Jaws in space (how to develop & pitch creative ideas) by Hannah Smith, SEM Days 2015

@hannah_bo_banna
jaws
in space
how to
develop
& pitch
creative ideas
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
steal this deck
http://dis.tl/SEMDays2015

@hannah_bo_banna
this is distilled

@hannah_bo_banna
2.2m page views | 111k+ ‘likes’ | 1,280 LRDs

@hannah_bo_banna
a few years ago we made this

@hannah_bo_banna
it got just 31 ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna
we *still* don’t always get it right

@hannah_bo_banna
everyone agrees that coming up with a ‘good’ idea
is paramount

@hannah_bo_banna
but what do we mean by a ‘good’ idea?

@hannah_bo_banna
something that appears to have worked?

@hannah_bo_banna
I’m going to show you 2 pieces - which got the most links?

@hannah_bo_banna
ok, you’ve seen which got the most links,
but which got the most interactions on facebook?

@hannah_bo_banna
50k facebook interactions

@hannah_bo_banna
5k facebook interactions

@hannah_bo_banna
the relationship between social shares and links is not as
linear as you might expect

@hannah_bo_banna
sometimes links lead to increased social shares

@hannah_bo_banna
1,280 LRDs | 111k+ ‘likes’

@hannah_bo_banna
other times, social shares lead to links

@hannah_bo_banna
230k+ ‘likes’ | 330 LRDs

@hannah_bo_banna
ok, let’s try another one
raise your hands if you think this piece
got links from more than 100 sites

@hannah_bo_banna
what about this one?

@hannah_bo_banna
so hopefully I’ve proved
that spotting a good idea is tough

@hannah_bo_banna
but most of the time we’re not even
thinking in terms of ideas,
we’re just getting wrapped up in formats

@hannah_bo_banna
‘guides get links’
let’s do loads of guides!

@hannah_bo_banna
a guide is a format, not an idea

@hannah_bo_banna
video is a format, not an idea

@hannah_bo_banna
an infographic is a format, not an idea

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s a huge mistake to think in formats

@hannah_bo_banna
people don’t share formats,
they share ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
a quick note on ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
text
an idea
is a novel combination of
previously unconnected elements
in a way that adds value

@hannah_bo_banna
http://dis.tl/axis-chords

@hannah_bo_banna
you’ve probably thought this:
“hmmmm a lot of pop songs sound kinda the same…
why is that?”

@hannah_bo_banna
the answer:
“they use the same four chords…”

@hannah_bo_banna
you could just write a list of all the songs
that use the same chords...

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s not until you show me that I really get it

@hannah_bo_banna
why do pop songs sound the
same?
they use the same 4
chords
bring it to life with a
mash up
combining
previously
unconnected
elements
execute in a way
that adds value

@hannah_bo_banna
that’s an idea

@hannah_bo_banna
that’s what you need to be shooting for

@hannah_bo_banna
but I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s rewind a little

@hannah_bo_banna
we don’t have the luxury of
creating & launching a bunch of different things
before hitting on a winner

@hannah_bo_banna
how can we improve our strike rate?

@hannah_bo_banna
we started out with this

@hannah_bo_banna
what sort of ideas ‘stick’?

@hannah_bo_banna
urban legend
(a story which spreads spontaneously in various forms)

@hannah_bo_banna
a friend of a friend
was away on business in Chicago

@hannah_bo_banna
he decides to head out to a bar alone

@hannah_bo_banna
he meets a beautiful stranger

@hannah_bo_banna
they head to a motel

@hannah_bo_banna
in the morning he wakes to find himself in a
bathtub full of ice

@hannah_bo_banna
there’s a freshly stitched incision on his side

@hannah_bo_banna
call 911
is scrawled in lipstick on the bathroom tiles

@hannah_bo_banna
he’s admitted to hospital,
& is told that one of his kidneys has been removed

@hannah_bo_banna
this guy is almost certainly going
to wake up without a kidney

@hannah_bo_banna
authors Chip & Dan Heath wanted to figure out
why people shared this story….
here’s what they came up with

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s simple & easy to tell

@hannah_bo_banna
& it has one clear message

@hannah_bo_banna
“don’t accept drinks from strangers”

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s unexpected,
a kidney seems a high price to pay for a one night stand

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s concrete,
there are tangible details:
a bathtub full of ice, call 911 is scrawled on the wall

@hannah_bo_banna
it seems credible
(despite the fact that there have never been any crimes of
this nature recorded)

@hannah_bo_banna
it provokes an emotional reaction

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s a great story
& people remember stories, not stats

@hannah_bo_banna
we’re not in the business of inventing urban legends
but we are seeking to create things
which other people want to share

@hannah_bo_banna
as such we’ve taken the ‘Made to Stick’ framework,
added a factor of our own,
& applied it to the content we create:
simple
unexpected
concrete
credible
emotional
story
shareable

@hannah_bo_banna
simple
is there one clear message?
(don’t bury the lead)

@hannah_bo_banna
unexpected
what’s new or different?

@hannah_bo_banna
concrete
are the details tangible? or are you dealing in the abstract?
“you can’t pick up a calorie, you can pick up a burger”

@hannah_bo_banna
credible
is your data credible?
is the story credible?
is it credible coming from you?

@hannah_bo_banna
emotional
does it provoke an emotional reaction?
does it make people feel something?

@hannah_bo_banna
story
are you telling a story?
people remember stories, not stats

@hannah_bo_banna
shareable
would someone look good sharing this?
what does sharing this say about someone?

@hannah_bo_banna
you don’t need all 7 to be successful:
but in this case, more is more

@hannah_bo_banna
further reading:
lessons in virality from axl rose
http://dis.tl/HS-axl

@hannah_bo_banna
the ‘success’ framework helps us fail less often,
but it hasn’t solved all our problems

@hannah_bo_banna
problem one
it’s a useful tool,
but it can be used as a weapon

@hannah_bo_banna
good ideas
rarely seem like good ideas at their inception,
that’s what stops the majority of people from having them
~Drew Gummerson

@hannah_bo_banna
don’t use this to shoot ideas down,
use it to build ideas up

@hannah_bo_banna
how can we develop this idea to make it more
simple?
unexpected?
concrete?
credible?
emotional?
story-driven?
shareable?

@hannah_bo_banna
you can also use the framework later in the ideation
process to help you decide which ideas to pitch

@hannah_bo_banna
but there’s another issue

@hannah_bo_banna
the made to stick framework helps you develop
‘good’ ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
but we’re not just trying to come up ‘good’ ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
we’re trying to come up with ‘good’ ideas
which are right for our clients

@hannah_bo_banna
problem 2
clients don’t always understand why
*they*
should care about these criteria

@hannah_bo_banna
there’s insufficient onus on
why this is a good idea for
their company

@hannah_bo_banna
we found that some of our best ideas
weren’t getting signed off

@hannah_bo_banna
we needed to get better at coming up with ‘good’ ideas
which were right for the client
AND
get them signed off
we needed to get better at pitching ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
who’s great at pitching ideas?

@hannah_bo_banna
the high
concept pitch
for alien was
“jaws in
space”
@hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
that’s a lot of information in just 3 words,
it tells you a lot about the film

@hannah_bo_banna
the ship is not sleek & clean like in other sci-fi movies
this is grubby, broken, low-tech

@hannah_bo_banna
this film will be filled with tension & conflict,
not everyone will understand the danger they’re in

@hannah_bo_banna
we figured we could learn from this
however,
the aim was not to be able to pitch our ideas in 3 words

@hannah_bo_banna
or even 6 words

@hannah_bo_banna
our aim was to distill our thinking & communicate
why our ideas were right for the client

@hannah_bo_banna
this is what we came up with

@hannah_bo_banna
relevant, resonant & different

@hannah_bo_banna
this is hard to explain in the abstract
so I’ll be using an example

@hannah_bo_banna
raise your hands if you think this is a ‘good’ idea

@hannah_bo_banna
hopefully I can convince the rest of you

@hannah_bo_banna
this is about ‘brand fit’
why is this the right thing for the company to do?

@hannah_bo_banna
podio’s strapline is
‘empowering you to work the way you want’
&
they’re targeting people in the creative industry

@hannah_bo_banna
‘daily routines’
places podio in the conversations people are already
having about how best to work,
without being self-serving

@hannah_bo_banna
why will our target audience & target publishers
care about this?

@hannah_bo_banna
creativity & productivity are perpetually hot topics:

@hannah_bo_banna
so we know people share this stuff

@hannah_bo_banna
we think people will share our piece because it:
makes them look smart
and/or
makes them look cultured
and/or
makes them look interested & interesting
and/or
makes them look like they care about being creative

@hannah_bo_banna
& we know the publishers we want coverage from
feature this stuff

@hannah_bo_bannaexcerpt from a buzzsumo content analysis report for ‘creativity’

@hannah_bo_banna
how is this different from what’s already out there?
how are we adding value?

@hannah_bo_banna
this data has been visualised before

@hannah_bo_banna
but this is a poster
it wasn’t built for the web

@hannah_bo_banna
this execution doesn’t allow you to
compare the creative routines of the people featured,
or explore the data, our execution will

@hannah_bo_banna
have I managed to convince you it’s a good idea yet?

@hannah_bo_banna
how did it all go down?

@hannah_bo_banna
you will never be 100% confident

@hannah_bo_banna
760k page views | 40k+ ‘likes’ | 1,077 LRDs

@hannah_bo_banna
results like this don’t just
*happen*

@hannah_bo_banna
we spent over 60 hours promoting this piece

@hannah_bo_banna
today we use the ‘SUCCESS’ framework alongside
‘relevant, resonant, different’

@hannah_bo_banna
it means our ideation process is more rigorous

@hannah_bo_banna
& it forces us to think harder about whether or not our ideas
make sense for our clients

@hannah_bo_banna
it makes getting sign off
from clients easier

@hannah_bo_banna
& we’re failing less often

@hannah_bo_banna
final thoughts

@hannah_bo_banna
getting good at this stuff is hard

@hannah_bo_banna
there’s a few things we do
which we think have helped us get better

@hannah_bo_banna
1. focus on ideas, not formats

@hannah_bo_banna
an infographic is not an idea
it’s a format

@hannah_bo_banna
further reading:
how to produce content people will share
http://dis.tl/MJ-share
how to produce better content ideas
http://dis.tl/MJ-idea

@hannah_bo_banna
2. take this sh*t seriously

@hannah_bo_banna
a few years ago we used to ‘present’ creative ideas like this:

@hannah_bo_banna
those were not ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
you won’t be surprised to hear that sign off was an issue

@hannah_bo_banna
today we present creative ideas in person, with a slide deck
we also spend significantly longer on the ideation process

@hannah_bo_banna
3. keep on keeping on

@hannah_bo_banna
we continually evolve our approach
& our processes

@hannah_bo_banna
good luck out there x

@hannah_bo_banna
Hannah Smith
Content Strategist, Distilled
caffeine addict; book worm;
would really like a unicorn...
send cat pictures or questions to:
hannah.smith@distilled.net

credits
Images:
alien: http://www.wired.com/2010/02/0205hr-giger-born-science-fiction-artist/
kidney heist: http://www.marthastewart.com/275076/a-housewarming-cocktail-party/@center/277004/kevin-sharkeys-home-
makeover#222626
unexpected - http://thabto.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/shocked-face.jpg
daily rituals - http://24.media.tumblr.com/011d7a30de400a6f5f9244775f95781a/tumblr_mmg8etEJt81qzlz5go1_r1_1280.jpg
emotional - http://adland.tv/ooh/feed-sa-trolley-ambient-south-africa
swing - https://www.flickr.com/photos/21745851@N00/4805435840
facepalm - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=facepalm
no finish line - http://www.quotesvalley.com/images/50/there-is-no-finish-line-5.jpg
danbo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass/6889892777/in/set-72157629144987013
unicorn - http://queenofheartsonthesleeve.tumblr.com/post/58736423727/ok-not-much-but-here-it-is-3
Big love to to the wonderful Distilled folks who helped me put this together.

Jaws in space (how to develop & pitch creative ideas) by Hannah Smith, SEM Days 2015

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Jaws in space (how to develop & pitch creative ideas) by Hannah Smith, SEM Days 2015