Is marketing’s Big Idea approach dead?

A provocative post at Six Pixels of Separation proposes that it’s time to move toward many ideas (and many agencies) and away from the Big Idea campaign that lasts several months or years.

The growing multiplicity of media and increasingly fragmented audiences argue in favor of this approach. Even in big, mainstream media, it’s already being done. The article sites the Geico example with its simultaneous gecko, caveman and stack of cash campaigns.

Conversely, does it work for Anheuser-Busch Inbev to switch campaign themes every few months, jumping from goofy to glam to serious to sarcastic?

Judging from the range of comments, it’s a very open question.

BusinessWeek: Social Media Marketing Myths

According to BW, it’s not easy or cheap, but if you’re not marketing via social media, you’re behind.

That makes sense for most of the BW audience, but there are plenty of examples of big and small businesses dipping their toe into social media using in-house resources and negligible budgets and achieving extraordinary results. It’s not the bells and whistles, it’s the quality of the conversation.