The Greatest Idea Campaign Ever Run

The Longitude Act was a real problem for the seafaring men of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries - not knowing the precise distance east or west of the home port. The English Government established a public idea campaign to find a solution, offering the equivalent of several million dollars in today’s money, and seeking a ‘practical, and useful means of determining longitude’. John Harrison, a man of no formal education or apprenticeship, constructed a clock which solved the problem and facilitated England’s dominance over the oceans, leading to the creation of the British Empire. This breakthrough campaign included a killer problem, a sponsor with clout, support for prototypes, challenges to spur knowledge forward, and a diverse audience. The basic good practices still apply; companies should be looking to their greatest challenges and asking their audience to try and solve them.