Came upon the concept of Ideaicide while reading John Moore’s blog, Brand Autopsy. Ideaicide, a term coined by Alan Parr and Karen Ansbaugh, means the killing of ideas by person(s) in a corporate setting. In other words, ideas are shot down on the basis that they are too radical, too new or too different from the company culture.
In their manifesto Ideaicide: How To Avoid It And Get What You Want, they illustrate ways to pitch our ideas such that ideaicide does not happen (literally bringing our ideas to life, haha).
While the manifesto is an interesting read overall, I felt that the section on relatibility was very useful:
Ideas are usually rejected out of turn for being too “something”—too fast, too unproven, too far beyond the corporate image. “Too something” is a reactionary description used to take the edge off ideas that are strong, bold, and a little scary at first sight. Your challenge is to help people discover a means, harmonious with the culture, to accept your concept.
People need something familiar to relate to in order to gain a sense of comfort with the new, the strange. Creative ideas take the facts, feelings and everyday fictions we all share and find new ways to connect them. By making the new and strange seem familiar, you not only establish an opening for your audience to interpret your idea, you create a backdrop against which the edge of your idea will shine.
Make your ideas relatable. I liked what it says because it happens to me a lot. An idea that to me is creative gets reactions that range from ‘don’t-get-it’ stares, skeptical eyebrow raises, and even “Haha! Oh, you weren’t kidding?”.
It sounds simple, but I think many people forget to make their ideas relatable, thinking that they can sell the idea simply because it is new and/or creative.
I think the worst thing to happen is not having your ideas rejected, but not allowing your ideas to be heard in the first place due to fear of rejection. Talk about them, invite others to suggest improvements, or even just write them down, but never kill your ideas. Which reminds me of this saying:
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
- - Edmund Burke
Alan and Karen put the power back into our hands when they say “Ideaicide is your problem.”
The manifesto Ideaicide: How To Avoid It And Get What You Want is available here.
You forget to mention that often ideas don’t see the light of day because to many clients, they are “too difficult” to execute – and while that might be the case in certain situations, in my experience “laziness” is the biggest driver.
Top blog …
Thanks Rob! I was wondering, how do you react when a client turns down an idea that to you is the most brilliant piece of work?
Well the issue is making sure the idea you have actually serves a genuine benefit to the clients business because if it doesn’t do that, then you’re wasting everyones time.
If that can be undeniably validated – then the next issue is to make sure you
‘pitch it’ right … get them to want to buy rather than trying to sell.
If all that fails and the client doesn’t like the idea – I do one of two things.
1/ Evaluate if I need to provide more evidence then try again.
2/ Evaluate if there were ‘hidden’ reasons behind their decision [ie: they're too lazy etc] and then find someone else to talk to.
For me, a good idea is only when it is bought, executed and achieving what it needs to achieve [both for the client and the consumer] … if it doesn’t do that, it’s just an excuse for self validation.
Harsh – but we live in a World of people with great ideas – but those who make a difference make them happen. Generally, haha!
Does that help or have I talked the usual advertising rubbish?
It definitely makes sense and ties in to what I’ve been hearing from my professors. I’ve learnt in Creative Communications that the creative idea ultimately has to solve all the client’s needs, while at the same time creating new associations and being new and fresh and appealing to consumers.
I wonder how many good ideas get flushed down the toilet because of lazy clients. Hmm…
Found your blog through Daryl (uniquefrequency). Really liking your blog so far.
Not much to add for this post, except that sometimes ideas are ahead of their time, and people don’t accept it. And sometimes you just have to go ahead with it yourself, instead of worrying about convincing others, I guess.
Good point Derrick – and it’s sad that so many companies who don’t sell their “great ideas” don’t go ahead and do it themselves which either shows a lack of belief or a lack of ambition. [And occasionally, a lack on money
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[...] was sparked from the comments from my previous post, where I asked what happens when you have a great idea but the people you’re pitching to, for [...]