4 Quick Tips On Creative Brainstorming

Here at Push Button, clients come to us for new ideas for radio ads and creative brainstorming is practiced daily. Some days it’s easy and other days…not so much. It’s all about creating an atmosphere that everyone feels comfortable in and breaks them out of their traditional mindset. Here are a couple of ways to keep the ideas coming and the creative juices flowing.

1. It’s All in the Details—or Not Brainstorm alone first. This way, when you enter the group you’ll have ideas to share. To stay creative and generate ideas, look into the specific details and see if you can pull out a theme or story. You can even take a specific fact and make a general statement from it.
2. Word Play Words are very powerful and you can manipulate them in many ways. Think of the words associated with the product or slogan. What’s the definition of a word, its function, its aesthetics, how it’s used, metaphors, perceptions, personality, etc. Use your findings to create drama behind the word and explain why it’s important using context clues.
3. Drawing It Out Some people are very visual and like to tackle a project by sketching out what comes to mind. Having different concepts of visual themes, layouts or subjects is crucial to overall projects. So get your sketch paper and pencil ready!
4. Bringing your ideas together Now is the time to showcase your ideas and listen to different perspectives. One idea leads to another and great results can emerge. It is extremely important to defer all judgment. No matter what the idea is, embrace it. As soon as you’re negative and shoot someone’s creative input down, they will shut down and feel closed off. Quantity is important in group brainstorming because you want as many ideas as possible.

Next time you’re brainstorming remember these tips to ensure a rich array of creative solutions!

“But I’m Not Creative!”

Yes, you are. And so is everyone else. Creativity isn’t like height or eye color. It’s not assigned to a select few at birth. Instead, it is a skill that’s earned—much like basketball, playing the cello or break dancing. You can learn how to be creative. Just pick up a few of these tips and jump on board to Innovation Land!

1. Practice being aware in your surroundings. People watch. Check out the artwork on the signs around you. Listen to the sounds of nature, or the sounds of the bustling city, or the sounds of wherever you are. Question the things around you and have a conversation inside your head. Make connections between the things you see. This will help your creative mind become stronger and better at connecting ideas. [ex. Why did that Mediterranean lunch spot decide to rebrand? Are they busier now than they were before? Why is there a guy in a clown suit on the corner over there? He would make a for funny mascot—no, scratch that. A clown would be a terrible mascot for a restaurant. Wait…why did McDonald’s choose a clown? Well, they don’t use him anymore…what ever happened to Ronald?]
2. Think. Pause. Reflect. Whatever you call it, just chill out for a sec. Take a quiet few minutes to mentally search. Ponder life’s questions and try to figure out new solutions. Let your body relax and stimulate your mind with a brain teaser, a puzzle, a crossword, or try to solve a riddle.
3. Keep an open mind and stay learning. Listen to the viewpoints of others and think about their side of the topic. What makes it different from your opinion? How is it similar? If you always keep your mind on one side, you’ll remain thinking in tunnel vision. Watch a TV show you think you won’t like. Listen to music you don’t generally listen to. Sign up for a painting class if you’ve never painted before. Learn new things and acquire new tastes to generate new ideas.
4. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Literally none of these tips will help you if you have a negative mindset. If you think you can’t, you can’t. It’s really that simple. Be positive and look for plusses in bad situations. See the good in people. See the good in yourself.
5. Doodle/write/create something. Don’t even try to make anything specific. Just let your pencil flow around the page and find what you’re doing as you’re doing it. Learn how to just let things happen. “Aha!” moments usually come about as happy accidents. Encourage these accidents to happen by restricting your self-editing tendencies. Let your brain throw up all over a piece of paper and see what happens. Maybe it’s gold. Maybe it sucks. Throw it away and try again. Don’t become discouraged; every failure is an opportunity to learn what doesn’t work, and that’s still valuable.

Sources: https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/9-ways-to-become-more-creative-in-the-next-10-minutes.html http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/cmos-creative/308893/

Dare to be Different

It’s not unusual for a client to contact us – full of excitement and optimism. They’re beginning a new advertising campaign. Great!

Radio will be an important part of the mix. They’d like to incorporate some of that audio into TV spots or YouTube video as well, and maybe into their on-hold messaging or website. Excellent!

They tell us, repeatedly, that they want something funny or clever, something unusual or attention-grabbing, something that really cuts through the clutter. Awesome!

Then, after we work through some different ideas, get their feedback, and edit scripts to prepare for production, we find out that what they really want is… something that sounds like everything else.

How does this happen?

We’ve presented ideas to clients, and had them say, “We really like that, but we don’t want to go too far from our comfort zone” or “That’s really fun and cute, but we could never do that.”

Why not? If your initial impulse tells you to craft a message that’s entertaining or one that uses humor, you’re right! Ads like that are more likely to turn passive listening to active listening. And they’re disarming – people are more receptive to messages when they think the delivery is friendly or funny.

Next time you think about creating an advertising message that doesn’t sound like every other advertising message… do it!

Dare to be different.

Don’t let bad situations go to waste

Developing the newest attention-grabbing campaign for your business doesn’t have to be as daunting of a task as it seems. Ever make a fool of yourself in front of someone you were trying to impress? Become humiliated in front of a large crowd? If not, you’re probably the only one. As creative professionals, we have to draw upon real-life experiences to make things funny. After all, the reason most things bring about a chuckle is that they are in some part true. Coming up with something creative isn’t necessarily all that hard, you just have to ‘find the funny’ in every situation. It’s not so easy when you’re living a tense or frustrating moment, but some simple reflection and a good heaping of exaggeration tend to do the trick.

Just take a look around your office. Odds are you’ve got a major crop of potential characters just sitting there. I know we do! Is one person in particular driving you crazy? They’re probably the best one! Exaggerating people’s quirks and making them seem larger than life really makes something more memorable. Developing characters like that makes it funny and usually has people remember someone they knew who was similar. Just make sure they don’t find out they were your inspiration!

As you try to develop a new campaign for your business, think about the things you go through every day. You would be surprised at how many of our award-winning ads first are modified from real-life experiences… but we’ll never tell.