Five Ways to Keep Your Ideas Fresh

Recently I read an article that stated, "The number one word used in LinkedIn profiles is 'creative'." 

Considering so many people describe themselves in that manner, I've come to believe being "creative" comes in a many different shapes and sizes. But for purposes of this article, I'm going to center on one aspect of being creative - specifically being able to coming up with new ideas.

Generating a new idea involves allowing one of the most complex machines on earth to synthesize a tremendous amount of information, connect dots that were not necessarily connected before, and come to a conclusion previously not arrived at. 

While that seems rather simple, I bet if you ask someone who regularly seeks to be creative, they would admit that coming up with a unique idea can be be challenging. 

We are creatures of habit after all. Our brains like to follow paths we are already familiar with, and breaking those patterns can require a bit of effort. For me, I try to make that effort on a daily basis.

So here's the top five ways I try to keep my brain engaged and ideas flowing freely. 

Five Ways to Keep Your Ideas Fresh

1. Don't go full steam ahead.

In our eagerness to approach a project head on, we forget the value in looking at things from multiple vantage points. I like to describe this process as turning things upside down, inside out or flipping (reversing) them. In essence, it's re-evaluating what exactly it is you are trying to solve. It's a good discipline to develop, particularly when approaching things seem they are more of a problem than an opportunity.

2. Ask the most basic, simple questions upfront.

Ever walk into a meeting or dial into a conference call not completely sure what the agenda is? You are not alone. All to often we are pressured to accomplish a task or project we lose sight of the real purpose. Fully understanding "why", or strategy, behind something will make all the difference in the eventual outcome.

3. Expand your horizons.

What are you expert in? Whatever it is, you likely spend a lot of time honing your skills and expanding your knowledge base to stay on top of your game. But just as valuable is spending an equal amount of time learning something new. Select something that might be adjunct to what you do, or even polar opposite. Learning about something completely different can eventually turn into a rich, fertile ground for avant guarde ideas and inspiration.

4. Read voraciously.

Let's face it. We live in the age of information. The amount of readily available content is mind-blowing. Google a phrase or topic and there are billions of results. So there is never a lack of information to digest.

While it might feel overwhelming, develop a discipline to read articles, white papers, news, blogs, etc. - it matters little the delivery channel but more about keeping on top of what is current and trending. Most executives devote an hour each day (usually very early in the morning!) to the quiet solitude of immersing themselves in consuming content.

On occasion, including things you normally would not gravitate towards - even topics that you purposely avoid. Reading something that you are not intimately familiar with makes your mind slow down and dissect the information in order to grasp the meaning or fully appreciate the concept or point of view.

5. Unplug, unwind and don't be afraid to jot things down dripping wet.

When do you do your best thinking? If you are like me, it's when you are disengaged from the daily reality of life. When you are focusing your concentration, it is very difficult to "let go" for short spurts of time.  The best way to let your mind wander is to give it the freedom to do so. Yes, even in our busy lives, it is possible to carve out time to "just think". It might mean during a quick shower. Or while on a solitary walk through a park. Or even during a traffic-snarled cab ride to the airport. The point is, you can find the downtime if you make it a priority.

Hope you find these tips useful and your next big idea waiting for you right around the corner.

The One Question that No One EVER Wants To Be Asked

"Can you help me move?"

Even the most articulate people become speechless as they wrap their minds around what they have just been asked to do. 

Eventually they notice the awkward silence, signaling that the person who's asked them is patiently waiting for an answer. That's when the stammering kicks in. It's almost painful to watch the person struggling to respond. In any way, except, of course, "Yes".

It's so universally abhorred, there's even a TV commercial that cleverly brings it to life.  Xfinity's "Help Moving" spot shows friend after friend declining some poor guy's pleas for help. 

I mean come on, who do you know that would answer that question with, "Oh absolutely! I was really hoping you'd pick me to help you move. It's something I've always wanted to do. A secret ambition, really."

There must be hundreds of reasons why. But I can't help but wonder, assuming no one in their right mind would voluntarily help someone move, that their isn't some violation of general human nature at play.

Here are some hypothesis:

• It's too physically painful. Especially on the back, legs, neck, arms and back.
• It's too emotionally painful. What if you really like the person and they are moving far away? Or you lost you beloved teddy bear in a move years ago and not yet over it?
• It's unsatisfying work. No one praises you for your wrapping, taping or lifting ability.
• It's dirty, dusty and smelly work. Seeing what's behind a refrigerator that hasn't been moved in 10 years can turn just about any one's stomach.
• It's TMI. It never fails. We see that weird, surprising or unusual "thing" in a yet-to-be sealed box that just alters our perception of the friend we are trying to help.

Not to mention the fact that we all have moved one time or another and have battle scars to prove that's its not fun. I think I remember reading somewhere that moving qualifies as one of the five most stressful times in your life - right behind Marriage/Divorce, Childbirth, Death of a loved one and Job Loss/Change. Oh and stepping on a Lego with your bare foot.

Of course, I speak from experience in making these observations. Recently I helped a family member pack up and move. A mere 4 miles away. But it might as well have been half-way around the globe.

Oh, there were the usual hiccups. The number of boxes we estimated we'd need wasn't enough. We ran out of tape. Twice. It snowed on the day the moving trucks pulled up. The only item that somehow got lost on moving day was my rollaboard luggage (later retrieved from my nephew's car).

But all in all, and quite by surprise, I found myself happy. It was only by a twist of fate that I was available to help out my sister. We had a little bit of fun and got to do some serious shopping. We learned that I am way more "particular" about stuff than she is. That her husband is an unsung hero and loves her deeply. That her teenage kids are, teenage kids, and I was thrilled to get to spend some time with them. That they were SO happy about their new home and couldn't wait to settle in.

In the end, it occurred to me that being asked to help someone move is actually a huge compliment. Because the person asking knows that you might be one of the very few people they can turn to in their greatest time of need. And therefore, the only person in the world that will truthfully say, "Yes. Sure. I'll help you move."

So the next time someone asks you that dreaded question, just keep that in the back of your mind and make sure you pre-schedule a full body massage for when you are all done.

"If you build it, he will come."

The actor Ray Liotta, playing Shoeless Joe Jackson, in the movie “Field of Dreams”, immortalized those words. 

And for some bizarre reason, when I think of that line, I think of building a brand. Bizarre because a) I am not a film critic and b) I am not a particularly ardent fan of baseball. 

To give you a quick memory jog: in the movie, Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer played by Kevin Costner, is urged to build a baseball field in the middle of his crops by a somewhat creepy, yet commanding off-camera voice - so that some unknown entity will "come". After he's completed this task, Ray and his family had to wait a whole year before anything came of it. Talk about patience! There's a lot more to the movie, but this is not a review of the film.

So, why do I think those words represent an important lesson when it comes to building and managing a brand?

What's important to note is that Costner certainly was not an expert in building baseball fields. But as the movie unfolds, we see him as an "expert" in listening, looking for clues and possessing a deep-seated desire to fully understand what the real meaning was behind that commanding voice.

Which is exactly what someone who understands the concept of branding should be doing, day in and day out.

Listening - to customer feedback - both good and bad. Looking for clues - among the data, emerging market trends and your competitors.  And understanding that consumers of a brand are, indeed, that commanding voice. Do those things, and they very well could bring your brand to places you never imagined or dreamed possible. 

Are companies successful in only building what they are expert in? Of course. And that is the trap. It's far easier (and faster) to stay only focused on what a company is good at creating, and then go build it over and over again. Tweak it from time to time. Launch line extensions and offer it with a new array of features, colors or sizes. 

But the risk in this approach is that you may eventually wind up building something that no one really wants.

So when I think of that line as it relates to building a brand - I insert a few extra words.  "If you build what they want, they will come." Not nearly as catchy, but it works for me.

Here's to the upcoming 2014 baseball season and for all brand builders out there to knock it out of the park.

Super Bowl Car Ads - A Lesson in How Not to Connect with Your Audience

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/madaise/

This is a personal review of the automobile advertising that appeared during Super Bowl XLVIII.

To be clear, I'm not a professional ad reviewer or critic. I've never worked in the automotive industry or on a car account. However, I have spent my career involved in branding, marketing, advertising and communications. All that disclosed, most of what follows was gleaned heavily from discussions during Super Bowl XLVIII between a few of my friends. 

My aforementioned friends (M/F, 50+, Middle to Upper Middle HH Income Brackets, Multi-Car, Suburban Families) presumably fall within some of the car manufacturer's target audience and as such, I considered their comments germane and insightful.

So here's how we wound up talking about why many of the Super Bowl commercials clearly missed the mark in making an impact.  

As the game began, I mentioned to the group I had registered to be a USA Today Ad Meter panelist and would be rating the commercials. This sparked a discussion about Super Bowl advertising in general, and soon everyone wanted to vote on the commercials as they aired. It added some much needed excitement to the evening as the game itself was fairly uninspiring - this considering it was rather one-sided and no one in attendance was a Seahawks fan. 

By the third quarter, as soon as a car ad began, it was followed by a chorus of, "oh no - another car commercial."

Just to make sure we weren't over-reacting, I took a look at the list of ads that appeared between kick-off and through the end of the regulation game, courtesy of Super Bowl Ad Meter Final Results. A whopping 14 commercials out of 57 - or roughly 25% of what we viewed during the game - were ads for automobiles.

The USA Today polling results seem to echo the sentiments of my fellow Super Bowl watchers - the commercials were at best, average. Excluding the highest scoring car commercial - which made it into the top 10 with a score of 6.82 on a scale of 0 to 10 - the average among all the other 15 car ads was an unimpressive 4.936 - just about dead center mediocre.

So what happened? In a nutshell, my small test group felt the advertisers were talking to themselves.

In other words, the advertiser (and their agency partner) strayed from the most basic rule of creating effective communications - connect with your audience in a meaningful, relevant way. 

The one exception was the high-scoring Hyundai "Sixth Sense" ad. It nicely connected a key product feature (auto emergency brakes) to a benefit the audience cared about (accident avoidance). This was told in a relevant manner that resonated with this target - tapping into their own experiences performing "accident avoidance" as a parents. Sure the ad used exaggeration tactics to get the attention of the audience, but hey, it is the Super Bowl after all!

Here's a quick recap of my small test audience's reactions to the remaining car ads, grouped into three main categories: Disinterested, Dumb and Disingenuous.

Disinterested
Advertisers: Maserati, Chrysler, Jeep

All these advertisers used long, sometimes disjointed, monologues coupled with arresting images delivered by a spokesperson the viewers were supposed to connect with - ultimately to demonstrate key brand attributes/values the target should care about (i.e. being a nimble company, American ingenuity, being a risk taker) . It occurred to me later that perhaps the famed "Farmer" Ram Truck Super Bowl commercial was the inspiration for this approach - but instead of coming off inspiring, each execution fell short and ended up being labeled as outright boring.

Dumb
Advertisers: See specific notations below.

Some of the brands in this group had a product attribute to tout, but the actual execution went way overboard and distracted the viewers.  The commercials were deemed too silly (Toyota Highlander, Honda), stupid (Ford, Hyundai/Nice, Kia, Jaguar), or disturbing and/or disgusting (Audi, Chevrolet/Romance).

Disingenuous
Advertiser: Chevrolet

While some might consider this harsh cynicism, the group did not warm up to any of the advertisers that highlighted corporate goodwill efforts. While those efforts are indeed laudable, the group believed advertisers who opted to use Super Bowl level exposure to highlight being a good corporate citizen were doing so only for a self-serving purpose. That said, the group agreed the Bank of America effort was a better way to execute on corporate philanthropy, since there was some level of action that could be taken immediately to benefit the particular charity/cause (free downloads turned into a donations to support (REDTM).

In closing, I am left wondering... were the ads run through any copy testing? Perhaps my group is not in the target at all? Or maybe they are atypical of the the targets' behavior?

But I have to circle back to the USA Today results which suggest an average effort. Which is disappointing given each brand's opportunity to be a part of an exceptional event like the Super Bowl.  

Guess we will have to wait until Super Bowl XLIX to see if there is any improvement.