How do you start your concepting process?
Enthusiast
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Coach
Starting into the fridge.
Enthusiast
A way to a creative’s mind is through his stomach
Coach
But for serious, I start by interrogating the brief, making sure the problem is defined with as fine a point as possible so that true insights can come from it. This often involves a few conversations with my strategist. Once I feel that the brief is solid, then I stare into the fridge.
Coach
If the core of the brief is too vague or the information about the audience is generic, you’ll end up with bland or off-base creative. So I often ask the strategist how they came to the conclusion of the brief, have a look at the research, look at verbatims so I can get more of a sense of humanity behind the brief. If the brief is as generic as “we want to sell more houses to millennials”, that’s not good enough. I would ask why aren’t they buying houses? And try to drill down on that true human insight.
Mentor
First we complain to each other about the project timeline and whatever else we were annoyed by. For us it’s better to just get that out of our heads. Probably not the best strategy for every team, but it works for us. Usually while we are complaining we have an idea. 🤷♀️
With a blank page. Then I take a walk with my creative partner. Then we start with the bad ideas to get them out of our heads. Then we dig deeper.
Enthusiast
Could you be more specific on how you dig deeper with your ideas?
We all have different ways to do it, but in my case, I start by analyzing the insights and target behaviors. Then I try to connect the dots. I come from the Art side, so I try to consolidate my thoughts and discuss with my copy partner to flesh out and verbalize the idea in a compelling way (specially for storytelling).
I write the first most obvious statement about why I would want this product or thing. Then I write the worst ad campaign I can think of, and then I do the opposite of that campaign.
Then I start writing as much as possible and see how far I can go from that first obvious statement, without making it less obvious.
With a beer