Creativity as a

business tool

“Advertising is the price companies pay for being

unoriginal”
Breakthrough ideas blend logic and magic
Creativity fueling business
Habits in Uncommon Solution Finding
Inspiration

Introduction to Brand Reinvention

Learning the Brand Reinvention Process
Brand Imagining Tools
Practicing Brand Reinvention
Think of some or your favourite
breakthrough
Brand
Product
and Communication
ideas
The logic of Starbucks?
Imagine telling a consumer.
I'm going to charge you 4 USD for a good cup
of coffee
And, I'm going to ask that you go
out of your way on the way to the office to
get it. During the busiest part of your day
And, by the way, you're going to have to
stand in line for at least 5 minutes before
your coffee is ready.

How does that sound?

Developed by a company
with no experience in
pharmaceuticals

Not available in regular

drug stores

No medical endorsement

Meds with a
sense of humour
Promote the Hamilton Islands
in Queensland Australia
 8 million visitors to
islandreefjob.com

35 000 one minute video job

applications

Free Media coverage of AUD$300

million+

Grand Prix Winner at Cannes 2009,

Best Integrated Campaign
 Breakthrough ideas happen when we engage
both LEFT and RIGHT BRAIN

LEFT RIGHT
Analytical Intuition
Logical Emotional
Linear Spatial
Verbal Visual
Concrete Physical
Numerical
 Breakthrough ideas blend

LOGIC MAGIC
Understanding
the problem Imagining how
things
The world as it is can be
Lessons in
Uncommon Solution
finding
Draw the
person next
to you

In 30 seconds
Overcome our fear
of looking stupid
Another 30 seconds
Don’t judge your ideas
 Throw your ball into
the waste paper basket
Succumb to the Fun
Practice Serious Play
“Play is intensely pleasurable, it
energises and enlivens us. It eases
our burdens. It renews our natural
sense of optimism and opens us
up to new possibilities.”
From PLAY by Stuart Brown MD
What do they have
in common?
What do they have
in common?

Both “run”
Both go slurp
Both can be “messy”
Both come in packs
Both require queuing
Both are found in zoos
Both are fond mostly outside
Need to look for patterns
 Big People Problems in need of
Uncommon Solutions

How to get people to stick with their goals:

losing weight
giving up smoking
stop abusing alcohol?
Stays in your system for up to 3 weeks
Self-imposed short-term penalties for not
meeting commitments
Frederick the Great, King of
Prussia
How do you get motorists
to obey speed limits?
Tell people what speed they are travelling at
Don’t give people information, use
emotion!

Smile when people are within the

speed limit
Sad face when they are speeding.

In some areas speeds have dropped

up to 14mph.
 How do you get people to
take the stairs
rather than the escalator?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw
How do you get people to buy reprints of
“old classics”?
My Penguin – Design your own covers
All these examples show more
than human insight

But a deep empathy for

people
Discover 5
new uses
for bricks
We need INSPIRATION

Random stimulus Borrowed Brilliance

Random Stimulus

PRODUCT COLOUR WORD

A set of cards with an
ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION
idea trigger.
Each trigger is meant to
Pick a random product help generate a new
brand, marketing or
you might find A set of cards with an idea product idea for the
In a supermarket trigger. brand.
List all associations Each trigger is meant to
help generate a new
Generate a Random
Now form a link brand, marketing or Word,
with YOUR PRODUCT product
Select idea for the brand.
a colour List all your associations
With that word
Then write down all then force a link
+ associations, feelings,
and objects. with your product

Tide with Green Tea, Use these to create

purifies and deodorises. Ideas
Borrowed Brilliance
Could we Copy Cat… Could we Copy Cat…

Take a NEGATIVE
Allow our customers
from another category to do good through
andA set
embrace it for
of cards with an ours
idea ourof products
A set cards with an idea
trigger. trigger.
Each trigger is meant to TOMS Shoes
Each wasisfounded
trigger on
meant to
help generate
Maxfactor used ‘higha new brand,
calories’ a simple premise:aWith
help generate new every
brand,
tomarketing or the
bring to life product idea
volume pairmarketing
you purchase, TOMSidea
or product will
for the provided
its mascara brand. give a pair
forofthe
new shoes to a
brand.
child in need.

or
“Cholesterol” Hair products
Borrowed Brilliance
Could we Copy Cat… Could we Copy Cat…

Leverage an Make use of a

UNKNOWN RELEVANT FACT VALUE REFRAMING
about our product Change Unit of Measure
A set of cards with an idea
trigger.
Each trigger
Cadbury’s – glassis and
meant to
a half
help generate a new brand, Iams justified its premium over
of milk
other pet foods by proving that
Beer marketing or product
- only natural idea
ingredients
for the brand. a bowl of Iams
cost less than an apple
Be Brave
Don’t Judge
Play
Seek Patterns
Empathize
Make Inspiration a Discipline
 Make Inspiration a Discipline

“to invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk”

– Thomas Edisaon
Inspiration is rarely a divine source
that simply lands in our lap

Inspiration requires us to
participate in some way
to listen, to read, to watch
Inspiration breathes life
into us, it enlivens us

“Inspirational content”
needs to relate to
what I am interested in
What interests you / excites you?
+
Within a work context,
what interests you or excites you?
Digital and analog inspiration streams
 Creativity
as a business tool
In the future, Human Creativity will separate
the winners and loses in business

Industrial Information Creative

Economy Economy Economy

was based on was based is based on ideas

physical capital on information
Ideas around business models,
products, improving existing processes.

These will define the basis of

competition in the future.
 Shifting skills

As our society gets better at

solving our basic physiological
and safety needs, we see the
economy tracking to higher
order human needs.
 “Advertising is the price
companies pay for being unoriginal”
 Creativity Applied
to get to build to create a to create a
noticed perception new experience new category
Creativity Applied to create a new
experience and even category

to create a to create a
new experience within a new category
category
What these brands have in common is that they found a new
way to compete in a current category or effectively created a
new category
 Uncommon Brand Solutions
are required when companies
find themselves in stiff price
competition and in categories
where consumers have
difficulty distinguishing the
relative strengths and
weaknesses of brands.
 Applying imagination to the design of the
brand or experience so as to create something
highly compelling.
 Provocations to Brand Reinvention
1. Which factors that our industry Which factors deliver real value
takes for granted should we STOP to customers?
doing?
 Provocations to Brand Reinvention
1. Which factors that our industry Which factors deliver real value
takes for granted should we STOP to customers?
doing?

2. Which factors should we employ Have we over engineered our

LESS of, to below what is usual? offering?
 Provocations to Brand Reinvention
1. Which factors that our industry Which factors deliver real value
takes for granted should we STOP to customers?
doing?

2. Which factors should we employ Have we over engineered our

LESS of, to below what is usual? offering?

3. Which factors should be INVENTED? Seek new sources of value

 Provocations to Brand Reinvention
1. Which factors that our industry Which factors deliver real value
takes for granted should we STOP to customers?
doing?

2. Which factors should we employ Have we over engineered our

LESS of, to below what is usual? offering?

3. Which factors should be INVENTED? Seek new sources of value

4. Which factors should we commit What compromises does our

MORE to beyond industry norm? industry force customers to
make?
 Accor Hotel Group
• The French hotel Market was highly competitive in
the mid eighties. Accor decided a radical approach
was required to their business.

• They looked at the value-end of the hotel business

and asked 4 simple questions:
 The Provocation led Accor to create

• Stop Costly restaurants and lavish hotel lounges

Less Service, so receptionists would only be on duty

• Less at Peak check-in and check-out times. Also the rooms
had less in them – closets and dressers become a few
shelves and a pole

• Invent

• More
 The Provocation led Accor to create

• Stop The STOP and LESS items gave Accor significant cost advantages.
The cost of building a room was cut in half.
Staff costs as a percentage of sales dropped from the norm of
30% of sales to 20% of sales.
• Less Accor therefore had funds to invest in important areas to
customers.

• Invent

• More
 The Provocation led Accor to create

• Stop

• Less

• Invent Self-service F&B machines, a reception area which

doubles as a dining area/ bar at night

Good quality bed, cleanliness and hygiene, sound

• More proofing to ensure a good nights sleep
 Accor’s Creativity created a new
CATEGORY SPACE
MORE

Average
INDUSTRY
1 star hotel NORM

LESS

Room quietness
Eating facilities

Bed quality

Cleanliness
Reception
Service
Decor

PRICE
Imagining an Uncommon Brand Solution – 4
Step Process

Step 1: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Step 2: WHO ARE WE?

WHAT ASSETS CAN WE EXPLOIT,
WHAT OBSTACLES MUST WE OVERCOME?

Step 3: IDEATE A NEW BRAND

Step 4: STRATEGY TO BRING THIS TO LIFE

Polaroid has completed its transition from a real company to something that just slaps its brand on other people’s hardware. It announced this week
that it will stop manufacturing its iconic instant film. [This] will leave Polaroid with 150 employees, down from peak global employment of nearly
21,000 in 1978.“ This is one of those quiet moments in tech history, marking the end of an era: there’ll no more instant film for many Polaroid
cameras, unless a cottage industry can (and is permitted to) form. Polaroid has, in the past, been aggressive about defending its patents, taking
down Kodak in the 1980s when it tried to muscle in on instant photography.
Step 1: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

We need to change perspective

Look into the category as an objective party

Ask, What CONVENTIONAL WISDOM defines our category today?

Step 1: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Define the current “rules of the game”

– How would you describe the industry?

– How would you describe the product?

– What is the stereotypical brand image?

– What is the stereotypical communication approach?

The Conventional Wisdom of our Category / Market
Example for China Airline Industry Output
Image Ground Services Communications
•Home base defines image •Business lounge is a privilege for the few •Reflect successful Businessman
•International operators superior to •Check in is where the experience starts •Big TV for a Big successful airline
domestic •Creat Business class envy, Economy
•An extensive network is better than product not worth advertising
limited network •Onboard service more important than on
•Image is very important ground services
•Flying is serious stuff

Target Customer Onboard services

•All airlines are for everyone •The most important part the product
•Purchase 1 ticket at a time •Attractive flight attendants
•Relationship is with travel agent •Duty free is standard
•2 kinds of customers – priority customers •Few bathrooms shared by all
(Business class, everyone else (Economy) •Comfort defined by business class
•Reward through FFP (points and
•Seating is about aisle vs. window and
privilege)
front of aircraft
•All seats face forward
•Who you sit next to is a lottery…
•Onboard services are incl in ticket price
(excl. duty free)
Its important to try distill the category as it is
today in
a visual representation
 Tide Laundry Example:
What Defines the Laundry Space
High profit

Reinvented Category

Reactive and clinical products

Designed in a lab
High share premium
Laundry Category Today

“good tech in a bag

gives me cleaning benefit
makes me a good mom”

Laundry category
self importance
Step 2: WHO ARE WE?
WHAT ASSETS CAN WE EXPLOIT,
WHAT OBSTACLES MUST WE OVERCOME?

• Brand Introspection Exercise

– What is the brand’s greatest strength?
– What is the brand’s greatest challenge?
– What is the world the brand lives in?

Play with different ways of expressing this

– through Lego play or drawing
 Pause and Reflect on the outcomes of –
Step 1 and Step 2

Who are we?

What is the problem of our What obstacles must we

category? overcome?

What assets do we have?

 Step 3: Imagining a New Brand
• We use several tools to help open up possibilities
There are other ideation tools…
 DEFINE THE NEW CATEGORY
OF REINVENTION BY MAPPING
AXIS 1_________________________
What 2 axis help define NEW CATEGORY SPACE
the NEW category?

AXIS 2____________________

Conventional
Competitive Space
Stage 4: STRATEGY TO BRING THIS TO LIFE

Exercising Choicefulness

STOP MORE

LESS INVENT
 STOP-DO LESS OF-INVENT-DO MORE OF Grid

HAPPY, HEALTHY WOMEN

STOP MORE
Incremental benefits Initiatives that promote
Paper mindset female wellness

LESS INVENT
Problem and paper failure Sense of women talking to
Claims of freedom women about wellness and
Reliance on celebrity other issues on their mind
character to give brand Attitude
attitude
Stage 4b: What Concrete Ideas do we have to Support the new brand
space?

• Brainstorm Product and Service ideas to

Support the New brand space

• Brainstorm Marketing ideas to Support the

New brand space
 Review Ideas
• Are they truly Lighthouse Ideas?
– Can we tell our idea story as we pass someone in
the street?
– Would a journalist write about our idea?
– Would the competition be concerned if they heard
about our idea?
Final Word

Corporations don’t have ideas.

Divisions or departments don’t have ideas.

Ideas begin and end with people.

Don’t be limited in thinking creativity and ideas
are communication properties.

Whatever your education or experience,

believe in and feed your creativity.

Become a student of human behaviour

+
Start making inspiration a discipline today!
[email protected]
m.sg
My blog
invitroinnovation.wordpress.c
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