“If at first, the idea is not absurd,” observed Albert Einstein, “then there is no hope for it.” This is especially true with marketing — and why so little of it is truly remarkable. Powerful marketing is almost always unrecognizable as such at first. Dig into the history of almost any great ad campaign, and you’ll find two elements present: uncertainty and internal resistance, and plenty of both. But you’ll also find someone who was courageous enough to take a risk (because great marketing always involves some risk), and was rewarded with more market share. You probably won’t know great marketing when you see it in its embryonic state. But you’ll recognize it when sales start to climb.