digging for the bone: how to jumpstart creative thinking

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Mark Simon Burk Twitter: @BRANDnv SVA Course: (How to Do) Killer Work Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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How do you increase your likelihood of coming up with brilliant, creative ideas? What's the magic? "Digging for the Bone" reveals the most powerful way to jumpstart your thinking so you can unearth killer ideas. For advertising creatives or anyone charged with developing creative solutions. By Mark Simon Burk, professor New York's School of Visual Arts.

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Page 1: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

Mark Simon Burk

Twitter: @BRANDnv

SVA Course:(How to Do) Killer WorkDigging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Page 2: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

great ideasin advertising?

what’s it likecoming up with...

Page 3: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

great ideaswhen problem-solving?

in advertising?

what’s it likecoming up with...

Page 4: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

great ideaswhat’s it likecoming up with...

when brain-storming new approaches?

when problem-solving?in advertising?

Page 5: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

great question!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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creativity is not a magical thing that just happens.

great question!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Page 7: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

Here’s my analogyDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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dogyou’re aIt’s like

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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(but more like a human dog)

dogyou’re aIt’s like

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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cartoon.You know,Like that one in the

RUH?!Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Page 11: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

notOnly that onebecause I couldn’t get the rights.

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And you’re digging for bones in the yard

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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are ideas=

bonesOnly the

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

And the yard you’re digging in...

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centralpark!Is the size of

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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NO IDEAAnd, you have

Where in this yard the bones are buried.?Digging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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NO IDEANot only that, you have

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

How deep the bones are buried.

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Some are tucked just a

below

fewfeet

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Page 19: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

And some bones are

20 feet

undergrou

nd

deepDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And if you want one of those bones,

there’s onlyone thing to do...

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And if you want one of those bones,

start digging

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

there’s onlyone thing to do...

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anywhere

start digging

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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place shovel in ground

doesn’t matter

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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digdigSo you

and you

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

And for a while…No bones.

Page 26: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

And for a while…No bones.

But you

give up.don’tDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You plant your shovel into the ground in as many different places as possible.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Until...

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

You plant your shovel into the ground in as many different places as possible.

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You findyour first

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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boneYou’re excited!

It’s your first

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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boneYou’re excited!

It’s your first

You pull it from the ground.But as you hold it up for all to see...

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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It crumbles to dust right in your hand.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Why? The truth is, 99% of the first ideas you’ll come up with

are garbage

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon BurkDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

You gotta dig past all those run-of-the-mill

ideas, obvious analogies and awful puns.

But that’s okay. Enjoy it!

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That’s how you get to something

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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specialThat’s how you get to something

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Well, you still have no bone.

(bummer)?!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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So what do you do?

?!(bummer)

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Well, you still have no bone.

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You pick up your shoveland you keep on

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

digging

Page 41: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

And all the while you’re never sure whether

you should keep where you are,

or stop and go dig somewhere else for ideas.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

digging

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just 3 inchesbelow

Because maybe that huge idea you’re searching for is

where you’re thinkingright now.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And it’s why you sometimes go backto a hole you’d been digging before, because now you have…

a hunch.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Almost as if you’d been given a glimpse of some

xx

x

secret hiddenbone map

Translation: You revisit an idea you’d dug up earlier, because now you have a better understanding of the problem or

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Translation: You revisit an idea you’d dug up earlier, because now you have a better understanding of the problem or

Almost as if you’d been given a glimpse of some

you’ve uncovered an insight into your customer’s behavior or...

secret hiddenbone map

xx

xDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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you found a new way into the problem by

Could be because of

happy accident.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Could be because of

a conversation you overheardon the subway

or a song lyric that hits you.

happy accident.you found a new way into the problem by

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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digdigAnd so you continue to

and

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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and then...

digdigAnd so you continue to

and

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You hit something!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You hit something!

A rock? No.

How many times have you hit a rock before that you hoped was a bone?

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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No. This sounds

differentDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You dig around it,

and beholdit really is a bone!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And remembering how easily the first one crumbled,You take it out gently and brush it off with your

bonebrush

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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This one doesn’t crumble.

woohoo!andwhaddaya know!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Translation:The idea that you had at 2 in the morning...

illusion?Digging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Still seems prettydamn good at 7AM.

realityDigging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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and you tuck it into your bone pouch.

And you’re very excitedabout this bone

so you carefully wrap it upin a linen cloth

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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ideaperson

But if you’rea real

here’s what youdo next:

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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shove

lYou pick up your

and you getback to yourdigging

because nowyou’re hungryfor more bones.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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GOODat this bone-finding thing.

And after a while, you start getting pretty

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Good enough, that your bone bag

is filling up with allkinds of bones.

In fact, you’re getting so good at

it, that one day when you stop

for a breakDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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unwr

apyou that first real bone you found,

which you’d swaddled in linen...

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

And you can’t believe it!

HUH?!

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HUH?!Turning it over in your hands,

you say to yourself...

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

And you can’t believe it!

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I thought this was a good idea?!

seriously?Digging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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what wasi thinking?!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Because since that

You’ve found

first bonemuch more insightful bones,

funnier bones,more thoughtful bones.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And then you do something very BOLD

Because since that

You’ve found

first bonemuch more insightful bones,

funnier bones,more thoughtful bones.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You let that bone roll out of your hand and

to the ground

fallDigging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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When it hits the earth it

s plin erstinto a hundred pieces.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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There are others who see this happen.

And they can’t believe that youThey thought what you had was a pretty good idea!

dropped it!Digging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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socavalier!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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But now you know better.You know it

socavalier!wasn’t such a great bone after all.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And so, you get back on your feet, and you continue

digging through the

dayDigging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And into the

nightDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And through thenext day’s heat

dayDigging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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nightDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Until one late night yourshovel hits somethingthat sounds different.

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Not like a rock, but also not like the other bones you’ve found.

WHAA?!Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You throw down your

And get down on your paws and knees and dig around it.

shovel

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You’re

excitedas hell!

plea

se!

oxyg

enDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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You paw around itand finally unearth it.

You take out your special bone brush and after a few strokes,

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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you catch your firstglintDigging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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it makes yourheart race!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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And as you lift it from the ground, you think

This bone is...

this bone has

my lord!

weightlike I’ve never felt in a bone before.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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GOLD.solid

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

GOLD.solid

Fully uncovered, this bone reflects the moon so brightly that the whole park is cast in its light.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

GOLD.solid

One by one, all the otherdiggers stop and stare over at

the Golden Bone you alonehold in your hands.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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KILLER IDEA!Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

They areawestruck by its brilliance

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KILLER IDEA!Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

They areawestruck by its brillianceand truth be told

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KILLER IDEA!

jealousyjealous?

uh, yeah!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

each one seers with a small pang of

Page 94: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

KILLER IDEA!

jealousyYOU found it.because

jealous?

uh, yeah!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

each one seers with a small pang of

Page 95: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

KILLER IDEA!

jealousyYOU found it.

not them.

because

And

jealous?

uh, yeah!

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

each one seers with a small pang of

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

And that’s what it takes to dig up a Killer Idea.

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And that’s what it takes to dig up a Killer Idea.

It takes effort and

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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INSIGHTSto find the

into how people think and feel about a product or service

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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INSIGHTSor the challenge you’re charged with solving.

into how people think and feel about a product or service

to find the

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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INSIGHTSAnd it takes a lot of poking around the human behaviors that surround it.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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It also means paying close attention to your own creative process, so you can more efficientlytrigger

your ownthinking

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Page 102: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

It also means paying close attention to your own creative process, so you can more efficiently

your ownthinking

triggerLike knowing what time of day, and where, you’re most productive.

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Page 103: Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

(very important, especially when under pressure!)

It also means paying close attention to your own creative process, so you can more efficientlytrigger

Like knowing what time of day, and where, you’re most productive.

your ownthinking

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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recap:So let’s

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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recap:shovel

So let’s

Put your

in the ground in as many different places as possible

Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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recap:shovel

So let’s

Put your

in the ground in as many different places as possible

right at the start!Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Digging for the Bone © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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The reward is well

WORTH ITDigging for the Bone

© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

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Taught by Mark Simon Burk School of Visual Arts, NYC

sva.edu/continuing-education/advertising

BRANDnvinc.com@[email protected]

‘Digging for the Bone’ © 2014 Mark Simon Burk

(how to do)killer work!