Making brands more distinctive

Yesterday was the first working day of March. As usual for a Monday we had a stack of projects to start, continue and complete. And all needed creative input.

Every individual has a more creative period in the day. For some its morning, others late at night and some are useless until the weekend is in sight. However we can’t wait to be creative. So how do we do it?

We can’t leave any of our projects to the chance of being in the right frame of mind or just the happy chance of stumbling across an approach. So we have processes that help us craft ideas.

Firstly we’re a proposition led-agency. This means we like to simplify often complex offers into a single all encompassing offer, or proposition. This necessarily cuts through the mass of information sometimes available and provides a clear position on which to focus for our efforts. And that’s a major first step.

Secondly, we pin-down some housekeeping, such as pen-portraits of the target audience, identifying competition, defining values and tone and agreeing the benefits of the offer. That’s not a complete list but gives an idea of the ground we aim to cover when starting to craft ideas.

Thirdly, we collaborate with each other, and that includes our clients too. Sharing opinions, approaches and insights and measuring these kernels of ideas against the housekeeping and proposition.

This is where the hard work is: collaboration, nurturing, honesty and having the strength to recognise an idea that is going nowhere and killing it off.

Great ideas come from insight, experience, cooperation and craft. Not from software, hardware or happenstance. Which is a bit of a relief, otherwise we’d have been replaced by our computers a long time ago.

Joe.