@hannah_bo_banna
“jaws in space”how to develop & pitch creative ideas
@hannah_bo_banna
@hannah_bo_banna
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this is distilled
@hannah_bo_banna
we made this
@hannah_bo_banna
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2.1m page views; 105k+ ‘likes’; 4.7k+ tweets; 1,055 LRDs
http://www.concerthotels.com/worlds-greatest-vocal-ranges
@hannah_bo_banna
a few years ago we made this
@hannah_bo_banna
textit got just 31 ‘likes’
@hannah_bo_banna
we *still* don’t always get it right
@hannah_bo_banna
this stuff is *really* hardignore anyone who tells you otherwise
@hannah_bo_banna
coming up with a ‘good’ ideais paramount
@hannah_bo_banna
but what do we mean by a ‘good’ idea?
@hannah_bo_banna
something that appears to have worked?
@hannah_bo_banna
pop quiz!
@hannah_bo_banna
raise your hands if you think this is a ‘good’ idea
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ready?
@hannah_bo_banna
618 LRDs
@hannah_bo_banna
ok, what about this one?
@hannah_bo_banna
ready?
@hannah_bo_banna
189 LRDs
@hannah_bo_banna
what about this one?
@hannah_bo_banna
ready?
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59 LRDs
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tricky, huh?
@hannah_bo_banna
it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking ‘guides get links’ - let’s do loads of guides!
BUT
it’s not always the case &
over time formats can become less effective
@hannah_bo_banna
let’s try something else... I’m going to show you 2 pieces - which got the most links?
@hannah_bo_banna
ready?
@hannah_bo_banna
64 LRDs
@hannah_bo_banna
181 LRDs
@hannah_bo_banna
ok, you’ve seen which got the most links, but which got the most interactions on facebook?
@hannah_bo_banna
50k facebook interactions
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5k facebook interactions
@hannah_bo_banna
the relationship between social shares and links is not as linear as you might expect
@hannah_bo_banna
it is incredibly tough to figure out whether something is ‘good’ idea or not
@hannah_bo_banna
& most of us don’t have the luxury of creating & launching a bunch of different things
before hitting on a winner
@hannah_bo_banna
we get fired
@hannah_bo_banna
so how do we get better?
@hannah_bo_banna
we started out with this
@hannah_bo_banna
http://www.concerthotels.com/worlds-greatest-vocal-ranges
@hannah_bo_banna
authors Chip & Dan Heath identified 6 factors make an idea ‘stick’:
simpleunexpectedconcretecredibleemotionalstory
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& we’ve added one of our own:
simpleunexpectedconcretecredibleemotionalstoryshareable
@hannah_bo_banna
this is hard to explain in the abstract, so I’m going to use an example
@hannah_bo_banna
simple
@hannah_bo_banna
if you can’t explain it to a 6 year old, you don’t understand it yourself
~ Albert Einstein
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‘how famous creative people work’
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unexpected
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text
@hannah_bo_banna
ok, so this may not make your jaw drop…but it is a different take on the topic
@hannah_bo_banna
long form articles and listicles are the most popular formats in the space, whereas this is visual & explorable
@hannah_bo_banna
concrete
@hannah_bo_banna
we’re going to
win the space race
~ not said by JFK
@hannah_bo_banna
‘win the space race’is an abstraction
it’s intangible, no one knows what you mean
@hannah_bo_banna
we’re going to put
a man on the moon
~ JFK
@hannah_bo_banna
this isn’t just about the language you use
@hannah_bo_banna
well-executed data visualisation makes concepts more concrete
you can only hold around 6 pieces of information in your head, but you can take in much more than that
visually to determine patterns
@hannah_bo_banna
credible
@hannah_bo_banna
comes in two flavours:
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is the data credible?
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is this credible coming from podio?
@hannah_bo_banna
using data from other credible sources is a reasonably safe bet for most brands
@hannah_bo_banna
be very careful if you’re commissioning your own data
@hannah_bo_banna
there are two modes of failure here
@hannah_bo_banna
a failure to gather statistically significant data or weak methodology
@hannah_bo_banna
being self-serving
if a bingo company did a study that found people who played bingo were happier than those who didn’t
would you think it credible?
@hannah_bo_banna
emotional
@hannah_bo_banna
this provokes an emotional reaction
@hannah_bo_banna
text
@hannah_bo_banna
does this piece?
@hannah_bo_banna
it does provoke curiosity and
people are passionate about productivity & the habits of successful people
@hannah_bo_banna
story
@hannah_bo_banna
have we uncovered a story?
@hannah_bo_banna
no, but this piece supports the editorial around this topic
@hannah_bo_banna
shareable
@hannah_bo_banna
would you look good sharing this?
@hannah_bo_banna
makes you look smartand/or
makes you look culturedand/or
makes you look interested & interestingand/or
makes you look like they care about being creative
@hannah_bo_banna
the ‘success’ framework is great, but it has its drawbacks
@hannah_bo_banna
good ideas rarely seem like good ideas at their inception,that’s what stops the majority of people from having them
~Drew Gummerson
@hannah_bo_banna
it’s a useful tool, but it can be used as a weapon
@hannah_bo_banna
don’t use this to shoot ideas down,use it to build ideas up
@hannah_bo_banna
how can we develop this idea to make it moresimple?unexpected?concrete?credible?emotional?story-driven?shareable?
@hannah_bo_banna
use it to evaluate or compare and contrast ideas to see which are the strongest
@hannah_bo_banna
you don’t need to hit all 7
but more is more ☺
@hannah_bo_banna
but there’s another issue with the framework
@hannah_bo_banna
clients don’t always understand why they should care about these criteria
@hannah_bo_banna
there’s insufficient onus on why this is a good idea for their company
@hannah_bo_banna
we found that some of our best ideas weren’t getting signed off
@hannah_bo_banna
we needed to get better at pitching ideas
@hannah_bo_banna@hannah_bo_banna
the high concept pitch for alien was
“jaws in space”
@hannah_bo_banna
that’s a lot of information in just 3 words
@hannah_bo_banna
the ship is not sleek & clean like in other sci-fi moviesthis is grubby, broken, low-tech
@hannah_bo_banna
this film will be filled with tension & conflict,not everyone will understand the danger they’re in
@hannah_bo_banna
you won’t see much of the predator until the end
@hannah_bo_banna
I could go on for hours...
@hannah_bo_banna
our aim was not to be able to pitch our ideas in 3 words
@hannah_bo_banna
but to distill our thinking & communicate why our ideas were right for the client
@hannah_bo_banna
this is what we came up with
@hannah_bo_banna
how is this idearelevant, resonant & different?
@hannah_bo_banna
I’ll deal with each in turn, using the daily routines piece as an example
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@hannah_bo_banna
relevant
@hannah_bo_banna
this is about ‘brand fit’why is this the right thing for the company to do?
@hannah_bo_banna
podio’s strapline is ‘empowering you to work the way you want’
&
they target people in the creative industry
@hannah_bo_banna
‘daily routines’ places podio in the conversations people are already
having about how best to work,without being self-serving
@hannah_bo_banna
resonant
@hannah_bo_banna
why will your target audience & target publishers care about this?
@hannah_bo_banna
creativity & productivity are perpetually hot topics:
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@hannah_bo_banna
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@hannah_bo_banna
people share this stuff, so publishers want to publish this stuff
@hannah_bo_banna
& the publishers we want coverage from feature this stuff
@hannah_bo_banna(excerpt from a buzzsumo content analysis report)
@hannah_bo_banna
people will share our piece because it:
makes them look smartand/or
makes them look culturedand/or
makes them look interested & interestingand/or
makes them look like they care about being creative
@hannah_bo_banna
different
@hannah_bo_banna
how is this different from what’s already out there?how are we adding value?
@hannah_bo_banna
this data has been visualised before
@hannah_bo_banna
@hannah_bo_banna
but this is a posterit wasn’t built for the web
@hannah_bo_banna
this execution doesn’t allow you to compare the creative routines of the people featured,
or explore the data, our execution will
@hannah_bo_banna
we use relevant, resonant, different alongside the ‘SUCCESS’ framework
@hannah_bo_banna
it means our ideation process is more rigorous
@hannah_bo_banna
& it forces us to think harder about whether or not our ideas make sense for our clients
@hannah_bo_banna
most importantly - it makes getting sign off from clients easier
@hannah_bo_banna
how did it all go down?
@hannah_bo_banna
@hannah_bo_banna
you will never be 100% confident
@hannah_bo_banna
@hannah_bo_banna
658k page views; 33k+ ‘likes’; 10k+ tweets; 632 LRDs
@hannah_bo_banna
please note:
@hannah_bo_banna
results like this don’t just *happen*
@hannah_bo_banna
we spent over 60 hours promoting this piece
@hannah_bo_banna
the bigger picture
@hannah_bo_banna
getting good at this stuff is hard
@hannah_bo_banna
there’s a few things we do which we think have helped us get better
@hannah_bo_banna
focus on ideas, not formats
@hannah_bo_banna
text
an idea is a novel combination of
previously unconnected elements in a way that adds value
@hannah_bo_banna
an infographic is not an idea;it’s a format
@hannah_bo_banna
further reading:
how to produce content people will sharehttp://dis.tl/MJ-share
how to produce better content ideashttp://dis.tl/MJ-idea
lessons in virality from axl rosehttp://dis.tl/HS-axl
@hannah_bo_banna
take this sh*t seriously
@hannah_bo_banna
a few years ago we used to ‘present’ creative ideas like this:
@hannah_bo_banna
REDACTED
yep, it really was that bad...
@hannah_bo_banna
@hannah_bo_banna
you won’t be surprised to hear that sign off was an issue
@hannah_bo_banna
today we present creative ideas in person, with a slide deck
we also spend significantly longer on the ideation process
@hannah_bo_banna
we use these frameworks to build ideas up, not knock them down
@hannah_bo_banna
good ideas come from everywhere,
it’s more important to recognise a good ideathan to author it
~Jeanne Gang
@hannah_bo_banna
keep on keeping on
@hannah_bo_banna
we consistently work on improving our approach & our processes
@hannah_bo_banna
@hannah_bo_banna
good luck out there x
credits
Images:alien: http://www.wired.com/2010/02/0205hr-giger-born-science-fiction-artist/unexpected - http://thabto.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/shocked-face.jpgdaily rituals - http://24.media.tumblr.com/011d7a30de400a6f5f9244775f95781a/tumblr_mmg8etEJt81qzlz5go1_r1_1280.jpgemotional - http://adland.tv/ooh/feed-sa-trolley-ambient-south-africaswing - https://www.flickr.com/photos/21745851@N00/4805435840facepalm - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=facepalm no finish line - http://www.quotesvalley.com/images/50/there-is-no-finish-line-5.jpgdanbo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass/6889892777/in/set-72157629144987013unicorn - http://queenofheartsonthesleeve.tumblr.com/post/58736423727/ok-not-much-but-here-it-is-3
Big love to to the wonderful Distilled folks who helped me put this together.
@hannah_bo_banna
Hannah SmithContent Strategist, Distilled caffeine addict; book worm; would really like a unicorn...
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