Sources of creative inspiration can take different forms. One such form can be the communication objectives, included in the creative brief to the advertising agency. Now, this may sound odd! I mean, ask any art director/copy writer and you’ll hear that these objectives are the least inspiring element in the entire process!
So, how can we make our objectives more inspiring?
Take this Cannes Lions winning ad for Softlan Ultra by Y&R Malaysia for example:
Advertising Agency: Y&R, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Creative Directors: Rahul Mathew, Rowan Chanen
Art Directors: Richard Chong, Scott McClelland
Copywriter: Rahul Mathew
Retouching: Magic Cube
One possible way to describe the objective of this campaign is: “Sell more Softlan” or “The softest fabric conditioner”. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most popular ways that clients phrase objectives in their briefs to the agency. But, just think of the poor copywriter who gets yet another brief asking him to “sell more”. These guys get dozens of such requests each week and are expected to come up with a completely new creative idea each and every time.
Modern American poets John Berryman, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke, Delmore Schwartz and Anne Sexton were all hospitalized for bipolar disorder during their lives. And many painters and composers, among them Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Mingus and Robert Schumann were similarly afflicted.
The belief that “madness” is related to creativity is not limited to artistic creativity. Consider for example the movie, “A Beautiful Mind”, which tells the story of Nobel Laureate in economics, John Nash, who suffered from Schizophrenia.
Brainstorming, in my view, is first and foremost a copywriting concept.
Today, whenever someone wants to summon a group of people to think together, he/she invites them to a brainstorming session.
And indeed brainstorming is a great name. It seems to have the effect of charging energy and stimulating enthusiasm in most individuals.
But does it really work? Do the nice ideas of cross-fertilization among team members and suspense of judgment really deliver?
In all the brainstorming sessions that I’ve participated in, I noticed that although the brainstorming techniques were explained, most people reacted to other people’s ideas judgmentally, without displaying even a sign of being “cross-fertilized”.
