Tough Room

This is an old "This American Life" about the writing room at The Onion. I was reminded of it the other day at work. It is an excellent example of the creative process at work and a pretty funny behind-the-scenes look at one of the most consistently funny publications in the country.

It doesn't have to be what you think it has to be.

I'm a fan of Stephan Sagmeister. I like his book. I like his TED talks. Maybe I'm suckered by the Viennese accent, but I think he does fascinating work.

Sagmeister was asked by Adobe to "make an interpretive graphic of their logo." A lot of creatives would have come back to Adobe with just that. A different version of their logo. Sagmeister gave them a game show. The first episode is below. But you should view the entire experience here.


Episode 1, Sagmeister X Walsh from Sagmeister & Walsh on Vimeo.

I work at The Richards Group. And though I'm not on this account, one of our most famous campaigns is the Chick-fil-A cows. This is one of the longest-running, most-awarded advertising campaigns around. And the Cows were completely off-brief. Not even close. The idea was at odds with the original strategy. It took guts to present something off-brief to the clients. And it took guts for the client to buy it. But it's done pretty well for both parties.

We all approach assignments with pre-conceptions. And sometimes we're able to overcome them. But even then, we still stay within expected parameters. Yes, we have clients to answer to. And yes, we have to be grown-ups and deliver what we promised. But don't let that stop you from doing something more.

It doesn't have to be what you think it has to be.

Pushing for cool.

Seems every time OK Go comes out with a new video I have to post about it.



What does this have to do with advertising? As I've written before, OK Go does a great job of surprising the viewer. That's what great advertising does. We say "That was cool." What we mean was, "That surprised me."

The band could have made this entire video about those Honda Uni-Cub scooters, and it would have been been pretty cool.

And that's where a lot of advertising creatives stop. We come up with one idea and say, "Cool. Let's do it."

But what OK Go did was say, "Cool. And then what?"

We take them outside the studio and ride around.

"Cool. And then what?"

We have a bunch of Japanese girls come dance around us.

"Cool. And then what?"

We film this with a drone to get a bird's eye view of us and the Japanese girls.

"Very cool. And then what?"

We make patterns that can only be seen from the drone's eye view.

"Cool. And then what?"

We incorporate umbrellas opening and closing to add some color.

"Cool. And then what?"

We use the umbrella's as pixels and create patterns only the drone could see.

"Very cool. And then what?"

Let's not just create patterns. Let's create images. And even text.







They could have just stopped at "Let's ride around on Honda Uni-Cub scooters."

And that's where most of us stop creatively.

But there's always more we can do.

Don't stop too early.

You've got to push for cool.



(On a side note, I just did my first shoot with a drone. Loved it. Shout out to Charlie Kaye, our drone pilot.)

Austin Kleon's Books

Read these. They're full of really good advice for people working in a creative industry. It'll take you 90 minutes to get through both of them. The first (Steal) is about how the work of others can help you find your voice. The second (Show) is about connecting with others by sharing your work (your process of work, not just the finished product).

Happy Accidents

I don't usually post my own work on this site. But this one comes with a point, and a good cause.

About a year ago, I began doing work for Volunteers of America. They're a 117-year-old national charity that had never advertised before.

We ended up producing print, online, outdoor, and TV for them. But my favorite spot was never scripted, never presented, never even concepted. It was just a happy accident.

While we were shooting in Los Angeles, our director wanted to get some extra footage. So he rolled down Skid Row with his camera hanging out of the van door. Then his producer ran back down the street and gave some cash to have the people he filmed sign release waivers, just in case. Some of this footage made it into our final spots.

But when we were in the editing studio we were looking at that shot, and thought it was kind of amazing. We wondered how could we share it?  So we started playing around with it. We slowed it down. Wrote some copy to serve as supers. And sampled a few demo tracks. (We ended up recording Jennifer Perryman to sing an original track.) We showed it to the client, and were lucky enough to have them approve it. Here's the finished piece:



Gold Lion at Cannes? Nah. But does it help the client get their name out there? Yep. Am I proud to have it on my reel? Absolutely.

So be open to happy accidents. Find a way to make them work. Play with them. Get them in front or your clients and champion them. And everyone will be a little better off.

(If you'd like to donate anything to Volunteers of America, please click here. They're amazing people who do amazing work.)

Setting Up A Premise

In this video, at about the 13:40 mark, Ricky Gervais, Jerry Seinfeld, and Louis CK are discussing how Chris Rock sets up a premise.



Chris Rock sums it up like this: "A lot of comedians have great jokes, and they don't - like - 'Why isn't this working?' Because the audience does not understand the premise...If I set this premise up right, this joke will always work."

I see the same thing in advertising. In an agency, before work goes to the client, a team will present a random collection of ads. Some of them may even be really good. But if there's no premise to any of them, even the really good ones will eventually fall to the wayside. But if a team comes in with a premise, and all of their ideas are tied to that premise, people start nodding their heads. Because we get it.

A premise could be "Saving money with Geico makes people happy." A series of ads could be ridiculous scenarios of happy people (a camel on hump day, a witch in a broom factory).

A premise could be "Interesting people drink Dos Equis." A series of ads could be biographical snapshots of the World's Most Interesting Man.

A premise could be "Bad things happen randomly." A series of ads could be Mayhem personified.

In other words, ads are like jokes. Concepts are like Chris Rock's premise.

Don't jump into your executions. If you have specific ideas for a spot, fine. Write them down. Share them with your partner even. But go into every meeting with your premise first. And make sure everyone in the room understands how each execution you present ties back to it.

For Those Who Say "It Can't Be Done"

Over the course of your career, you'll have several people tell you something can't be done. It might be an account exec. Or the client. Or your partner. Or your boss.

If you're told, "It can't be done for this much money, but..." That's fine.

If you're told, "It can't be done by the deadline, but..." That's okay, too. These people are offering solutions.

But if someone's first reaction is simply, "It can't be done," there are three possibilities;

1. That person misunderstands something and I need to explain things better.
2. That person is just lazy.
3. That person should be fired, and find work outside of advertising.

Advertising is no place for people who don't think something can be done. That's what creativity is all about.

Rick Rubin's Creative Process

There's a great interview with Rick Rubin that came out the other day. Some is about him producing Kanye's new album, but a lot is about his approach and creative process. Smart dude. Check it out. 

Ira Glass on the Creative Process

I know these kinetic type treatments are a tired execution. But Ira Glass's wisdom is truthful and timeless. Enjoy.



(If you don't know who Ira Glass is, you are missing the best thing on public radio.)

Learn. Re-learn. Repeat.

A co-worker recently sent me this article. I thought this quote was particularly insightful:

"Few traditional career tactics train us for an era where the most important skill is the ability to acquire new skills.” Or as Alvin Toffler says, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

Coming up with an idea is one thing. Figuring something out, solving problems, working around roadblocks, learning how to do things a new way...those are all a different skillsets that require you to use your creative thinking in a different way. But that way of thinking creatively is becoming more and more important. Never stop learning.

Luke Sullivan: One of the best pieces of creative advice I was ever given.

Most of you probably already subscribe to Luke's blog. But for those who haven't discovered it yet, here's a great piece:

One of the best pieces of creative advice I was ever given.

And yes, Anne Lamontt's Bird by Bird is a fantastic creative help. Almost as much as Luke's book.

Awesome or Awful

Check out Awesome or Awful: A Self-Critique Tool for Young Creatives. Wish I'd had this around when I was first in portfolio school.

One of the authors is Erin Eby, a super-talented art director who helps run an agency in Geneva, Switzerland. I had the pleasure of working with her when I lived there, and we collaborated on a number of projects. I kind of wish this would have been one of them.

Plagiarize Yourself

If you have a good idea that the client doesn't buy, don't throw it away. Keep it in a file somewhere. If it's really a great idea, you'll find a home for it sometime in your career. Aaron Sorkin's built an amazing reputation doing just that. Even when his copy's produced. Works for him.

Jumping to Execution

In the last year or so, I've seen a major increase in the polished case study videos that students do. Pretty professional case studies, for events and programs and guerilla stunts that never happened (though you wouldn't know it from the slick comps and videos). I do plenty of these in my job. They're a pain in the ass to do. So when I see students who can crank them out, part of me thinks "Yes! We should hire this person so I don't have to make these damn things anymore." But usually I think "Nice case study. Too bad the idea's not that good."

This past quarter, after a student presented his first round ideas with full-on comps in a seven-page deck, I asked him, "How long did it take you to build that deck?" Thinking I was complimenting his skills, he smiled and said, "Not very long. Like an hour and a half." To which I said, "That's an hour and a half you could have spent coming up with better ideas."

I have given this advice over and over, and each year I feel like I'm shouting it into a stronger, louder wind of technology and "paperless" schools: DO NOT CONCEPT ON A COMPUTER.

If you don't want to kill trees, awesome. Reuse the back sides of paper. One of my former instructors, a creative Jedi who really loves trees, Jelly Helm, suggests cutting your reused sheets of paper into quarters. However you do it, write your ideas down. Headlines too. Write them. With a pen or pencil or marker. On paper. Your brain works differently when you do this. You're less likely to edit your ideas when you have to turn the pencil around and actually erase something. And that's good--you shouldn't be editing at the beginning. Just coming up with ideas, writing them down, and sticking them up on the wall. Lots of them. Like 100 or more. Then, and only then, pick your best and refine them. Make them better. Generate more.

When you jump to the computer, you're skipping to execution. You're cheating yourself out of the most important part of the project. You're skimping on the idea. And you might end up with a nice looking video or well-executed comp, but if the idea's not awesome, it doesn't matter.

Doodle

I often emphasize to my classes the importance of changing up your routine, particularly when you're in a concepting rut. Take a walk. Work somewhere else. Change the music you're listening to. If you've been writing for a while, try solving your problem by drawing.

Today, I came across this TED video that confirms the importance of doodles. Sunni Brown is speaking specifically about doodling in meetings as a way to enhance your focus, but her point about it engaging your brain in a different way is true not just when you're trying to file stuff away, but when you're digging around trying to get stuff out too.




So the next time you're turning an idea every which way, remember to turn your brain every which way as well. And don't forget, if you're a writer and your doodling produces something interesting, please submit it to Illustrated by Copywriters.

Where Ideas Come From

Just a fun reminder that new ideas are really just unexpected combinations of existing ones.

Excavation Skills

In his book On Writing, Stephen King says creating a story is like uncovering a fossil. You uncover a little bit at a time, not really knowing exactly what you've got until it's unearthed.

I think the same could be said for headlines. Or TV scripts. Or even layouts and social media ideas. It's not just about writing. It's about going to work and excavating the thing and see what's there. You can't just assume that because you stumbled upon a bone there's a whole colony of plesiosaurs just below the surface.

Using the fossil metaphor, here's how I see a lot of students and junior teams presenting their ideas:

JUNIOR TEAM: We've found this dinosaur bone sticking out of the ground over there. It looks like it could be a cool dinosaur. But we'd also like to run around and look for more dinosaur bones.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Have you excavated the one you found?

JUNIOR TEAM: No. But we imagine there could be a whole skeleton underneath. It could be really cool.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Well, why don't you try excavating that dinosaur, since you've at least got a bone there.

JUNIOR TEAM: Okay. But we'd also like to run around looking for more bones.

Two skills that will make you a stronger creative are the ability to recognize a potentially great idea, and the ability to develop it to the point where you can prove that it's a great idea.

Speculation and hope only get you so far.

Meditate On This

A recent article in Fast Company suggests that our ability to think creatively flows much better when we spend 12-20 minutes a day meditating. I'm no guru, but that's not hard for me to believe. Meditation has long been a daily ritual for David Lynch. And every how-to-be-creative book in the industry will tell you that part of the creative process is walking away from your projects and letting them stew in your subconscious.

I'm going to give this a try for the next few days - maybe even a few weeks. I'd like to see if I notice a difference in how creative I feel. Even more, I want to continue to fight the notion that I'm way too busy to take 12 minutes (0.833% of my day) to do absolutely nothing.

Fast Company lists some tips here that seem practical and not too hokey. If you give it a try, let us know how things go.

Go Brazilian

My friend Luis is a CD who's worked in the US and Mexico. Just the other day he told me the following story...

When he worked for a WPP agency, Neil French was the Worldwide Creative Director, and would have biannual creative reviews with agencies region by region and would select the best work for the agency portfolio. When the Mexican team presented their work, Neil picked one of their campaigns and commented on another. Then teams from other Latin American countries presented, and Neil would also choose one or two ideas. But when the Brazilians presented their ideas, he picked almost everything they had.

After the meeting, all the teams wanted to know how the Brazilians came up with so much great work. They said it was the way they concepted.

The Brazilians said they started off internally with a round of blue-skying the idea. Several teams came up with as many ideas in as many areas as they could. But then they narrowed that field down to their four best ideas, and set every team to work on those four. No team was coming up with new areas; they were mining what they had, even if it wasn't their idea to begin with. After that round, they narrowed it down again, picking their best four, and setting all teams on those. So what Neil French chose was a bunch of ultra-refined gems, not lucky strikes.

I think a lot of times when we concept, we start off just like the Brazilians, trying to come up with as many fresh ideas as we can. But I think that's where we tend to part ways. In rounds two, three and four, my experience is we're all still trying to cast our idea seeds broadly, hoping we come up with some news ideas that will be even bigger and brighter than the first ones.

Most creative departments in most agencies aren't going to revamp how they review work. But what would happen if you, as an individual CW or AD went Brazilian. What if you and your partner took the three or four most fertile ideas you had and then said, "Okay, what else can we do with these stories? How can we reach the same conclusion in a different framework? How else can this story be told?" Rather than coming up with a bunch of new ideas that may or may not fly, you could be refining and exploring areas you already know have merit.

Give it a try on your next few rounds. We'd be interest to know how it works for you.

And check out this older post from Jim. There's some interesting overlap with what he learned at SxSW and what the Brazilians are already doing.

Conan O'Brien's Guide to Creativity

Conan O’Brien has some great tips on creativity in this article from Fast Company. Worth reading in its entirety, but here are some of the highlights:

"Rehearsal is really key, because rehearsal is where everything is put up… I can look at some things on paper and say it's going to be great. But you see it on its feet and you just know it's not there. … That's the thing I can't stress enough."

"I'm very open to when things don't work. That becomes the fun."

"One of the qualities people like about what we're doing is that it can feel very loose. That's the biggest comment I get from everybody on this new show: You look like you've having so much fun. And the truth is you can't fake it."

"I do sympathize with how the batting average for writing good material is really tough, so at the very least I’m trying to create an atmosphere where failure is inevitable."