About this post:
Dave Perks writes about the need to consider multiple ideas rather than running with the first one that seems good.
This is where i like to store my first ideas. Sometimes, my 2nd and 3rd.
How many times have you had what felt like the idea of all ideas? Just brilliant. Bullet-proof. So good, you have to go share it with everyone before the ink is even dry in your sketch book. Then, the first person you share it with just stares back at you without an ounce of comprehension or worse, shared enthusiasm.
I've been in that position before. Rather, I've put myself in that position before. It's totally embarrassing because you can feel the balloon deflating as you run through the idea out loud for the first time.
Finally, I've learned (I hope). Finally, my instincts tell me to throw my very first idea in the trash instead of trying to use it as a sign of my ability to work fast (I hope). Finally, I've learned to consider the value of an idea before I get carried away with my excitement for it (I hope). The downside is that I am now, at times, my own worst critic.
Maybe I'm a slow learner, and you knew this already
It used to really get to me when I would take a batch of concepts into my creative director's office and he would just sit there and look at them, expressionless. I wanted to scream, "COME ON! This stuff is gold! I mean, just look at it lying there in front of you! It practically shimmers!"
Back in my Brandcenter days, we used to talk about the theory that there is a finite amount of original ad ideas and everything else is a variation on one of them. (We even had an "it's been done before" wall that got completely filled with ideas we presented that didn't make the cut because a professor had seen it before.) I don't know if that's true or not, especially with the way today's industry seems to explode with fresh thought almost daily. But, I will say that the majority of the ads I see can be traced back to a tired and common theme.
That being the case, it's easy to see how a creative director with 20-25 years in the business would look at any idea and mentally play it against every other idea he or she has seen over the years. The ones who understand great ideas do this and judge potential greatness.
Conan O'Brian discusses this point in the context of pitching funny ideas to people like Steve Martin, Tom Hanks and Robin Williams during this clip from Inside the Actors Studio:
If it's all been done before, why bother?
Unfortunately, I've worked in places where that seemed to be the philosophy and no one really cared for long about the quality of our work. It was sloppy. Nobody at the top was ever really invested in ideas, only the bottom line. And the work showed it.
Fortunately, however, there are still people who challenge themselves to see what they can come up with that no one else ever has. I've been around people like that. Ironically, it can be easy to dismiss their work as ridiculous or irrelevant. What's hard is looking past the unfamiliarity of an idea to see if it really is ridiculous or if it's brilliantly original.
New avenues are opening up every day to push the boundaries of creativity. That's why it's all the more disappointing when I see a friend's tweet that says she just got an email from one of her favorite stores telling her to watch for a coupon in the Sunday paper. The missed opportunities approach infinity.
It's up to all of us to keep the excitement of social media from eclipsing its real value. Don't just clog it up with a bunch of same ol' same ol'. Think. Explore. Create. But then consider.
- Share this post:
-
Bookmark on del.icio.us
-
Bookmark on Digg
-
Bookmark on Facebook
-
Bookmark on StumbleUpon
-
Bookmark on Technorati
-
Bookmark on TweetMeme
