Originally posted here (Spanish) in 2018.

That’s right. Today more than ever, we live in a world where resources are channels for executing great ideas. Ideas of all kinds: content, awards, business ideas, in short, ideas.

In 2010, I had the experience of attending the Cannes Festival. It was the year of connections. The year when social media took off, technology companies started claiming awards and categories. A year when it was believed that resources ruled communication. How wrong we were!

When I entered the digital world, my director and I only knew one thing: ideas. We didn’t have technological resources until later. We couldn’t create apps, forms, let alone games! Looking back, I feel that this is what put us at a competitive advantage: we entered the world of content without realizing where we were headed. While others were creating screens connected to Twitter to display colors or making phone calls to guess a number, we were building relationships and entertainment in the digital realm.

When did I realize that ideas would rule the communication world? Cannes 2013.

While the festival has been flooded with ideas that often aren’t real or are dressed up to win, in that year, DraftFCB did what no one thought possible: a Cyber Grand Prix with 100 posts on Facebook and other social media channels, cleverly executed under a strategic content plan.

An anecdote from an agency executive about this award: their creative director complained that the technology department didn’t support her. She believed that the only way to make something relevant in digital was if the tech team “donated” hours to make it happen. Days later, Oreo won with the Daily Twist. Since that award, my question is: how many posts are brands creating daily? How many opportunities for relevant content are being missed every day? Are we producing valuable and relevant content?

Ideas will always change the world.

Digital isn’t new; it isn’t revolutionary. Digital is today, it’s how we communicate. What revolutionizes the world and marketing are ideas. I recently read an article by Mauricio Garnier, General Manager of Garnier BBDO, in El Financiero, where he explains that digital changed the format, not the ideas.

Likewise, Rodrigo Figueroa, founder and CEO of fire Advertisement, says the same to Adlatina: agencies must see the opportunity they have today—utilize the talent within to generate ideas, different ideas, ideas that create better business for everyone.

Resources will keep evolving.

Every day, we encounter something new. Now, Facebook is launching its own program for live video editing. Which idea will we tie to this resource?

The resource of having followers on Twitter has always been there, but the idea that KFC only follows 11 accounts and the reasoning behind it has been breaking the internet in all languages for a week. The idea of knowing how many and who to follow was brilliant, and the idea of making it a massive media event was even more so.

Have we ever thought about what brand bios should say on social media? Do we think daily about how we can add a detail that changes content? Are we using resources, or are resources using us? Are we attaching an idea to a resource, or are we using it exactly as prescribed? Are we disruptive every day?

Fear is the worst enemy of ideas.

The challenge isn’t having ideas. Bringing them to life is, and fear often stops us.

Generating ideas is the easiest thing in the world, and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t want you to have them. However, taking your idea or someone else’s and bringing it to reality is something that will cost you, make you doubt, and perhaps lead you to give up at some point. But if you succeed, there will be no greater satisfaction in life. And if you don’t, ask anyone who has seen their idea out in the world, or better yet, people talking about their idea.

Recently, an idea was rejected for Black Friday out of fear. Fear of tipping off the competition about what was going to happen. My question is, so what? Whether it’s a retail event, a flyer, whatever it may be, the competition will always react. What matters is giving strength to the idea so that even if the competition reacts, it goes unnoticed.

Fear has led people to settle for having no more ideas or having the same style as before, and this has resulted in very sad times for advertising.

Fear is the worst enemy of ideas. Confronting fear is a hallmark of a good idea.