THINK INSIDE THE BOX

The Monkeys, the Mule and the Muse

Administrator — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:17:44 +0000

I HAVE MONKEYS IN MY HEAD. At least that’s what I’ve come to call the voices of self-doubt and anxiety that pester me, and I suppose everyone to some degree. Mine are particularly chatty when I’m trying to create. “You’re a fraud … last time was a fluke, this time it won’t be as good [...]

Music in the time of Malaise

Administrator — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:40:54 +0000

PEOPLE JUST WANT TO FEEL GOOD. Maybe that’s as basic an explanation as you need for why so many creative people produce paintings, sculptures, dances, plays, photographs, songs and more. These things have the ability to make us feel good. That can be difficult for some people to fully appreciate. Especially in America we tend [...]

A Tiny Way to Make a Big Point

Administrator — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:51:44 +0000

IN MY “THINK INSIDE THE BOX” creativity training sessions I frequently talk about a variety of techniques for posing questions that generate focused but productive brainstorms. One of these techniques is “Dramatize and Showcase.” Most of the time this approach leads to ideas that depend on increasing the physical size of something, producing a [...]

Can’t Beat Imagination with a Stick

Administrator — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:50:57 +0000

THREE YEARS AGO IT WAS THE CARDBOARD BOX. THURSDAY IT WAS THE STICK. And I was glad to hear it. The National Toy Hall of Fame inducted the stick into its showcase of classic toys this week. Media around the world ran the news. Curator Christopher Bensch told the Associated Press "It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price -- there aren't any rules or instructions for its use." As I morph into a middle-aged curmudgeon I'm getting cynical about the degree to which the landscape of play seems to have shifted from exploring possibility to attaining mastery. Cardboard boxes, sticks and their nostalgic but timeless brethren engage active forms of imagination and fantasy. The most creative people I know recall how such simple things became broad wheels to steer the great ships of their imaginations.

What’s the Small Idea?

Administrator — Sat, 17 May 2008 21:13:32 +0000

NOT ONCE IN MY 20 YEARS IN COMMUNICATIONS has a client ever asked me to come up with a small idea. I can count on every briefing or brainstorm to exhort me to deliver a “big idea.” It can be exasperating, partly because it’s such a cliché, and partly because it often forces the agency [...]

What’s the Meaning of This?

Administrator — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:20:37 +0000

MATH IS NOT MY FRIEND. It is at best an acquaintance, at worst a nemsis, and nearly always an awkward guest in my home. We sit across the room from each other, nervously crossing and uncrossing our legs, searching for something in common to talk about. For Kathleen McDaniel (the youngest of my three sisters) however, [...]

Absurdity: Steve Leveen’s Doorway to Innovation

Administrator — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 03:47:05 +0000

FIRST IN A SERIES A Guest Essay by Steve Leveen, CEO and Co-Founder of Levenger WHEN THINKING ABOUT HOW PRODUCTS MIGHT BE DIFFERENT I like to imagine absurdities. I like to imagine the worst way to solve a problem. Imagine something you know couldn’t possibly work. But then, just for fun, pretend it does work and a [...]

Felix and MacGyver Wouldn’t Assume; Neither Should We

Administrator — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 21:25:37 +0000

I LEARNED ABOUT ASSUMPTIONS FROM FELIX UNGER. Felix is, of course, one half of Neil Simon’s Odd Couple, portrayed by Tony Randall when the popular play-then-movie was translated to television. I recall watching an episode when I was about nine where Felix is defending Oscar (Jack Klugman), in court ... and chastises a woman on the witness stand because of an assumption she made. “Ah... you ‘assumed’!” Felix proclaims. He leaps to a nearby blackboard and scrawls the word in thick, self-righteous chalk capitals. “My dear, you should never ‘assume,” he says, then underlines three parts of the word. “You see, when you ‘assume’ you make an ASS of U and ME!” I thought it was funny. The point lingered longer than the laugh, though. Assumptions serve a useful purpose, but they can be misleading. Because assumptions result from the conditioning effect of pattern recognition, to be most effective in the creative process we need tools to consciously identify existing patterns, break old patterns and create new patterns. The most powerful tool I know of is questions.

The New Brand of Creativity

Administrator — Sun, 06 May 2007 02:55:37 +0000

“TODAY’S CONSUMERS ARE NO LONGER PASSIVE RECIPIENTS OF BRAND MESSAGES,” I say. “They’ve become active participants in co-creating the brands they love.” That’s been one of my mantras as I’ve traveled coast-to-coast with my colleague Alan Rambam the past few weeks. We’ve been representing our agency, Fleishman-Hillard, in meetings with some of the largest advertising [...]

Reinvention Rising

Administrator — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:21:58 +0000

"Reinvention" has been with us always, even if it has to be rediscovered by sweaty little kids each new summer, but it seems to me the [tag]evolution of invention[/tag] is speeding up exponentially. Failures of form are tolerated now for perhaps only days or months rather than years before they are "fixed" yet again. And each iteration of invention seems to be adopted wider and faster than ever before, creating more "necessities" than our ancestors could possibly imagine. This is where the excitement and anxiety of today's marketplace comes from.