How to Start a Renaissance - Martin Puris

Every Renaissance needs a Medici. In The Great Advertising Renaissance, it will have to be you. Why you? Because the power of the purse is undeniable. Because the power to say yes or no is the power that matters. And presumably, you’re the most committed to getting a proper return on your massive investment.

Of course, all this presupposes that the check writers — who, by the way, are every bit as guilty as the copywriters — are themselves equipped to know the difference between big and small, insightful and banal, pre-emptive and generic, meaningful and gratuitous, memorable and forgettable, compelling and unconvincing. Which is highly doubtful.

And that means there will have to be some serious remedial education happening in corporate marketing departments and a radical change of perspective on the senior management floor.

For the sake of argument, I’m going to assume that you more or less agree with my conclusions thus far and you agree that change is absolutely necessary. Or at least you’re willing to listen. The next question is how do you start a Renaissance? How do you incite change? How do you manage the creative process and become a more active participant? How do you inspire a renewed appreciation for creative thinking throughout your own company?

All fair questions. And if you’ve never been a Medici before you’ll need a bit of help. Which is precisely why we created Puris & Partners — creative reeducation is what we do.

There’s no point in minimizing the task. It will require the strategic and philosophic genius of Sun Tzu, the stealth of Machiavelli, and the persistence and patience of Gandhi.

Since Ground Zero is always a good place to begin, let’s begin at Ground Zero and talk about how Big Ideas happen.

By definition, all Big Ideas are radioactive and scary. Small ideas can slide under the door, they threaten no one, cause no one to think too hard, nor do they raise the chilling fear of failure. Big Ideas and Big Thinking, by definition, are often jarring. Initial responses are often negative.

And while some may have the potential to change the world, or perhaps just your company, it’s important to be aware that at their beginning, in their nascent state, even the biggest of ideas are exceedingly vulnerable, fragile, and easily lost. They need a champion, they need a Medici.

Read more on ‘A BIG Idea’

Ignorance is a choice. Here is a list of popular international news websites:

Yahoo! News Google News HuffingtonPost CNN New York Times De Telegraaf NBC News Mail Online Washington Post The Guardian WSJ ABCNews BBC News USA Today LA Times De Volkskrant Le Monde Le Figaro