Try completing the sentence for brands you are familiar with, brands that have momentum and a clear sense of identity. It might take a little while but the chances are you can come up with something that feels interesting, maybe even provocative, and quite specific to that brand. We have found that the best Big IdeaLs seem to exist in the intersection between two realms of thought and experience. They connect with the brand’s “best self”. This is not always exactly how the brand is right now, but how it is as its best. Clues to the brand’s best self may be found in its heritage – those moments when the brand was most successful, or in the relationship that the brand’s most loyal users have with it, or maybe in its visual identity. Bear in mind, however, that brands only exist in context: if the brand’s greatest hour was in 1964, we need to reinterpret what made it great back then for a contemporary context. Big Ideals need to connect not just to a list of brand benefits, but to the little pieces of magic that comprise that brand’s current or potential claim to greatness. Big Ideals also connect to a cultural tension. This is where we claim culture. “Markets are conversations”, according to The Cluetrain Manifesto and leading brands need to be interesting conversationalists. They are worth listening to when