theMediaFlow Managing Director Nichola Stott gives an overview on Creative Ideation in this edition of CalvinAyre.com’s Content Marketing Tip of the Week.
Okay so you know you have to write about Wimbledon, you’ve done a metric tonne of research, you know what everybody did last year and you have a clear brief as to what your objective is but nothing is coming. Total creative block!
Here are some of the ideation techniques and tactics we use at theMediaFlow to help us come up with original ideas that grab the attention and the visits:
1. Word/free association
Try brainstorming seed terms related to your main theme and start to freely associate those seed terms to any other words and phrases that spring to mind. There is no right answer here, you’re hoping take off some of the constraints of formal thinking to help stimulate ideas.
2. Mindmapping
There’s a number of different mind mapping techniques but something that we like to do with our clients is draw out a start position (i.e. we need an interactive guide to Wimbledon) and then a dream which might be a fantastic result in terms of visits and sign-ups. You then need to imagine the steps on the way. We’ve sparked off some awesome ideas this way using techniques from flowcharts to colour-charts to hand-drawn sketches.
3. Physical Distraction
There’s a lot of scientific theory behind the way the brain works when trying to problem solve and think creatively. Harvard researcher Shelley H. Carson says that the subconscious mind is continually trying to work on solving your problem and if we occupy our conscious mind somewhat, this allows the subconscious to be heard, meaning you might have that lightning bolt moment.
In our team creative-brainstorms we use Lego or plasticine as a distraction. I personally seem to get my best ideas on a long run. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.
This excellent post has some great background research on creative thinking including the Carson study mentioned above.
