Hi! Managers: It's time for fresh ideas

We should come up with fresh ideas before we launch any new campaign. Below are some thoughts that might come in handy for developing a hip, happening marketing plan: a potential checklist for generating great ideas:

Forget the same old product attributes.

Find a new product idea that is fresh, strong and unique. Focus on the consumer, not the product.

Know consumers' experience with your brand. What's worked/not worked?

Refine technical product information into simple consumer language.

Understand consumers' conversations.

What are the conversations they are having about brands, categories and lifestyle?

What notable people are related to your category? eg: LCD TV may relate to movie stars, Korean pop, sport, fashion, etc.

Identify what's relevant to the consumer.

Always come up with a surprising element.

Challenge the consumer by giving them a chance to show their best.

When you have a brand story (your best idea), pass it on.

I have an example of a new idea for launching a marketing campaign for you to review. This case is definitely fresh, challenging, differentiated, bold and an example of thinking out of the box.

The aim of the New Zealand Yellow Pages campaign was neither to promote the Yellow Pages nor recruit new advertisers. Nor was it to highlight the new services of the book. They wanted to illustrate that only the Yellow Pages could help you get the job done, as their slogan claimed.

The Yellow Pages tree house stands 10 metres up a redwood tree in a forest near Warkworth, north of Auckland. Claiming they can "get anything done", Yellow Pages commissioned Pacific Environment Architects to design a treetop restaurant. The company then posted an ad for an everyday person to run the project and serve as the host of the restaurant. Twenty-six-year-old Tracy Collins was picked from the applicants, and went about sourcing workers and materials from the Yellow Pages directory.

Yellow Pages marketing director Kellie Nathan explained the project:

"We've had lots of people questioning whether the tree house is for real because it is an ad campaign. Well, having eaten at the restaurant myself, I can assure people that Tracey, the tree, and the restaurant are very real. "As it was built on private land, only those with a reservation were let in on the tree house location. Although the restaurant was only open for bookings between January 9 to February 9, the Redwood Forest team is now making plans to re-open the venue to the public."

The above example shows the ability of people to set a brand free. It's not talking about the brand. It kicks off by one consumer volunteering to take this challenging assignment. Yellow Pages is only helping you to meet goals you've set. You absolutely own the content, idea, design, team and so on. The best idea comes from you.

Pongsak Sanitwongse Na Ayudhya is managing director of Publicis (Thailand)