. Whether that's within an agency or a client.

We need to ask honest questions - are we in marketing to create bold and hugely successful work that will make our brands and us famous? Or would we rather tick the boxes but never really strive for greatness. Aren't we all in this business to produce the kind of passionate and inspirational work that Matt has done?

Hell, yes.

I can't put it any better than how Matt describes the choices he has made. "Sometimes other people limit our options for us, sometimes we limit our options and we create the boundaries for our existence and say, 'I can only do this, this is the job I’m cut out for, this is what I can do.' I think it’s really important when you realize that you’re the one creating those boundaries and you have control over them, there’s no lock on the cage, and you can open up the door, go outside and do whatever you want."

Lesson 3: Playing it safe is the biggest risk of all - As marketing guru Seth Godin often states, that in the Web 2.0 world the only, THE ONLY, safe option is to embrace change. Because as lesson 1 teaches us this work is out there, being produced and watched and loved and embraced. There is no going back for our brands - because someone else will do it better and brighter and we'll just be ignored. And as for our jobs, well, the same rules apply.

As Seth puts it in this blog, "At least once a day, I get mail from people worrying that if they are too remarkable, too edgy, too willing to cause change and growth... they're risking getting fired. I almost never get mail from people who figure that if they keep doing the same boring thing day in and day out at their fading company that they're going to lose their jobs in a layoff."

"50 ad agencies lose accounts for being boring, static and unprofitable for every one that gets fired for being remarkable. 50 employees lose their jobs because the business just faded away, for every one who is singled out and fired for violating a silly policy and taking care of a customer first. 50 readers stop visiting your blog (or your web site or your magazine or your TV show) because you're stuck in a rut and scared, for every one who leaves because you have the guts to change the format or challenge the conventional wisdom."

Work like this inspires us to push ourselves and our clients beyond what is bland, and into what is brilliant. And reminds thus that the effort it takes, while never easy, is ultimately hugely rewarding.

And it reminds us that if Matt can do it, so can we.

Cheers, Rob

Feel free to add comments below, or for further questions or advice contact me at rob.h@th.arcww.com