Autumn is a time for back-to-school and golden rules. Here are 10 rules of the road for spicing up ideas.
- Allocate time & budget for strategic and creative thinking and planning. Sounds obvious – but most people underestimate the time needed to develop truly original ideas.
- Challenge the brief, especially if the stated goal is to “generate media coverage.” Traditional briefs often constrain creative thinking.
- Gather insights first; use observational research (track day-in-the-life of the target) and best-in-class resources.
- Scout for great ideas constantly; they can come at any time, any place, from anyone – and rarely under extreme pressure.
- Use a trained facilitator to run all creative sessions and absolutely avoid asking a team member to facilitate ideation; insiders preserve the status quo.
- Engage diverse “outsiders” in creative thinking; include target audience members in brainstorms.
- Aim for surprise, shock, humor and personalization in ideas; these are proven factors in earning interest and engagement.
- Reward heroic failure and punish mediocre success; few truly creative ideas arise in a climate of fear – though novel ideas should feel a bit scary!
- Design and express an idea very simply, visually and succinctly – and be sure you love it before you ask someone else to love it.
- Sell creative ideas confidently, tenaciously, and with explicit mention of expected impact; an initial “no” does not have to be a final “no.”
