Earned attention: It’s not the idea, it’s how you got there
James Curtis, Ogilvy PR's head of consumer PR and influence, on why creating truly memorable work involves more than a brainstorming session and a pending deadline.
It’s not news that PR agencies are tasked with being creative. It’s fun, it’s rewarding, and it means you can produce some seriously cool shit. But in my nearly two decades working in agencies, the path to creative hasn’t always been clear. In previous agencies I’ve been in, more often than not a typical pattern would unfold: the brief drops, the butcher’s paper comes out, and the ideas start flying.
On paper, that approach can work. But landing truly sticky, effective creative takes far more than a good brainstorm session. Before we even get to how you arrive at a great idea, there are a few things worth considering.
First, the privilege of working in the creative industry. Few sectors offer as much trust from clients — faith not only in strategy but in ideas that might not have been tested before. Great creative strategy usually ventures into untouched ground; there’s rarely a proven blueprint to success.
Second, ideas — and lots of them. Great campaigns rarely stem from a single lightbulb moment. They emerge from a volume of ideas that are discussed, tested, interrogated, and filtered.
Finally, the media and marketing landscape is changing fast. What defines a “successful” campaign is increasingly subjective. Today, it’s not just about making headlines — ideas must earn a place in consumers’ feeds. To keep pace, agencies must rethink how they approach creativity altogether.
Of course, sometimes a great idea does fall out of a freewheeling brainstorm. But too often, the hamster wheels spin and the output is a collection of ideas that are fun but don’t solve a business problem or offer any real longevity. They’re a flash in the pan — a New York minute, two shakes of a lamb’s tail / insert other idioms here. They’re fun, sure. But are they impactful?
While the industry’s pace is fast and trends more fleeting, one thing remains: the need for ideas that deliver lasting brand impact and real business results.
For an earned-first idea to be truly powerful, the journey to that idea must be deliberate. It’s a process of uncovering why the brief exists in the first place, deep-diving into the real problem and tension, and finding new ways to solve it.
That insight usually won’t be neatly spelled out in the brief. It emerges as you dig into audience behaviour — the why behind the what. This isn’t just someone shouting a clever one-liner in a brainstorm; it’s strategic creativity that resolves a cultural tension and connects with a real community.
Consumers today control their own media experience. They can block, skip, or avoid certain content altogether. So, if brands want to earn attention, ideas must be both culturally relevant and inherently shareable.
It starts with uncovering a tension that aligns with the business’s goals — and then resolving it through creativity.
Yes, it needs to cut through the noise at the outset but for brands to remain relevant over time, they must go beyond short-term stunts. They must consistently show up, embed themselves within culture, and foster genuine communities around their brand.
This concept is what we call “community currency” — a trend identified in Ogilvy PR’s Futures 8 report. Community currency is about prioritising the needs and interests of your audience, ensuring they feel seen, heard, and part of something bigger.
Consumers today want experiences that give them insider knowledge they can share with their networks. Leaning into community currency drives belonging, boosts loyalty, and keeps your brand top-of-mind in an increasingly distracted world.
A standout example of community currency in action comes from Go Pro and the passionate community they’ve built.
By simply inviting fans to post user-generated content, Go Pro has created a highly engaged audience with its product placed firmly at the centre. It may seem like a small ask, but this approach has fostered an online ecosystem where sharing branded content feels authentic, rewarding and culturally relevant. Using the simple mechanic of hashtagging #GoPro, fans can submit their footage for a chance to be featured across the brand’s social channels.
Go Pro’s social feeds are filled with use-generated content.
If their video is chosen, they don’t just appear on Go Pro’s feed, they earn bragging rights, knowing their creativity stood out and reached millions around the world. This strategy drives a steady stream of high-impact, user-led content while building a strong sense of belonging within the community, united by a shared love of action, adventure and creativity.
By showcasing real people doing extraordinary things, Go Pro has turned its users into powerful advocates and shown how community can be one of the most effective tools for building a brand.
Another great example of community currency is Nike Run Club. The movement of NRC isn’t just an app, but a global running community that provides tools, challenges and real-world meetups that brings together like minded people doing something they love. It’s supportive, rewarding and something that people want to share. They saw that active running communities already existed, they just provided the tools and technology to link everyone together which put them front and centre and now the leading brand globally for run clubs.
James Curtis
We all love the ‘aha’ moment when a great idea strikes. But today, pairing tension resolution with a plan for embedding ideas into community culture is the surest way to land creative that truly resonates.
It’s the first step toward ideas that spark new thinking — that invite deeper questions beyond what’s on the brief, push into unexpected spaces, and genuinely embed brands in people’s lives.
Ultimately, it leads to ideas sticky enough to be proactively shared over a few schooners or dropped into those chaotic family group chats usually reserved for dog photos and endless debates about clashing social calendars.
And that’s when you know you’ve really earned attention.
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