In this day and age whether you are talking about movies or ad campaigns, bad ideas - or badly executed ideas - don't stick around very long. They are voted down and/or bad-mouthed on Twitter or Facebook and the word gets out very quickly. Advertising superstar Gerry Graf (think the latest Snickers & Skittles campaigns) weighed in on this phenomenon on Adverising Age saying:
"We live in a time when the best idea wins, and scale doesn't matter much to the idea."
While I agree with him in principal, I think this is really only true once ideas get out into the world. Good ideas, no matter how good they are, still have to make it through the advertising gauntlet to find funding or a patron willing to take a chance.
To complicate things further, no matter what people might say about being social media wizards, if you're just starting to development your social media brand there's really no telling what the response will be. The Old Spice campaign from Wieden+Kennedy is a perfect example of what can go right when creativity, freedom and good execution come together. More importantly, the campaign is about iteration and interaction rather than a company spending a bunch of money to get "Facebooked". W+K has a good idea and a voice that's resonating with people and they are still running with it.
For there to be more examples like this, advertising executives need to start listening more to people on the front-lines with digital experience - and people with digital experience need to stop pretending they know what's going to happen before it does.