I want to share how I validate my big ideas. When brainstorming a campaign idea for a new product or partnership, it’s easy to immediately become obsessed with the tactics. What if we did this? And partnered with them? And had this person shoot it?

Slow down. Take a beat. Start by writing a thesis for the big idea.

Writing a campaign thesis is like putting the campaign concept through a lie detector test. It reveals the cracks. It shows the opportunities.

Before putting anything into a formal deck or pitch, I like to write out:

The campaign thesis.
The big idea. 
A handful of headlines or taglines.
If I had to write the announcement caption today, what would it be?

I then pitch the idea out loud to no one. Where do I get tripped up? Where do I start to not believe myself?