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People often ask me 'how do you come up with ideas?' It's a tough question. Ideas just come to you, right? I disagree. Learn from our successes and failures at producing online content for our clients. Use these lessons to give your content the best chance of success.
People often ask me 'how do you come up with ideas?' It's a tough question. Ideas just come to you, right? I disagree. Learn from our successes and failures at producing online content for our clients. Use these lessons to give your content the best chance of success.
755 likes 67 LRDs LRDs
= Linking Root Domains, i.e. the number of other websites that linked to this piece of content http://www.rasmussen.edu/resources/what-career-should-i-choose/
755 likes 67 LRDs we
track more meaningful metrics than just likes and linking root domains, but for the purpose of this presentation, I will take these 2 metrics to indicate whether or not the piece of content was compelling http://www.rasmussen.edu/resources/what-career-should-i-choose/
37 likes that’s me plus
only 36 other people!!! http://www.thomson.co.uk/blog/infographic/superbowl/index.html#2011
37 likes trial and error
is a great way to learn but it also sucks http://www.thomson.co.uk/blog/infographic/superbowl/index.html#2011
37 likes we’ve learned a
lot along the way, and this presentation aims to help give your content the best chance of success http://www.thomson.co.uk/blog/infographic/superbowl/index.html#2011
an idea is a novel
combination of previously unconnected elements in a way that adds value
what they are and how
to find them what they look like and how to make them the elements: the connections: which means the 4 things you need to know are…
Daaad, why’d they build the
Great Wall of China? it was to, erm, to keep the rabbits out... too many rabbits in China (teacher – off screen) now, Daniel’s going to give his talk on China http://www.bwm.com.au/category/work/bigpond/
the ad agency identified a
barrier to their objective at the time, a lot of people didn’t see why they needed broadband http://www.bwm.com.au/category/work/bigpond/
customer insight product truth competitor
insight parents want the best for their children and worry about them being left behind at school http://www.bwm.com.au/category/work/bigpond/
customer insight competitor insight product
truth the (content) competitors had guides which were too long, so unlikely to be read, and often left too many decisions up to the reader
we produced a series of
visually concise guides for small business owners, which has been a very successful campaign http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/guide-to-social-media-success/
the advertising industry uses focus
groups to mine for insight in one focus group, a woman spoke of eating ice cream in intimate settings with her partner. the rest of the group gave a knowing giggle. that was the insight that launched an entire brand.
“love [your brand]” “hate [your
brand]” “love [your competitor]” “hate [your competitor]” “love [category]” “hate [category]” this is just one example. there are loads of ways you can use search and social media to find out how people feel. think creatively about it.
it’s not about the product
Red Bull does not make content about caffeinated drinks. the content is about energy, adrenaline and pushing life to the limits.
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled map out associations with your product and brand
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled you should separate creative and analytical mode. creative mode is fast and intuitive. analytical mode is slow and deliberate. if you try to do both at the same time, it can lead to writer’s block.
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled at the time, I had no idea where to go next from ‘simplicity’. rather than get stuck, I just hopped onto a new thread and kept moving.
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled you don’t want your content tied too closely to your product, but you don’t want the link to be tenuous. don’t worry about this while you’re free-associating. you want to keep creative mode and analytical mode separate, remember.
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled wait, how did we go from soap to hair? isn’t that wrong? when you’re doing this, don’t think in terms of right and wrong. you can come back and edit later.
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled possible opportunity? women in business is a hot topic
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather flying bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands power tangled consciously, I wasn’t sure why I made this leap, but it’s these unexpected connections that could lead somewhere
“of course, I’ve always taken
a lot of notes… I mean you never know what the things going to be, do you? a little detail, somewhere down the line, makes you say [gasps]… …cracks the case wide open.” Rust, True Detective
what if you had taken
10,20, or 100 cars apart? it would significantly improve your chances of putting it together, right? that’s why it’s valuable to understand how great content (e.g. advertising) is constructed.
customer insight competitor insight product
truth the leading competitor focused on the unlikely guy getting the girl, but the customer (the girl) doesn’t want the unlikely guy, she wants A MAN!
competitor insight product truth customer
insight BMW’s main competitor is Mercedes, who make high-performance cars, typically with an elegant or stately image (a wolf in sheep’s clothing?)
ever wracked your brains trying
to remember someone’s name, only to have it pop into your mind when you’re having a shower? http://www.amazon.com/Technique-Producing-Ideas-James-Young/dp/1477428690
there is a natural process
for making connections that we can use to our advantage http://www.amazon.com/Technique-Producing-Ideas-James-Young/dp/1477428690
saturation you need to actively
force connections. doing this physically is faster, and it gets the elements outside your head, freeing you up to focus on the connections between them.
saturation you will hit a
wall. push through it. you’ll get a second wind. when you hit another wall, it may be appropriate to stop.
incubation I experienced this recently
when I got absorbed in a conversation in the pub. it genuinely wasn’t the beer that led to the breakthrough (sadly).
verification we were thinking of
doing a grammar quiz. we emailed our colleagues for input. it turned into the longest email thread in our company’s history. we figured we were onto something.
verification if you’re met with
confusion or indifference, that means one of 2 things. you don’t have an idea or you haven’t articulated it in the right way. you have to judge which it is.
product truth customer insight competitor
insight our client sold a large range of products for going back to school. when we thought of going back to school, we thought of exams, and different subjects like English, which led us to grammar.
product truth customer insight competitor
insight content about grammatical errors like this piece from the Oatmeal, can do extremely well online. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling
product truth customer insight competitor
insight we thought about a quiz, so checked what had been done. the Guardian & Telegraph both had popular quizzes, but they weren’t brilliantly executed. http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/quiz/2013/feb/04/grammar-punctuation-quiz-test
we were working on this
content when Facebook acquired Whatsapp http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/25/the-age-of-acquisitions/
we quickly included the new
dataset and launched it http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/25/the-age-of-acquisitions/
we secured a front page
exclusive with TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/25/the-age-of-acquisitions/
remember the grammar quiz we
spoke about? we launched that on national grammar day without even realising! http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/25/the-age-of-acquisitions/
Dove soap dove soap simplicity
Italy song opera split ends flowers iris lily scent bubbles lather bird hair care presentation finish hair olive branch peace pond strands 3. think laterally about your brand
4. try to force connections
http://www.amazon.com/Gamestorming-Playbook-Innovators-Rulebreakers-Changemakers/dp/0596804172
10. practise brainstorming once a
month and saying you’re not creative is like going to the gym once a month and wondering why you don’t have a six pack