Hello everyone, as the New Year kicks off, I thought we could quickly talk about the reason why we’re all here - ideas.

For decades, our industry has been built on crafting these beautiful, finished ads.

We’d pour our heart and soul into fully complete objects for people to look at and admire — maybe win an award, if we’re lucky.

We’d write them, shoot them, polish, craft, craft again, broadcast, and move on… confident in the knowledge that a strong, memorable idea was all that was needed.

But… (and there’s always one)

As attention gets increasingly divided across multiple and walled-off channels.

As our audiences become ever more tailored and siloed in their own echo chambers.

And as new generations demand active participation, not just passive consumption.

Today, our ideas cannot end when we sign off the edit. That’s where they begin.

Think about some of the most celebrated work in recent years, such as Vaseline Verified, T&P’s very own Snickers work which gave football fans open, one-to-one access to the special one. Or, more recently, our Hawkstone’s Farmer’s Choir, which opened beer drinkers’ hearts to British farmers’ plights… and then made its way to Britain’s Got Talent and even Five Guy’s restaurants in a unique, open collaboration.

They opened conversation, opened participation, opened minds (and, yes, wallets).

They are Open Ideas™

An Open Idea always starts by looking out into the world — the real one, happening out there… beyond the screen — then asks itself, what are people doing and saying, how are they living and what can I learn from them, to open their hearts.

An Open Idea comes with a little bit of space inside it. For our audience to step into.

An Open Idea does more than get appreciated. It gets built upon by its fans, or even another creative team, in a different floor or a different market.

An Open Idea does NOT come with a preconceived notion of what it should be, only curiosity for what it can become.

This isn't about making our jobs harder. It’s about making our work smarter.

And sometimes, all an idea needs to open up is one clever prompt, the addition of a hashtag or a tiny tweak to an endline. A small gesture that creates a BIG opening.
 

So, as we enter 2026 and are most likely breaking our New Year's resolutions already, I’d like to leave you (and me) with an open challenge in lieu.

​​Let's stop building walls around our ideas and instead, start opening doors for them.

Make it a great year!