My entire career, I’ve always had to pitch ideas. And a lot of them.
Typically, off the dome. Sometimes, with some time to prep.
“You have too many ideas” was the feedback I was given in the first month at my TV job when I was 23-years-old.
2 months later, I created a segment that influenced the entire format of the 30-minute show.
In 2.5 years as a National Producer there, I created over 450 TV segments.
And that TV show was on the air for 13 years, in over 200+ markets.
Directing at “The List” TV show
I have a lot of good ideas. And I have a lot of great ideas.
The key to a great idea: It’s actually possible.
Over my 15-year career across TV, Youtube, Brand Marketing, and my own handles, I’ve never had the budget or timelines to honor exactly what my imagination wanted to do.
When I worked in TV, I had to pitch, shoot, produce and edit 2-5 minutes of segments a day.
When I worked in Youtube, my budget was ~$1,500 per video.
In Brand Marketing, sometimes we’d only get budget if it was directly tied to a campaign and organic social happened to be the priority channel.
And yet:
I’ve created two TV shows that had titles, crew, and hosts before a pilot
I’ve brought billions of views to Smosh across long form and short form content
I’ve built global strategies for Crocs and Duolingo (and more)
I’ve grown a personal platform of over 400k across TikTok, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn
Over 70,000 pieces of content, by my best guesstimate.
And I have so many more ideas!
And it’s because I’ve actually really enjoy a creative challenge. As a curious and competitive person and Aquarius, I thrive off of connecting dots and building bridges that didn’t exist before.
But how do I come up with all these ideas? A framework I created that grounds me when the KPI’s become noisy and kitchen full of cooks storm in.
I call it the Unicorn Idea Framework.
(Shout out to Nicole Ramirez who workshopped the name with me during her podcast a few months back! Highly recommend listening, I drop some good NUGGETS in it!)
In every project or campaign, there’s 3 elements at play. And where they intersect is where the magic happens. The “magic spot” is where ideas are not only possible, but also rooted in business goals and additionally, great for your portfolio.
Because let’s be honest: If you work in social, you should be building a portfolio that you’re proud of.
Strategy. Constraints. Passion.
Strategy: aka the what
What is the goal of this content or campaign?
What is the strategic pillars?
What do we want to get out of this moment?
How many pieces of content does it call for?
Constraints: aka the how
What is the budget actually?
What are the timelines?
What are the concrete challenges we’re up against?
What are the unique opportunities at play?
Passion: aka the why
What do I want to make for my portfolio?
What would get me excited to bring this to life?
What does the team want to work on?
What exciting opportunities can we unlock?
Strategy and Constraints (without the Passion) = can be boring
Strategy and Passion (without the Constraints) = not possible
Passion and Constraints (without the Strategy) = directionless
Passion might be the hardest to crack, because I think all of us have delulu dreams that we can’t incorporate into our Social Media 9-5. But sometimes the passion comes from a small element rather than making all your dreams come true.
You know the feeling. The energetic feeling in your gut that makes you excited to try a little harder than you normally would.
And this framework has been evergreen throughout my entire career, across industries.
Examples where the Unicorn Idea Framework WORKED:
Crocs "Dark Romance" campaign in 2024
Crocs “Dark Romance” collection featured whimsical, goth Jibbitz and a brand new loafer style that didn’t look like your traditional Croc.
Strategy: Target “BookTok” Gen Z and millennials to consider Crocs’ newest Dark Romance collection. The priority channel: Organic social (I was Head of Social)
Constraints: Mid-level budget, need a variety of assets for all channels (ecomm, Paid, Influencer, Organic, etc) and a stylish Ambassador to be the face.
Passion: I always wanted to write and direct a campy dark romance short film with comedic flair
The Smosh Pit channel’s "Spelling Beekini Wax" show in 2019
A fan-favorite gameshow on the Smosh unscripted channels where if a contestant spells a word wrong… they get waxed. (This “punishment” trend was classic 2019ish Youtube.)
Strategy: In 2019, the Smosh brand found a new home with the acquisition under Mythical Entertainment (Rhett and Link's company.) Under new ownership and completely new everything (building, staff, way of production, etc) Smosh needed to experiment with new formats.
Constraints: Budget was VERY limited. We needed formats that could be repeatable yet clickable, with longer watch times. They had to be shot in 1 hour, in 1 location for a 10-20 min runtime.
Passion: I love gameshows. I also loved the simple yet intense stakes of "Trivia Bidet" (created by OG Youtube legend and friend, Joe Bereta) and wanted my own version.
Result: We created 7 episodes of "Spelling Bee-kini Wax" which has over 17.5M views on Youtube. With an additional 100M+ views on Facebook and IG. Also, even tho I was not on-camera talent, the team encouraged me to host each episode. I do love hosting and would LOVE to do more of it.
Annnnd that first TV show I helped create: "The List" in 2012
This was one of the two TV shows I piloted that had a title, crew, host, and nothing else.
Strategy: A listicle 30 min TV show airing before the nightly news, but after Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. The target audience was "trendy moms" who wanted the top news of the day and to learn something new.
Constraints: It was a daily show Monday - Friday that needed to be produced, shot and edited in the same day. One studio. 3 hosts. A mix of filmed in studio, on location, and aggregate footage online and from broadcast TV. No additional budget.
Passion: I loved the internet, and I wanted to talk about the internet. (At the time, algorithms were not matured. "Viral" had just became a thing. No one took the internet seriously. Buzzfeed had just started videos.)
Result: For a test pilot episode, I created a segment breaking down the viral Korean hit: Gangnam Style. It tested highest with test audiences and (like I mentioned) influenced the format of the entire 30 min show. I’m also Korean-American so this was an especially exciting moment.
Eventually, I also got to host in front of camera too. Shout out to my early mentor and TV dad, Rick Joyce.
Throwback to 2014 and Alex from Target
Even with my consulting clients now, I use this framework to ideate big picture strategies and even smaller ideas like one-off posts.
I would also encourage everyone to use this framework to look at your own career.
Especially if you feel stuck.
Strategy: What is the job or role or skill you want to acquire next?
Constraints: What are the obstacles and resources you have around you to level up?
Passion: What do you like to do?
These answers can change and evolve as time goes on. Because all paths are not linear.
It’s about being smart with your luck.
Til the next one (in 2 weeks, because we’re bi-weekly babes!)
See ya on the internet,
XOXO Lady Socialdown aka Sarah Whittle
I’ve been following Nene Royal for over a year ever since she appeared in my doomscroll. She’s an insane vocalist and guitarist and I love when she gets into the screamo moments.
Her America’s Got Talent Audition is sick as hell.
