That was MY Idea

There’s not an agency in the world that isn’t scared that someone, somewhere is looking to steal their ideas.
So we go about our business like Secret Squirrel, convinced that every pitch is a beauty parade, designed to distract us for the corporate subterfuge that will see someone nick all our best ideas and run for the hills.
What a load of codswallop. I’ve been in this business for a good number of years now (answers on a postcard please), and I’ve never once seen it happen.
The paranoia is easy to understand – after all, great ideas are our chief currency. But the fact is, even when we win pitches, the big pitch idea hardly ever runs.
So what does all this mean?
Well, when we win pitches, our idea was in the words of Roy (Catchphrase) Walker, "its good but it’s not right."
It’s part of a whole cocktail of things that an agency needs to serve up to win a pitch.
The idea?
As we keep telling our clients, the best ideas are co-created out of a strong partnership.
And when we don’t win? Chances are, the ideas simply weren’t good enough.
Aha, I hear you cry. What about those instances when another agency wins the pitch, and yet something alarmingly familiar ends up running? Well, if the brief was a good one, it’s likely that more than one agency could come up with a similar execution.
So there you have it. No piracy, no corruption and no grand conspiracy.
Just a small world and a few coincidences.
We should be proud to share our ideas, shout them from the rooftop even.
Because the ideas are, sort of, the easy bit.
We all have them all day long, turning them into something that works – now there’s a challenge!