The idea is dead. Long live the idea.

Remember ideas?

Those little things that hold together advertising campaigns. The likes of 'Reassuringly Expensive', 'What's the worst that could happen?', 'Don't die before you've lived'...off the top of my head. Ideas that you pushed for as a student in order to make your portfolio better than anyone elses? Ideas that you actually had to work hard to get to? Hours spent in a room with just a layout pad and your bare wit for company? Well my friends, it seems to me as though the big idea - the strategy - that should be at the core of every campaign, is dead.

I was down in Cornwall at the weekend and paid a visit to my old creative partner - he runs a lovely hotel down there now. We had a chat about this and that, during which he asked me if I'd seen any decent ads recently. And literally, I couldn't think of any. Absolutely nothing came to mind. It was incredible.

And it's not surprising really. After all, it's all about things that just look cool nowadays - style over substance as they say. And the bigger problem - you can't sell in an idea without a reference. Of course, coming up with a strategy from scratch and then finding a reference is much too hard/time consuming nowadays. It's much easier just to find something on YouTube or Vimeo, add a vague end-line and voila. Done. Which is why nowadays shit like this appears:



This spot for Lucozade sums up everything that is going wrong with the industry. It feels generic and easy. Get some celebs, shoot it like a music promo and add a vague line.

One thing's for sure, it's no 'Good things come to those who wait.' It's no 'Hate something, change something.' It's no 'Don't let a mobile ruin your movie.'

In it's defence some will admire the simplicity of it. But for me it's the wrong side of simple...it's empty. I'm all for simple, but with a proper idea please.

Interactivity is of course where it's at now. But marry the two together - a strategy AND interactivity - and you're onto a winner in my humble opinion.

And the moral of the story? More thinking, less stealing please children.