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Discover your creative muscles
 Posted 6/17/2010 11:44:00 AM
It’s a typical Saturday and you’re doing something you haven’t done for a while. Maybe you’ve finally tuned up the bike and gone for a long ride, attacked the weeds in the back yard or helped a friend move. The next day, what’s the first thing you realize when you wake up? You hurt in places you didn’t even know you had.
If you don’t use certain muscles on a regular basis, they don’t perform like they used to. It’s a pretty bland analogy, but it gets the point across – if you don’t exercise your creativity on a regular basis… if you don’t throw yourself outside your comfort zone… your creative muscles can deteriorate.
I work in the advertising and marketing world and I’m expected to “be creative on demand” every day. I like to think that I maintain a high degree of creative proficiency in my day to ...
I didn't even notice him driving on the wrong side of the living room
Posted 5/11/2010 6:05:00 PM
Seldom has a story been told so powerfully, eloquently and simply.
People who create commercials often strive to create amazing ‘art’ rather than focus on delivering a clear message. It’s rare to find a campaign that can accomplish both. That’s why it was very gratifying when I received not one, not two, but three e-mails from friends containing this spot from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership. At 90 seconds, it was never destined to receive a lot of free PSA time from networks and it would be expensive to air on a paid schedule. It was likely always intended to be a viral campaign and the multiple e-mails I received, indicated to me that it is capturing people’s hearts and fueling its own viral success.
There have been thousands of seat-belt campaigns around the world but I have never seen one harness the emotional energy of this offering. A slow ...
Creativity. Why bother? Pfft!
Posted 3/3/2010 10:11:00 AM
Another installment in The Spin Doctor's on-going series on Everyday Creativity … as if he knows anything!
It occurs to me, because of my abnormally large brain, well, abnormally large in a "I could be really smart if I applied myself" kind of way, not abnormally large like I'm running out of room in my own skull like what happens to Dobermans before they go crazy and kill their owners, but I digress - as I was saying, it occurs to me that before we can discuss ways to be creative, a person needs to decide that it's worth the years of rigorous training and hard work that it takes to actually become a creative person.
Why go to all the trouble of trying to inject a little more creativity into your life in the first place?
In numerous studies… countless studies actually… billions and billions of studies, although I ...
Old Spice attempts to drop anchor in a new land
Posted 2/17/2010 8:51:00 AM
Old Spice spent several years and millions of dollars creating a very specific image. Eventually, that image was firmly ensconced in the minds of consumers: Old Spice is the fragrance my grandpa likes.
The sad truth is, it takes a lot more time, money and pain to un-do an image once you’ve created it; much like having a tattoo removed.
You can ‘tell’ consumers you’ve changed. You can ‘beg’ consumers to believe that you’ve changed, but it’s much more effective to show them.
And, if you are having trouble convincing your primary consumer, it may not be a bad idea to reach them through a secondary consumer who may not share the primary consumer’s bias. For example…
Old Spice is scoring an attention home run with their “I’m a man” and “Your man could smell like a man” commercials. They don’t have anything serious to say – they’re just having ...
You had me at hello ... or did you?
Posted 10/29/2009 2:22:00 PM
From the "Everyday Creativity For Real People" series
How many times have you met someone and forgotten their name before you finished shaking hands? Dozens?
Hundreds? Gazillions? Don't worry, it's not a tumor - it's just human nature.
But conversely, how many people have made an immediate and unforgettable impression on you? Probably not gazillions, or even dozens, but I'm sure there have been some. In the first few moments of contact something happened that left a mark on you like a crazed monkey on your back with a permanent marker.
Whatever they said or did might have been funny, tacky, intellectual, sexist, rude, erudite, tasteless, mind boggling or just so gosh darn earnest that you wanted to take that person home and keep him as a pet. The question is: was it intentional, accidental or was it just that person unselfconsciously being himself?
Marketers and advertisers spend invest thousands ...
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