TALENT IMITATES GENIUS STEALS @edwardboches
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AND THEN IT REMIXES @edwardboches
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Four chapters on: how to
be creative in the digital age

Chapter One Creativity matters more
than ever

New research from the University
of Pennsylvania, published in a recent issue of the journal Cognitive Neuroscience, showed that when the prefrontal cortex, your command center for cognitive control and a filter for your random thoughts that might interrupt your present tasks, is inhibited, your ability to tackle creative activities can be better. This is because your unfiltered thoughts actually offer an advantage. In other words, the less cognitive control, the better your creativity.

There’s a new marketing challenge:

There’s a new marketing challenge:
The Scarcity of Attention

2000: 12 seconds Source: National
Center for Biotechnology Information

2000: 12 seconds Source: National
Center for Biotechnology Information 2013: 8 seconds

2000: 12 seconds 2013: 8
seconds Goldfish: 9 seconds Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information

We need great, attention-worthy ideas

We need great, attention-worthy ideas
That invite participation

We need great, attention-worthy ideas
That invite participation That generate content

We need great, attention-worthy ideas
That invite participation That generate content That inspire sharing

We need great, attention-worthy ideas
That invite participation That generate content That inspire sharing That earn media coverage

Unfortunately It never gets easy,
but there are a few tricks.

Chapter Two There’s no such
thing as an original idea

“There is no such thing
as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

A new and curious combination

A new and curious combination
Illustration interacting with photography

A new and curious combination
Illustration interacting with photography Editorial comment

A new and curious combination
Illustration interacting with photography Editorial comment A bit of irreverence

A new and curious combination
Illustration interacting with photography Editorial comment A bit of irreverence Dash of inappropriate

Art director grew up in
the country Copywriter has chickens Account executive’s kids went on a field trip to a farm

Art director grew up in
the country Copywriter has chickens Account executive’s kids went on a field trip to a farm Google image search

“We take ideas from other
people, from people we've learned from, from people we run into in the coffee shop, and we stitch them together into new forms and we create something new.”

Chapter Three We have to
master both stealing and remixing

Note: this is not an
invitation to plagiarize.

OUCH!

7 km/h.

But these are ads, messages,
paid media.

Social media

Social media
User generated content

Social media User generated content
Encouraging influencers

Social media User generated content
Encouraging influencers Inspiring action

Social media User generated content
Encouraging influencers Inspiring action New ways of telling stories

Social media User generated content
Encouraging influencers Inspiring action New ways of telling stories Owned content

Social media User generated content
Encouraging influencers Inspiring action New ways of telling stories Owned content Creating utility

In an age of digital,
social and mobile we have to remix more than two ingredients.

Chapter Four Learn to dissect
good ideas and steal the formulas.

Social media User-generated content Inspiring
action New ways of telling stories

Social media

Formula: Social media (in the
stream) • Find a relevant cultural or media event ! • Go where the fans are; what are they interested in? ! • Take inspiration from the (event’s) content ! • Connect your product to it

Thousands of re-tweets Pages of
press coverage 144,000 followers on Twitter *

* A laundry detergent.

Formula: Social media (in the
stream) • Find a relevant cultural or media event ! • Go where the fans are; what are they interested in? ! • Take inspiration from the (event’s) content ! • Connect your product to it

User-generated content

Tactics • No media buy
! • Volumes of free content across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube ! • Brand story told by users with followers ! • Extensive media coverage

Results 1000 videos / 5
million plus views / 500,000 FlickR views / 3 million Twitter impressions 37 % brand awareness among GenY / 50,000 new prospects currently not Ford owners

Formula: User-generated content • Create
an experience ! • Invite participation that inspires and enables content ! • Document everything ! • Distribute, repackage and encourage sharing

Formula: User-generated content • Create
an experience ! • Invite participation that inspires and enables content ! • Document everything ! • Distribute, repackage and encourage sharing

Inspiring action

- 12 %

Formula: Inspiring action • Start
with something that would be good for your customer rather than what’s good for you. ! • Spread joy, not fear (never lecture) ! • Create a crowd or community (visible) ! • Reinforce by rewarding (gaming dynamics)

+ 46 %

Formula: Inspiring action • Start
with something that would be good for your customer rather than what’s good for you. ! • Spread joy, not fear (never lecture) ! • Create a crowd or community (visible) ! • Reinforce by rewarding (gaming dynamics)

New ways of telling stories

Formula: New ways of telling
stories • Think about how to “demonstrate” your message ! • Create an actual “stunt” that attracts users/prospects ! • Work across multiple media and technologies ! • Record reactions and create a story

We asked people to upload
an image of a friend on our website

Our image manipulators than edited
the photo…

…and pasted it in photo
of a non existing event.

The participants received a notification
that their manipulated photo was placed into the event album.

People could then tag their
friend in the photo.

Formula: New ways of telling
stories • Think about how to “demonstrate” your message ! • Create an actual “stunt” that attracts users/prospects ! • Work across multiple media and technologies ! • Record reactions and create a story

Formulas work and you can
find them everywhere.

Formula: New ways of telling
stories • Break big things into little pieces ! • Offer a psychic reward for participating ! • Don’t be afraid to ask, then trust people to do right ! • Be joyful and enthusiastic

Formula: New ways of telling
stories • Break big things into little pieces ! • Offer a psychic reward for participating ! • Don’t be afraid to ask, then trust people to do right ! • Be joyful and enthusiastic

It’s about your customer, not
about you.

To recap

There are no original ideas

Find good stuff to steal

Re-mix ingredients

Dissect formulas

Think “do” versus “say”

I don’t tell my friends
about your product because I like your product.

I tell my friends about
your product because I like my friends.

References and Resources A Technique
for Producing Ideas Where good ideas come from Creativity Study Attention Span Statistics

@edwardboches
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