Originality: Are you original?

I often wonder if the ideas we present today are truly original? All right, inventions are plentifull but I am thinking more in the lines of marketing. What strategic, tactical or even operational moves of today are truly innovative? Are we simply re-inventing ourselves time and again?

A dream, is what I believe originality is. Though I strive to be original, there are never any guaranties. Only the second best thing is more easily achievable: incremental creativity. On a day to day basis, very few if any are able to come up with original ideas that change the way we marketeers operate. However, if we force ourselves to tweek and improve our work and present new but "small" ideas on a constant basis, then we can achieve success.

The backside of the Big Idea (read: truly original idea) is that getting it is so hard. As I write under my post "What is AMOK IDEA" I believe that:

Ideas come from within. Some are spontaneous, some come from inspiration. Only an open mind will spring unique ideas and embrace the multifaceted. The best are products of genius and serendipity.

But once an idea is public, it is up for grabs. Your Big Idea is likely to be imitated almost as fast as the little creative hops forward that you do every day. In other word you are likely to be in a better position if you are a little creative all the time, than if you hold back until the Big Idea finally revelates itself to you.

If you wait around for the Big Idea you risk lagging behind as you wait, and the advantage your idea might have given you will be unsustainable. First of all because you were laggin behing in the first place and second of all because others (e.g. competitors) will easily be able to exploit your idea in a very short time.