But then, wallop, Mr. V delivered a rather hefty kick in the spuds with one of his departing thoughts, saying that ‘the big idea’ school of marketing is rapidly giving way to that of momentum. ‘Old school big ideas can look ponderous and industrial when compared to nimble, agile innovators who tend towards hyper-activity rather than hyper-discipline.’

Times are changing, but does the old school big idea really have to take such a momentous whupping in the process? And is it really the enemy of the soi-disant nimble, agile innovator?

Sadly, big ideas are increasingly seen as an anachronism – quicksand into which the best executions get sucked rather than rock-solid platforms on which to strut our funky stuff. People seem terrified of them for precisely the reason that we should embrace them: they provide focus and continuity, a point of reference for consumers in the choppy, hyper-competitive waters of developed capitalist markets. Dare I say it, but they provide the basis for those increasingly rare things – campaigns – you know the things that we used to do back in the day shortly after getting our horses shod and our moustaches tarred.

The obsession with hyperactivity embodies one of the cancers of modern marketing and communications – the tendency just to lob one-off grenades into the market simply to achieve lots of noise, rather than to build anything. If we’re not careful, brand management will become like managing firework displays – brief bursts of glory before fizzling out to bugger all. The value of big ideas is that you can keep executing time after time, leaving the embers glowing even when you’re not doing anything in market.

And who said that you can’t be hyper-active AND hyper-disciplined? Red Bull don’t seem to struggle too much whilst sheeting back to their ‘Gives you wings’ platform. Honda’s Parachute jump, Axe’s Gamekillers and Pamper’s ‘World of Babies’ installations are all good examples of gleefully and innovatively playing off a core idea.

I’m not arguing for a slavish devotion to the big idea. As we evolve, being engaging, evocative and useful become key priorities – O2’s Bluebook, is a great example of this - but the big idea needn’t die an ignominious death in the process. If it does we may well become the Paris Hiltons of brand management, generating headlines but being utterly vacuous in the process.

Al Crawford, Executive Planning Director, Clemenger BBDO