Chasing the Monster Idea: The Marketer's Almanac for Predicting Idea Epicness

Chapter 7. Does it scare you?

This is the green chapter. Why is it the green chapter, you ask? (If you didn't ask that, try it ... it's fun.) It's the green chapter because it's different, it's bold, it's going to touch on a subject we don't typically want to consider, it's going to address a "feeling" about our idea more than a quality we may be able to identify. This chapter is the green chapter because it's going to take a chance. It's going to risk failure focusing on something we, as advertisers and marketers, talk a lot about but rarely practice. It's something we preach from the conference table tops to our clients but would find difficult dealing with ourselves. It's going to address a hypocrisy that is at the heart of why some ideas go monster and others shrivel and die, or worse, do nothing. This is the green chapter because green is hulking, green is dangerous, green is unsettling. We're not talking environmentally friendly save-the-earth green, we're talking leanmean-green-machine green. We're talkin' scaly, growling, monster green. There's no safety in this green, there's no assurance with this green. Green means something is moving and we need to act. Green means all is not necessarily well. It doesn't always mean "bad," but it does always mean "look out." Green is uneasy, like an upset stomach, which is exactly what we need to discuss in terms of our ideas. Why is it the green chapter, you ask?

Because green is scary. And scary is good.

In late 2009, my agency was invited ...