14 Apr Your Good Idea Might Not Be The Right Idea

How many times have you been targeted with a campaign that makes you think, “Why?” At Methods+Mastery, data doesn’t scare us, it inspires our creative ideas.

In the 1990s, after Princess Diana’s death, famed British actress Joanna Lumley suggested the creation of a bridge to cross the River Thames in her memory. Lumley’s vision was to be no ordinary crossing, instead she proposed a pedestrian-only route covered in trees, flowers and grass: A ‘garden bridge.’ Unfortunately, no one who could make this dream a reality was onboard with the idea.

But, Lumley was not to be deterred. In 2002 she proposed it to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone at the time, but, womp womp, he also wasn’t interested.

It wasn’t until 2012 when Boris Johnson, a man she had known since he was 4 years old, won his second term as Mayor of London that her idea was finally approved.

Over the course of the next 5 years Lumley, Johnson, and the bridge designer – Thomas Heatherwick, sparred with countless London departments for permissions and funding. All were asking variations on one key question, “What purpose does this bridge serve and why should we pay for it?”

In response, its creators provided a litany of reasons: It would be a much-needed route for commuters and tourists (the copious foliage would make it unfit for this purpose), it would be a great cycle path (later recanted as bicycles were seen as ruining its potential tranquility), and it would be close to completely privately funded (also untrue).

In what may not come as a shock to you, reader, upon election of a new Mayor and a formal review of the progress, the bridge project was unceremoniously shutdown.

When you cut through all the noise and politics, the reason for this is simple. While a garden bridge would no doubt be wonderful to walk across, the Thames is already festooned with busy bridges and adding another wouldn’t help anything or anyone.

Needless to say, this fable transfers across many an industry and ours is no exception. How many times have you been targeted with a campaign that makes you think, “Why did anyone make this?” They are innumerable, and they all exist because everyone has chosen to conveniently forget Dr. Ian Malcolm’s sage advice in Jurassic Park (1993).

At Methods+Mastery, we believe in doing things a little bit differently from other creatives. We exist in a world of data overload, but at M+M we have the resources and the talent to wade through it, to find that one nugget of information that opens the door to limitless possibilities. To sum it up, research is at the forefront of our ideation. It makes our work stronger and most importantly, effective.

When we have the data that can prove a set of messages will resonate best with a particular audience on a particular channel at a particular moment, or that the audience is obsessed with hearing about our client’s new innovations, but needs around six posts to understand and retain how it will affect them, we can create beautiful ideas that truly achieve goals.

At Methods+Mastery, data doesn’t scare, it inspires.