brainstorming big ideas on tight timelines

1 © 2014 Mirren Business Development

Mirren Live New York

Rapid Ideation: Big Ideas On Tight Timelines

© 2014 Mirren Business Development

To learn more about bringing this training program to your agency, contact [email protected].


Cover a small number of principles that will have the biggest impact on getting to bigger pitch ideas – more quickly

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A Few Challenges With Getting to the Bigger Ideas

Time 2 Bandwidth 3 Insight 4

Reflection 1

Brainstorming sessions delay responsibility 5© 2014 Mirren Business Development


Inspiration: Mark Levy



“It’s a myth that big creative ideas just happen in one big aha moment… they are a process.”

Alex Bogusky


Let’s look at a few principles that will set up a more powerful brainstorming session



Preparing for the Brainstorming Session Improving the Session Itself

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Principle One: Put an End to the Lawless Brainstorming Sessions



Set some ground rules

Effective brainstorming requires some discipline

And unfortunately, many agency cultures don’t always have a lot of it…


Set some ground rules: participants must agree to

Arrive on time

Don’t leave early

In some agencies, people always arrive late, wasting the time of others… because it’s tolerated



Brainstorming sessions that start late and fizzle out early are a complete waste of time

Address this head on or expect mediocre ideas


Select your participants accordingly



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Principle Two: Start Brainstorming Before the Session


Start brainstorming before the session

It is almost impossible to produce groundbreaking ideas in a one hour session alone

Particularly when they start late… and people leave early

At least several days prior to the session, participants must actively engage in the process, if even for just a few minutes each day


Two exercises you can have participants spend just a few minutes each day on…


Prep Exercise 1: Journaling

Put pen to paper and let it flow



Removes your internal editor/

critic

Allows your thinking to flow more naturally and creatively



You just don’t get the same experience from typing


Write for a set time (ie, 5 - 10 min’s)

Write quickly, without stopping

Open up, don’t hold back

Roll with the tangents

Don’t worry about neatness, grammar


And don’t stop


Start with a good question

What is an issue you’re trying to solve?

Trying to uncover a consumer insight…

A big creative idea…

Or just a new system to make your RFPs more efficient…


Let’s give this exercise a try… we’re going to put you to work


Right now… pick a question or issue

Write for 3 minutes Write quickly, without stopping

Open up, don’t hold back

Roll with the tangents

Don’t worry about neatness, grammar

And don’t stop


Prep Exercise 2: Mind Mapping

Again, start with a good question or issue


An example: “Why our brainstorming sessions are not as effective as they could be…”



Preparing for the Brainstorming Session Principle One: Set Some Ground Rules Principle Two: Start Brainstorming Before the Session Improving the Session Itself

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And Now, The Brainstorm Session



Attendees will arrive stressed and distracted

Transition Everyone Into the Room

Help them focus on the subject at hand


Transition Everyone Into the Room

On a piece of paper, have each attendee write the reason down why they are distracted

Hand to facilitator who returns the list at session end

Proven to help attendees relax knowing they will be able to review their distractions later


Brainstorming Exercises to get to Bigger Ideas



Projective Exercises are the Key

Answering a question directly never leads to an innovative answer

Projective exercises separate people from their intellect (their filters)

Stretch your creative thinking… come at the answer inspired from many directions

Think projective photo collages, for example (cutting pic’s from magazines to represent how you feel about something)



“To be truly funny or creative, you have to stop your intellect from getting in the way. It wants to filter everything.” Mike Myers


“Projective techniques make it easier to delve into participant’s less conscious, less rational, less socially-acceptable feelings by way of indirect exercises.”

Margaret Roller

A basic projective exercise: the sentence completion exercise

You can focus this on your client and the brainstorming objective… maybe to uncover an insight about retail banking “When I think about going to a bank, it makes me feel… it makes me hate… it makes me want…


Here’s a few good brainstorming examples

There are many, these are three good examples


Exercise One: The Disruption Exercise

Identify and break the “rules” of the category or brand


On a white board or flip draw, sketch out a large “proverbial “ box

Within the box, list those rules. Many may be myths or long-held beliefs/traditions

Next, outside the box, list ideas that break / run contrary to each rule

While many of the ideas may not be possible, capture the few gems that would be

Exercise One: The Disruption Exercise


Exercise Two: “The Mirren Three Year-Old Exercise”

What about the product would be most important to these people before they’d be willing to buy? What would they consider before purchasing the product?

Read through the following list of people, stopping at each one to write your ideas:

Bob Dylan, an engineer, a 3 year old child, an ambulance worker, a single parent, a professor, a college student, a comedian, a Consumer Reports editor, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, a PR professional


Exercise Two: “The Mirren Three Year-Old Exercise”

Once complete: Summarize the handful of new creative ideas that could realistically apply to the situation

“How is the brand like a…”

Exercise Three: “The Mirren Analogy Exercise”

Bank, 7-11, meal, family, pet, house, song, bottle of Pepto-Bismol, poem, credit card, computer, the AAA, Big Brothers?


“How is the brand like a…”

Exercise Three: “The Mirren Analogy Exercise”

Bank, 7-11, meal, family, pet, house, song, bottle of Pepto-Bismol, poem, credit card, computer, the AAA, Big Brothers? Once complete: Summarize the new emotional and functional benefits these items provide that your brand could possibly provide.




Transition Everyone Into the Room Three Projective Exercises

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Start brainstorming before the session

Transition everyone into the room

In Summary

Creativity requires just a little discipline and process

Projective exercises are the key



What are some action steps you can take right now to improve the effectiveness of

your brainstorming sessions?

Go to your books…