The world is not waiting for another lipstick.

A founder recently asked me to help him brand his spray-on sunscreen. But it seems he missed the memo re: new sunscreen regulations. Hmmm.

A dermatologist wanted to brand her clinical skincare product—10 years in development, featuring 10 "super active" ingredients. She shared her mood board, logo, fonts & packaging. All beautifully designed by some swanky firm.

She claimed every ingredient was hand-selected with utmost intention. Except the intention was unclear. 10 ingredients solving 10 different issues isn't a strategy—it's a shopping list. & blowing your budget on pretty (aka pricey) packaging before defining your brand? Ouch.

New brands launch daily. But fewer & fewer survive. They fizzle almost as fast as they sizzle.

These founders had products. They had exotic ingredients. They had packaging. & they had a clamoring community.

So why did I pass on both these projects – especially in this uncertain economy?

They had no real reason for being.

No big idea that could cut through the clutter, competition & confusing claims in the category. No there, there to make real news instead of more noise.

A big idea doesn’t settle for incremental improvement - making something 5% better through the “er” school of development: newer, bolder, faster, smoother, easier, simpler, cheaper.

Instead of asking "how can we improve on X," big ideas ask: "what if we came at this in a totally different way?" Instead of asking how many engineers it takes to change a lightbulb, they ask: "Why a lightbulb?"

It changes how we shop, what we desire, what we buy. How we operate.

A big idea takes an uncompromising stance on what's broken about the status quo. It doesn't tinker—it overturns. It makes its predecessors obsolete.

A big idea unearths universal yearnings no one has dared address. Yet. It doesn't just acknowledge pain points— it exposes a friction we've come to accept as acceptable. It solves problems people didn't even know they had.

Diana Vreeland said it best: "Give them what they never knew they wanted." That's not innovation—that's revolution.

Uber didn't just solve hailing a cab. It exposed how broken the entire experience of urban transportation was.

Big ideas have emotional resonance, not just functional utility. They tap into how people feel about themselves & their choices. They give credence to their audiences’ hope & fears. Dreams & aspirations. Nike doesn't just sell sneakers—it sells confidence. To try, fail & start over. To summon your inner athlete regardless of your mile time.

Sure, a big idea needs its moment. The same concept dies in one era can reshape the next. Video calls existed long before Zoom—but it took a global pandemic to create mass adoption.

The graveyard of new products has shown it takes more than some trendy ingredient, sexy package design, Instagramable moment or a viral TikTok to create something that succeeds & lasts.

If you're considering launching a new brand, answer these 4 questions first:

• Why do you exist? Your idea.

• Why is your idea important now? Your moment.

• Why are you the one to bring it to the world? Your creds.

• Why will it succeed where others have failed? Your unfair advantage.

The world isn't waiting for another lipstick, sunscreen or anti-aging cream.

The world is starving for ideas brave enough to ask the uncomfortable: What's broken in the industry? What sacred assumptions can we shatter? What can we create that makes people wonder how they ever survived without it?

Have a good product and you can make a sale. Have a big idea & you just might change the world.

Big ideas reveal not just what can be done, but why it must be done. That's the idea I want to see in the world. Will it be yours?