As featured in Advertising Week Europe
“What about a viral video?”
“Or a flashmob?”
“How about a viral video OF a flashmob?”
“Or a viral video of a flashmob of monkeys on motorcycles”
Sound familiar? If so – you’ve been brainstormed, my friend.
To the uninitiated, a brainstorm usually consists of a handful of creatives, members of client services, planners and a kitchen sink. Sometimes we sit on the floor. Sometimes we write on the walls. And famously: ‘there’s no such thing as a bad idea in a brainstorm.’
Except there is. About 95% of them to be precise.
I’m not a fan of brainstorms. I never have been. It started when I was a junior copywriter. I couldn’t understand why all the more senior creatives around me could reel off loads of ideas at the drop of a hat and I could only manage one or two.
But, as I got more experienced and attended hundreds of the blighters – it finally started to click. I realised I should be going for quantity and not quality. I could prattle off any old rubbish – from ideas I’d tried to sell in to other clients to just shouting out different advertising mediums like a copywriting Brick Tamland.
After all, it’s what everyone else was subconsciously doing.
The more brainstorms you do, the easier it gets to head to your bank of ol’ favourites in search of a way to break the awkward silence. The silence that’s a by-product of actually taking time to think. A silence that’s amplified by the sheer number of people in the room.
It’s the same silence that comes along when we’re concepting for actual briefs. When it’s just me and my trusty art director. But, because we don’t have to play up to an expectant looking audience – the silence doesn’t seem to matter as much. In fact, we don’t even notice it.
To me one well thought-through idea is worth a heck of a lot more than 20 vague suggestions of cat-based viral videos or Trafalgar Square flash mobs. And that’s why I think open briefs are a better answer to generating quick-fire creative ideas than brainstorms.
The last 12 months have been crazy-busy for us. But we’ve just started getting back into doing open briefs every couple of weeks. There have been some pretty awesome results – and more importantly – loads of really chuffed clients.
So, why not send the brainstorm the way of the dodo and replace it with one-hour open briefs to the whole creative department?
For the same amount of chargeable time – you’ll get a handful of thought-out, viable ideas per team. And you’ll be giving more freedom and flexibility to the creatives. You won’t be making them sit in a stuffy meeting room and shout across each other. It’s up to them how they do the work.
No forced quirkiness. No beanbags. And, absolutely no whale song CDs.
Not convinced? Check out @OneMinuteBriefs on Twitter. Every day they set a broad brief and see what their followers come up with. Some of the briefs are just for fun. Some are live. But every single one produces some pretty cool work.
So, will you jump on my anti-brainstorm bandwagon? Or are you going to chase me out of town with pitchforks and burning flipcharts? Lemme know in the comments below!
About the Author
James Binns has been a direct and digital copywriter at Havas EHS for the last four years. He still can’t spelll.
