Despite my inclination toward the megalomaniacal, I have to occasionally give in to the stark fact that as Supreme Imperator, um, I mean, Creative Director… I don’t have a monopoly on great ideas. It pains me to admit, but my experience has shown me that great ideas can come from anywhere. The advertising industry had a wonderful reminder of this fact on Monday as USA Today’s Ad Meter results designated a consumer generated ad for Doritos as the number one Super Bowl spot. The commercial featured two guys in an office setting with a “crystal ball” that purportedly tells the future. Guy #1 proclaims the objects’ special powers. Guy #2 challenges him, pointing out that it just looks like a snow globe, which in fact it is.  Guy #1 proves the magic of the crystal ball by predicting free Doritos for the entire office, just before violently hurling the desktop tchotchke through the glass of a Doritos-packed vending machine in the background. As millions of half-buzzed, football fans across the nation were laughing hysterically, no sooner did they catch their breath when the crystal ball/snow globe’s powers were tested again by the now-believing Guy #2. He asked the globe; “Will I get that big promotion?” then blindly chucks it through an office doorway just as a boss-looking dude is turning the corner to catch it squarely in the crotch. Guy #1 appears saying to Guy #2, “Promotion? Not in your future.” As America’s living rooms surrendered a chorus of good belly-laughs, some undoubtedly struggling to control their beer-loaded bladders, two unemployed brothers from Indiana who created the spot for only $2000 and submitted it to Doritos’ competition were about to soar to advertising fame.  These guys came out of nowhere and stole the show, humbling the likes of industry greats like Jeff Goodby and Alex Bogusky. Admittedly, the spot was a bit juvenile, but arguably appropriate for the Super Bowl. Doritos gave them a million dollars as a prize which they plan to use to forward their filmmaking career. A pretty cool story.

Good ads are hard to make and it’s easy for professionals to shut out the possibility of a big idea coming from anyone without years of disciplined study and experience. It’s just not true though as we saw with the Indiana brothers and as I have seen over and over throughout my career. I have been in a number of group brainstorming sessions where the entire agency has been invited to participate in solving a marketing challenge for a particular client. In those meetings, it was not uncommon for an absolute jewel of an idea to come from the least expected people in the organization, such as someone from the accounting department or IT! The campaigns that resulted would have been very different, and I’m sure not as good, had there not been an open forum for dialog at the project’s onset. The key is to shelf egos (again, one of my greater challenges), embrace collaboration and create an open framework for idea exchange so the best thinking can flow and rise to the top. Doritos demonstrated that they got this concept by inviting anybody to submit ideas for ads. Agencies can practice this concept by leveling the playing field among the inner ranks, creating a culture of collaboration, treating the client as a partner and of course including customers in the conversation. In the end, it doesn’t matter where the idea comes from, as long as it’s great.