the brainstorm battlefield
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/13/2019 The Brainstorm Battlefield
1/3
The brainstorm battlefield: do mad
ideas still work?Lets look at idea generation from theMad Menera to today. The brainstorming
process is an integral part of agency life and to some it can feel like a daunting war
zone. But when successfully navigating your way through the battlefield of the
brainstorm, it can bring to life more overriding positives than any other agency
activity.
Despite the brainstorms positive ability to make a combination of ideas into a
fully versed campaign, its a method that can often bring to life the festering
negativities of agency life. A brainstorm for many reinforces feelings of torment or
inadequacy against peers, and heightens the terror in sharing a creative seed with
the numerous faces around the table. The fear of your idea being shot down is one
that can resonate for long time. The brainstorm truly can be a battlefield.
The brainstorm concept was developed in the 1940s in an era when the ad agency
really burst onto the scene. Those who have seenMad Menwill understand the
picture. A table of suit laden professional men sit around a boardroom table and
smoke their Lucky Strikes while bottles of whisky are consumed like water.
Notably absent were the women. Unless a lady like Peggy Olson manages to fight
her way through the sneers and pre-conceptions to make it to the table, she would
be overlooked just because of her sex.
Nowadays, having a mix of genders, ages, backgrounds and opinions is critical to a
successful brainstorm, and a trick lost during theMad Menera.
As an agency we have really developed our brainstorms. Historically, we too
would sit around a table with only those who had the confidence to speak up being
heard, and those who were shy sitting in silence. It didnt take long to realise that
the process negated positive ideas and was conducive to a vicious cycle of
repetitive brainstorms and stilted concepts.
These days we are all about fun, fun and more fun. The brainstorm now consists
of a big team building exercise encouraging small groups to interact and integrate,and of course drum up competitiveness. Whether its building a table out of Play
Doh or partaking in the longest Lego bridge building contest, or even who can
build the highest spaghetti tower out of 30 pieces of spaghetti, a packet of small
marshmallows and a strip of masking tape.
The game at the beginning is imperative in making the room leave any work day
issues at the door and positively refocus. There are some rules that are strictly
adhered to. The first is that no idea is a bad idea. Kitsch, but surprisingly, it works.
Those who incur negativity will face being wanded by the brainstorm facilitator.
Our rules go like this:
-
8/13/2019 The Brainstorm Battlefield
2/3
1. Have fun this is symbolised by a lengthy squirt of silly string.
2. We want quantity not quality yes this is the right way round. We want loads
and loads of ideas we can build on.
3. Wacky works we cover this off by a short clip from the cartoon Wacky Races
with Penelope Pitstop and ilk. We want really wacky ideas that we can build off of.
4. Build not knock down this is shown as a nice lump of Lego and finally..
5. No negativity now here we really go to town because anybody being negative
is wanded.
Whats being wanded? Well it works like this. Around the table there are three
different wands and one really special wand. Of the three wands, one makes
zapping type noises and is plain brown, another looks like a magic fairy wand and
the other is a Ben & Holly Magic Mirror wand that has a lovely picture of Princess
Holly and repeats one of five Princess Holly phrases.
If you are negative in any manner or form, not just verbal, but the way you sit
(arms folded) or even deep seated frustrated sighs, then anyone can zap you with
any one of the three wands. Now if you are in a really negative frame of mind and
are deemed to be consistently negative then you are pottered out comes
Harrys special wand and you cant contribute for five minutes.
You may begin to think that our agency is a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.
Or you may think were work shy. Neither is true. What might seem off the wallfrom those looking in are actually surprisingly successful idea generation
techniques.
Our department teams now drop everything to come together and combine their
skills for the sake of ideas, as the way we now conduct them encourages cross
division integration. Watching the meek and quiet blossom is always a highlight
who knew the youngest member of the agency had such a creative spark? Or that
the little mouse in the corner had such weird ideas! In a heady mix of skill sets,
ideas spiral and tumble and curve to every corner of feasibility and back again
between marketing account managers, PR practitioners, digital programmers and
creative.
An idea that might usually stall is ignited with the mix of varied thinking caps to
fire the creative spark. The ideas of a creative always seemingly differ to those of a
PR and again to the account management team. An integrated agency compliments
skill sets and brings creativity to the forefront.
The fruits of such techniques are seen in many million pound integrated marketing
campaigns currently being completed for some of Europes most prestigious
brands and retailers.
We still see the brainstorm as a battlefield; however it is now an open battle asopposed to the same faces and same ideas as it was back in theMad Menera.
-
8/13/2019 The Brainstorm Battlefield
3/3
For more information on BWP Group visitwww.bwpgroup.com
Biography
BWP group chairman Chris Webb
In 1995, Chris co-founded the international communications agency BWP Group.He has grown the agency year-on-year, adding creative, digital and PR divisions
BWP Create, BWP Enthuse and BWP Primal to provide an integrated offering to
clients such as O2, Telefonica, IKEA, intu and KPMG. Prior to setting up BWP
Group, Chris spent seven years as managing director of Mexx UK, three years as
sales and marketing director of Lillywhite Sports, nine years with Pretty Polly
Hosiery Grocery Division where he was promoted to general manager and three
years with Nestle, one of the worlds top blue chip companies.
- See more at: http://blog.themarketer.co.uk/2013/11/the-brainstorm-battlefield-do-
mad-ideas-still-work/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-brainstorm-battlefield-do-mad-ideas-still-work#sthash.sUqbonHF.dpuf
http://www.bwpgroup.com/http://www.bwpgroup.com/http://www.bwpgroup.com/http://www.bwpgroup.com/