Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

Mark Simon Burk
Twitter: @BRANDnv
SVA Course:
(How to Do) Killer WorkDigging for the Bone
© 2014 Mark Simon Burk

Digging for the Bone
great ideasin advertising?
what’s it like
coming up with...

great ideaswhen problem-solving?
in advertising?
what’s it like
coming up with...

great ideas
what’s it like
coming up with...
when brain-storming
new approaches?
when problem-solving?
in advertising?

great question!

creativity is not a magical thing
that just happens.
great question!

Here’s my
analogy

dog
you’re a
It’s like

(but more like a human dog)
dog
you’re a
It’s like

cartoon.
You know,
Like that one in the
RUH?!Digging for the Bone

notOnly that one
because I
couldn’t get
the rights.

And you’re digging
for bones in the
yard

are
ideas
=
bones
Only the

And the yard you’re digging in...

central
park!
Is the size of

NO IDEA
And, you have
Where in this yard the bones are buried.
?

NO IDEA
Not only that, you have
How deep the bones are buried.

Some are
tucked just a
below
few
feet Digging for the Bone

And some bones are
20 feet
underground
deepDigging for the Bone

And if you want one of those bones,
there’s only
one thing to do...

And if you want one of those bones,
iggin
© 2014
Mark Simon Burk
there’s only
one thing to do...

anywhere
iggin
© 2014
Mark Simon Burk

place shovel in ground
doesn’t matter

dig
dig
So you
and you

And for a while…No bones.

And for a while…No bones.
But you
give up.don’tDigging for the Bone

You plant your shovel into the ground
in as many different places as possible.

Until...
You plant your shovel into the ground
in as many different places as possible.

You find
your first

bone
You’re excited!
It’s your first

bone
You’re excited!
It’s your first
You pull it from the ground.
But as you hold
it up for all to see...

It crumbles to dust
right in your hand.

Why?
The truth is, 99% of the first
ideas you’ll come up with
are garbage

You gotta dig past all
those run-of-the-mill
ideas, obvious analogies
and awful puns.
But that’s okay.
Enjoy it!

That’s how you
get to something

special
That’s how you
get to something

Well, you still
have no bone.
(bummer)
?!

So what do you do?
?! (bummer)
Well, you still
have no bone.

You pick up your shovel
and you keep on
digging

And all the while
you’re never sure whether
you should keep where you are,
or stop and go
dig somewhere
else for ideas.
digging

just 3
inches
below
Because maybe that huge
idea you’re searching for is
where you’re thinking
right now.

And it’s why you sometimes go back
to a hole you’d been digging before,
because now you have…
a hunch.

Almost as if you’d been
given a glimpse of some
x
x
x
secret hidden
bone map
Translation:You revisit an idea you’d dug up earlier,
because now you have a better understanding of the
problem or

Translation:You revisit an idea you’d dug up earlier,
because now you have a better understanding of the
problem or
Almost as if you’d been
given a glimpse of some
you’ve uncovered an insight into your
customer’s behavior or...
secret hidden
bone map
x
x
x

you found a new way
into the problem by
Could be because of
happy accident.

Could be because of
a conversation you overheard
on the subway
or a song lyric that hits you.
happy accident.
you found a new way
into the problem by

dig
digAnd so you
continue to
and

and then...
dig
digAnd so you
continue to
and

You hit something!

You hit something!
A rock? No.
How many times
have you hit a rock
before that you
hoped was a bone?

No. This sounds

You dig around it,
and beholdit really is a bone!

And remembering how easily the first one crumbled,
You take it out gently and brush it off with your
bone
brushDigging for the Bone

This one doesn’t crumble.
woohoo!
and
whaddaya
know!

Translation:
The idea that you had
at 2 in the morning...
illusion?

Still seems pretty
damn good at 7AM.
reality

and you tuck it
into your bone pouch.
And you’re very excited
about this bone
so you carefully wrap it up
in a linen cloth

idea
person
But if you’re
a real
here’s what you
do next:

hove
You pick up your
and you get
back to your
digging
because now
you’re hungry
for more bones.

GOODat this bone-finding thing.
And after a
while, you start
getting pretty

Good enough, that
your bone bag
is filling up with all
kinds of bones.
In fact, you’re
getting so good at
it, that one day
when you stop
for a break

nwrayou that first real bone you found,
which you’d swaddled in linen...

And you can’t believe it!
HUH?!

HUH?!Turning it over in your hands,
you say to yourself...
And you can’t believe it!

I thought this was a good idea?!
seriously?

what was
i thinking?!Digging for the Bone

Because since that
You’ve found
first bone
much more insightful bones,
funnier bones,
more thoughtful bones.

And then you do
something very
BOLD
Because since that
You’ve found
first bone
much more insightful bones,
funnier bones,
more thoughtful bones.

You let that bone roll
out of your hand and
to the ground
fall Digging for the Bone

When it hits the earth it
s plin erstinto a hundred pieces.

There are others who see this happen.
And they can’t believe that you
They thought what you had was a pretty good idea!
dropped
iDigging for the Bone

socavalier!

But now you know better.
You know it
socavalier!
wasn’tsuch a great bone after all.

And so, you get back on
your feet, and you continue
digging through the
day

And into the
night

And through the
next day’s heat
day

night
Until one late night your
shovel hits something
that sounds different.

Not like a rock, but also not like the
other bones you’ve found.
WHAA?!Digging for the Bone

You throw down your
And get down on your paws
and knees and dig around it.
shovel

You’re
excitedas hell!
please!
xyge

You paw around it
and finally unearth it.
You take out your special bone
brush and after a few strokes,

you catch your first
glintDigging for the Bone

it makes your
heart race!Digging for the Bone

And as you lift it from
the ground, you think
This bone is...
this bone has
my lord!
weight
like I’ve never felt
in a bone before.

GOLD.
solid

GOLD.
solid
Fully uncovered, this bone
reflects the moon so brightly that
the whole park is cast in its light.

GOLD.
solid
One by one, all the other
diggers stop and stare over at
the Golden Bone you alone
hold in your hands.

They are awestruck by its brilliance

They are awestruck by its brilliance
and truth be told

jealousy
jealous?
uh,yeah!
each one seers with a small pang of

jealousy
YOU found it.because
jealous?
uh,yeah!

jealousy
YOU found it.
not them.
because
And
jealous?
uh,yeah!

And that’s what it takes
to dig up a Killer Idea.

And that’s what it takes
to dig up a Killer Idea.
It takes effort and

INSIGHTS
to find the
into how people think and feel
about a product or service

INSIGHTS
or the challenge you’re charged with solving.
into how people think and feel
about a product or service
to find the

INSIGHTSAnd it takes a lot of poking around the
human behaviors that surround it.

It also means paying close attention
to your own creative process, so you
can more efficiently
triggeryour own
thinking

your own
thinking
trigger
Like knowing what time of day,
and where, you’re most productive.

(very important, especially
when under pressure!)
trigger
Like knowing what time of day,
and where, you’re most productive.
your own
thinking

recap:So let’s

recap:
shovel
So let’s
Put your
in the ground in as many
different places as possible

recap:
shovel
So let’s
Put your
in the ground in as many
different places as possible
right at the start!

The reward is well
WORTH IT

Taught by Mark Simon Burk
School of Visual Arts, NYC
sva.edu/continuing-education/
advertising
BRANDnvinc.com
@BRANDnv
mburk@brandnvinc.com
‘Digging for the Bone’
(how to do)
killer work!

Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Digging For The Bone: How to Jumpstart Creative Thinking