The document discusses how to find the ordinary extraordinary. It argues that the extraordinary can be found in ordinary things and truths if one looks closely enough. It provides several tips, such as representing what is in front of you rather than trying to be fancy or clever, focusing on ordinary truths and relevance over assumptions, being a better "noticer", keeping your eyes on the original goal or strategy, and finding wonder and joy in everyday things. The document advocates approaching the ordinary with curiosity, engagement, and a willingness to challenge one's preconceptions.

1. How to find the ordinary extraordinary
Megan Averell / @Meggatron

2. ordinary

6. ordinary
ȯr-də-ˌner-ē
adj. not unusual, different, or special

8. extraordinary
ik-strawr-dn-er-ee
adj. very unusual or remarkable

10. ordinary
adj. not unusual, different, or special
extraordinary
ik-strawr-dn-er-ee
adj. very unusual or remarkable
uninteresting
typical
offputting
forgettable
interesting
rare
engaging
stands out
ȯr-də-ˌner-ē

11. extraordinary
ik-strawr-dn-er-ee
adj. very unusual or remarkable

16. extra
ordin
ary

17. interesting!
engaging

18. excise
extreme
extra

19. excise

21. people
planners

22. extreme

23. fantasy
reality
>

24. extra

31. the greatest
trouble
with
extraordinary

33. interesting
engaging

34. interesting
OR
engaging

35. engaging
relevance

36. 10.5B
minutes
per day

42. ordinary truths

43. there isn’t any
such thing as an
ordinary life
“
“
-- L.M. Montgomery

44. that’s me! >
that’s amazing!

45. ordinary
adj. not unusual, different, or special
extraordinary
ik-strawr-dn-er-ee
adj. very unusual or remarkable
uninteresting
typical
offputting
forgettable
interesting
rare
engaging
stands out
ȯr-də-ˌner-ē

46. ordinary
engaging

49. It’s an idea based on
truth that will move
consumers
“
“
-- Omar Johnson, CEO, Beats

51. It’s all real; we don’t
make this stuff up. We
don’t do crazy
metaphorical stuff to
seduce, it’s real
“
“
-- Omar Johnson, CEO, Beats

53. marketing used to be
about creating a myth
and telling it, now it’s
about finding a truth
and sharing it
“
“
-- Marc Mathieu, Unilever

54. how to
bring the
ordinary back

55. find the
wonder and
joy in the
ordinary

57. represent
what is in
front of you

58. I just happen to like
ordinary things. When I
paint them, I don’t try to
make them extraordinary. I
just try to paint them
ordinary-ordinary
“
“
-- Andy Warhol

60. don’t be
fancy and
clever

61. The real art is not to come
up with extraordinary clever
words but to make ordinary
simple words do extra-ordinary
things. To use the
language we all use and
make extraordinary things
occur
“
“
-- Graham Swift

64. stop being
lazy with
shorthand

65. For when we succumb to this
stylized, board-game view of the
people whose actions we are trying
to understand and report on, we
cheat our readers and our viewers,
offering them a version of reality
forced to fit a formula that may have
little to no bearing on what is actually
going on
“
“
-- Meg Greenfield

68. I, along with my colleagues, had let
myself get pretty smug and incurious
in my approach to the people we were
writing about… (if we) start trying to
get to the story to justify our
assumptions or conclude that we don’t
need to ask or look or even wonder,
because we’re smart and we already
know, we have walked off the job
“
“
-- Meg Greenfield

69. truth. nothing’s
faster.

70. be a
better
“noticer”

72. WWDADOS?

75. keep your
eyes on
the prize

76. You’re all smart, but you
get too wrapped up in a
cool idea and lose sight of
the strategy
“
“
-- Anonymous client to their agency

77. A
B
C
what did we set out to do in
the first place?
does this simply do it in a
way people will recognize?
if not, why are we doing it?
*REMEMBER: “because it’s interesting” isn’t good enough

78. The job is hard enough.
There’s no need to make it
harder by trying to do even more.

81. Little minds are
interested in the
extraordinary, great
minds in the
commonplace
“
“
-- Elbert Hubbard

82. ordinary
truth
relevance
engagement

83. how to
find the
ordinary
extraordinary
Megan Averell, @Meggatron
www.theinsightinn.com

84. how to
FIND the
ordinary
extraordinary
exercise:

85. • Social media
• Google search
• Focus groups
• Intercept interviews
• Demographic profiles
• Customer data
How could we
potentially use these
input methods
differently in order to
better discover and
recognize the
ordinary?
Each group works for 30
minute on one topic
Last 15 minutes, each group
reports out to room