On Tuesday, the 3rd May, the Kindergarten held a very interesting training on Creative Thinking, chaired by Yonathan Dominitz, whose presence was possible with the support of Starcom Media.
The training covered a variety of topics, ranging from whether creative thinking can be practiced to the situations when creative thinking can be used best. The training had a very pragmatic approach and Mr. Dominitz presented us with several creative tools that we can use in different situations. Also, his way of teaching, so to speak, had a very strong impact on us, since he didn’t just bring out the tools, but helped us discover them on our own, by leading us in the right direction.
The training focused on the issue of solving the problems that brands face in a creative way, and we got a taste of what creative thinking means. For instance, we found out that one of the best ways to solve a problem is to use the problem itself to generate a solution. In many cases, such an approach can help a brand, or a company, gain the trust of its consumers.
And we were indeed able to see this in several examples of great campaigns, most of which were winners in the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.
The second most creative technique used nowadays, as Mr. Dominitz highlighted, is the extreme consequence. This implies showing an extreme effect of using the product. This method’s effectiveness is highly appreciated, since it can positively influence the consumer’s choice even when bringing out a negative consequence.
A third and very challenging technique is the absurd alternative. We found this one most appealing, because in this case, we don’t just find a creative way of presenting our product, but we are basically communicating an alternative solution that is so absurd, that the buyer would prefer our product. We can either find an absurd device or procedure that only seems to solve the problem or absurd ways to hide or live with the problem.
What we realized was that by identifying specific patterns in creative solutions, we do not restrict creative thinking, quite the opposite. The paradox with creativity is that the more boundaries it has, the better the solutions it provides.
Working with patterns, does not mean we leave aside creativity. It helps us establish which creative approach would be most relevant and effective. Therefore, we believe that this training session will prove useful to the young and eager advertisers such as ourselves.

Usually I play a game with myself and also with the others. It’s automatic…Let’s say that the game is called ‘if they were something else, not humans’.

What are the rules? I imagine people around me as if they were objects, films, fruits, dishes…

Today I decided to play this game inverted… What if ‘European Film’ and ‘Advertising’ were humans?

I imagine ‘European film’ as a timid guy, a little bit effeminate, mysterious. He likes to read newspapers next to his coffee in the morning and books before he falls asleep. He eats his meals during an hour and he is a very talented cook. He paints, plays the guitar, dance sophisticated styles. He is very analytical. He has absent-minded eyes. He is looking desperate for ‘the one’. The perfect one!

I see ‘Advertising’ as a luxury prostitute. Very beautiful, smart, sophisticated. She is also very subtle and ironic. Her ‘day’ starts at sunset and ends at the sunrise. She used to dream to be an actress. She is a ‘connaisseur’ in telling lies looking in other people eyes.

What if these two characters meet accidentally?

Only a memorable one-night stand…

http://www.animalssavetheplanet.com/
And then, after amusing ourselves with the short videos about the animals saving the planet, we may also need to find a few arguments behind them. Or just remind ourselves about such arguments, about the hard facts which are by no means amusing. As we witnessed many comments on our yahoo group, ‘The Story of Stuff’ (www.storyofstuff.com) may well act as a reliable reminder and at the same time, add a few more connections to the environmental ‘story’ we have started to share, whether we like it or not. Although the focus is on the American consumption-driven society, the argumentative structure is not less applicable to our own lifestyles. Oh, and don’t miss out advertising in this story of stuff. We should all consider our own role as (future) communicators in the whole chain and maybe discuss about it during one of our meetings. Our team’s opinion on the topic is actually the motto of Cesar Chavez – whom we recently discovered – and that is ‘Si se puede’ (it can be done). We have the power to ‘deviate’ into a better, more sustainable direction.

So, as cliché as it sounds, great ideas are all out there – millions of them, running free. For example, we found out yesterday about the Design Barcode – http://www.barcoderevolution.com . Or about the Cannes Lions winners – http://www.farfar.se/lostlion – who advertised for their golden trophy, as if it wasn’t enough they had just won one:). And haven’t we all enjoyed ‘Todos por un pelo’ campaign (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NMUQvUCjiXg&feature=related) as being a fresh way of engagement to the consumer? These are just some examples of ideas that paid off greatly in terms of money, driven as they were by advertising purposes. But then again, we constantly learn about individual initiatives, things that may appear so childish, so lunatic at a first glimpse, but which end up by being advertising means in their own right – thus highly profitable for their ‘crazy’ inventors. It may seem totally nonsense to get 1 million dollars out of an empty web page (www.milliondollarhomepage.com) or to trade a RED paper clip for a house (http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com), but what do you know, it simply worked!

However, should we evaluate ‘great ideas’ only in terms of profit and turnover? Not at all. Actually, my personal opinion (feel free to reject this view) is that financial gain can never drive great ideas by itself. It can, for sure, offer a strong motivation for innovation. Yet, only the creative effort can back them up, only people who truly believe in themselves and in their work can move things forward. And when I say forward, I mean a positive direction in which other people benefit from your initiative. Imagine a world in which everyone stated ‘What’s in for me if I do that?’ and I’m sure you would understand that there’s no reasonable way to live in such a world. How many of us would hug strangers on the street to encourage friendship and human bondage? (www.freehugscampaign.org) And would we really encourage our acquaintances to switch off the lights for one hour to reduce impact on climate change? (www.earthhour.org) Well, we should all ask ourselves this kind of questions if we are to bring anything valuable to this world, and to marcomm in particular. Why? Because great ideas rely on a truly positive mindset.

The evening TV news programs come after a day in which whoever wanted to be informed has already read all the news online. We are watching less television each year, the internet is on the way to becoming the main source of information. But this one is not perfect either, in a world where you can basically find any kind of information, it will soon become difficult to separate authentic information from fairytales, thus the risk of the Internet being dominated by myths appears.

My question to all this is: what next? What should the press do to regain the public’s lost confidence? How should televisions react to the ever dropping public interest and availability? Will we ever have a press that will give us the information we really need?

You can find out more about the campaign here: http://generatia4.ro/