Five by Five

written by Patrick Mulford, Creative Director, Five by Five

I recently read an article that pronounced daydreaming ‘an essential technique for developing innovative, creative ideas’. This has come as a revelation, as it allows me to fulfil a life-long ambition! Furthermore, as a solitary activity, it’s cost effective - so we’ll no longer need to take everyone to the pub. Just wait until I tell our clients - they’ll be overjoyed! All I need now is a leather recliner and ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and there will be no end to my creativity.

OK, so it’s no wonder that some people view creative brainstorming with a healthy amount of cynicism. In order to excel in business we have all learnt to be dynamic, efficient and organised - forcing maximum productivity out of the working day. We are busy, basically. So the thought of a room full of creative-types doodling on whiteboards for hours upon end rubs people up the wrong way. They would rather we get on with the serious work at hand. But for us this initial generation of ideas is the most serious part of any creative project. It is the foundation upon which the entire campaign is built, and upon which it ultimately succeeds (or fails).

We live in a world that bombards us with marketing messages. Often it seems that we’ve seen them all before - that there are no new ideas, just recycled ones. The need to rise above the crowd, to develop exciting and distinctive campaigns and innovative forms of communication, has never been so great. As a creative agency you try to push boundaries - looking at brands from a fresh perspective. This demands optimum creativity from the team, and brainstorming sessions are designed to facilitate this process - by any means necessary.

Brainstorming is all about ‘creative chemistry’. Provide a single creative person with a brief and you can expect them to come up with some interesting ideas. A second creative might be given the same brief and come up with even more - of equal value. However put the right two or three people in a room together and their ideas will bounce off each other, building momentum, finding fresh angles and original perspectives, and escalating exponentially.

Popular culture provides countless examples of what can be achieved when creative chemistry occurs. Lennon & McCartney, Monty Python, Liam & Noel, Blair & Brown - these are all examples of contrasting creative personalities that combined to produce a level of creativity and innovation far greater than the sum of their parts. Marketing concepts develop particularly well under the gaze of several wilful ‘creatives’, as ideas can be challenged, rationalised and tested along the way, leading to far more qualified results. A solitary artist often produces work that is a very personal and insular expression of self, and in a gallery they evoke an equally personal response in each viewer (for better or for worse). Brainstorming is more appropriate when you have a very clear message to communicate to a large group of people, and you want them all to be receptive in a singularly unified and positive manner.

Once you have found your crack team of creatives you need to find a room. Saatchi & Saatchi are rumoured to possess their very own ‘brainstorming chamber’, an opulent meeting area complete with whispy, Sistinian clouds painted across the ceiling. But not all creative spaces need be so decadent, or so formal. I know a creative director who gets all of his best ideas in the bathroom, as it’s the only place he can truly relax. I agree that this might not be possible (or hygienic) for larger groups - which is why the pub has become a notorious creative hang-out! Creative spaces simply need to be isolated from external distraction, with big comfy chairs and somewhere to scribble. Leather beanbags, whale music and alcohol are all optional ‘facilitators’.

The same can be said for some of the more notorious brainstorming techniques. Many agencies run creative workshops when they kick off a project. These can range from the pragmatic (idea/mind mapping, product sampling, site visits) or the more obscure (creative visualisation, word association, the game of opposites), to the just plain ridiculous. Each technique has value, when used in context, and everyone has a slow day when they need a little extra inspiration (especially on a cold Monday morning). But none are any substitute for a dynamic group of outspoken individuals, because no workshop can completely raise a flat, disinterested team from the dead. Sometimes it’s more appropriate for the host to act as an ‘icebreaker’; enthusiastically lacing the brief with the seeds of initial thoughts, and demonstrating that unresolved, outrageous and stupid ideas are equally valued. This breaks down inhibition and encourages each team member to contribute with confidence. It’s far better for a concept to be overambitious, overcooked or frankly ridiculous (and then to distil its essence) than for it never to have reached its true potential.

But far from being a woolly and unstructured, brainstorming is in essence a very simple and pragmatic catalyst. To develop the most innovative creative concept possible, you have to establish a dynamic creative team, within an environment conducive to their creativity, and then establish a framework for this development.

It’s actually a far more thorough and exhausting process than you might think. In fact we might just need to go to the pub again afterwards - to aid recovery you understand!

To contact Patrick click here >>

taken from the Launch Edition of the Five by Five Review, January 2007