5 Catalysts in Creative Alchemy to Create Brilliant and Unexpected Ideas
No matter how difficult the situation may be, there is always a solution — Kentaro Kimura
In this digital era, media and advertising plays a much larger role than it did previously, and given the challenges of today’s cluttered environment, brands need to increase both sales and the number of consumers without any increase of media budgets.
However, do you know that it is possible for you to create new communication campaigns that increase the sales without any increase on the media budget? What is needed the most is truly innovative ideas.
In his presentation at APMF 2014, Kentaro Kimura, who was the Co-CEO and Executive Creative Director of Hakuhodo Kettle at that time, reveals the answer in detail. Giving an example of his theory on city and forest thinking, Kimura explains that city thinking is safe and more logical, while forest thinking stands for our unconscious–the uncharted territory where the truly innovative ideas can come up.
But, how are the truly innovative ideas created? Creative Alchemy. A magical method to come up with brilliant and unexpected ideas. Not only important for advertising creation but also important for marketing, media development, and digital communication, because creative alchemy is about problem solving ideas, implemented through the 5 formulas.
So, let’s learn more about each formula:
Combine — is where the new idea is born out of combining the old tried and tested methods with the new experimentative ones to create the “magical chemical reactions” that lead to the new unexpected results. For example, mixing a robot and a police will give you Robocop.
Mimic — Anyone who believes that insights are the best catalysts for ideas will like this technique. This formula involves implementing an existing idea but not necessarily a copy by finding an analogy to what has worked successfully before and the underlying fundamental to be next applied to a different situation. One of the examples is the sushi train, which the idea apparently came from a bottling plant where bottles in a production line are placed on a conveyor belt for filling and capping.
Upside down — The third method is upside down or doing the reverse of what is expected by applying the principle of questioning and up-ending the standard. For example, we have been taught to avoid virus infections, but the cure for an infection is to inject a virus into the body.
What if — The fourth method is about challenging how people perceive reality by imagining an unexpected scenario to achieve new perspectives, feelings and ideas. Because, there is no winning formula, what can be imagined can be created, do not limit your imaginations.
The truth behind — Through this last formula, creative professionals are asked to discover the reasons behind actions, behaviors, decisions, occurrences, or other activities to generate deeper and more emotionally connected ideas, instead of just creating assumptions.
As the world keeps transforming, so does our industry. Now, we are in the midst of a big transformation where media, technology, and big data are pushing this transformation. By only relying on logic, we hardly find solutions for these days’ challenges, but by finding brilliant and unexpected ideas, can help you to be the next frontier.
