Creative @ Somo education piece - Long version 11/9/14

1) What does the Somo Creative Department do? 
(Strategy, approach & output)
!
2) How to engage with the Creative Department.
(Deployment process & Creative Sprints)
!
3) How the Creative Department delivers work.
(Process & teams)
!
4) Knowing ‘great’ work against ‘good’ work.
(Attitudes, values & standards)
!
5) Tools to get started.
(New briefing template)
Get the idea. Make it work.
© Copyright and Confidential September 2014
Agenda

What does the Somo Creative Department do?

What do you think Creative is?
i.e. What is creativity?

Misconception #1
Creativity is about making things pretty.
Aesthetic appeal is one aspect of a
design, but design is not decoration.
Design is how it works.

Misconception #2
That creativity is magic.  
That it is the product of talent.  
That you either have it or you don’t.
The act of being creative is a standard human attribute.

Misconception #3
That creativity is an imaginative skill
unrelated to critical thinking.
The most creative people possess keen
analytic tools of critical thought.

“Creativity is not a talent,
it’s a way of operating.”
~John Cleese

Creativity is a series of many, small
insights combined.
Each builds upon the other.
Creativity is about joining the dots.
Creativity comes from creative problem solving processes.

Creativity is an essential ingredient to solving problems
- Creative thinking is a way to arrive at solutions to problems.
- Creative thinking is a way to chaos into order.
- Creative thinking is a way to turn noise & confusion into solutions.
Creativity is also about transformation

How does creativity transform?
It’s about ACTION. Creating what you cannot see.
It’s about CONNECTION. Connecting technology, culture and humanity.
It’s about DEVIATION. Forging new paths.

A definition - What is creativity?
The ability to imagine or invent something new.

A definition - What is creativity?
The ability to imagine or invent something new.
Sounds a bit like innovation?

(Psychological, Emotional Response)
(Appeal, Selling)
- Drive perception
- Drive Cognition
- Touch Emotions 
- Persuade
(Awareness, Interest)
(Learn, Educate)
Hearts Minds
Facets of Creative Strategy

Opportunities to transform:
- Strategic planning
- Media Thinking
- Channel Thinking
- Platform Thinking
- Technology Insight

Creativity involves two processes
Thinking, then Crafting.
(Get the idea. Make it work.)

Get the idea.
Make it work.

Make it work.Get the idea.

Storytelling. Craft. Technology.
Our domains

Our remit…
There are two areas of creative function;  
1) Providing Inspiration and 2) Taking Direction

Our remit…
We create vision for you We realise your visionand

Our remit…
We create vision for you We realise your vision
We provide inspiration We take direction
and
and

Vision </creates> Impact
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.

How to engage with the Creative Department

Scoping meetings - Invite the creatives!

The creative team
What creatives need to start work on your project:
The What? By When? & How much?
As an AM or PD you must supply three things:
a) A signed oﬀ brief
b) A timing plan
c) A detailed budget

Briefing the creatives
It’s not about getting the right answers,
it’s about asking the right questions.

A 5 Step Campaign
Creative process:
1) Immersion
2) Digestion
3) Incubation
4) Illumination
5) Verification
Project Management
A 5 Step Product
Creative process:
1) Discover
2) Define
3) Design
4) Develop
5) Deploy

The creative sprint
Timelines & Milestones
Typical creative sprint:
- Create something
- Share your ideas liberally
- Discuss
- Critique
- Refine

Any Creative Sprint (1 hour or 1 week)
Research and generate ideas.
Review your work and learn from it.
Distill and focus.
Work up your best ideas.
The creative sprint

Respect how long it takes
Time is directly related to quality.
It takes time
The creative sprint

How we give you what you want

The creative process
Bad process inhibits good work.
Good process enables great work.

1) Strategy 2) Creative 3) Production

Introducing an Award Winning Process
- Creating a success system that never fails
- Increasing eﬀiciency
- Increasing eﬀectiveness
- Increasing quality

The Seven Stages of Award Winning Process
Clarify Problem & Purpose
Discovery & Ideation
Asset Generation
Design & Build
Delivery
Final Asset Implementation
Evaluate & Verify
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

KEY (alphabetical)
AM = Account Manager
DP = Design Production
DEV = Developer
LC = Lead Creative
LS = Lead Strategist
LT = Lead Technical
IM = Innovation Manager
PD - Product Manager
PM - Project Manager
QA = Quality Assurance Technician
RM = Resource Manager
UX = User Experience

The creative team - What it is and how it can help?

The creative team
It takes a team to build an experience.
Three person team
Mavens Connectors
Salesfolk
Hipsters Hackers
Hustlers

The creative team

Knowing ‘great’ work against ‘good’ work

The three components of creativity:
Expertise
Creative thinking skills
Motivation

Projects that are about a labour of love,
by their nature, distinguish themselves
from the mediocre.  
Outstanding work wins awards.
The courage to care

Do I even give a shit
The courage to care
Idiom
1.
[kur-ij, kuhr-] [tuh] [kair]
1. Couldn't care less, a phrase used to express indiﬀerence, is
sometimes heard as could care less, which ought to mean the
opposite but is intended to be synonymous with the former
phrase. Both versions are common mainly in informal speech.
Synonyms

Our new standards scale:
Multimediocrity, Competence & Excellence
33% 66% 110%

We are moving towards
an award winning creative attitude to our work
Creative culture

1. Is it fresh and original?
2. Is it fun?
3. Is it simple?
4. Does it accomplish something good for the client?
5. Does it communicate?
6. Does it break through the clutter...does it have stopping power?
7. Is it beautiful?
8. Is it smart?
9. Is it entertaining?
10. Is it relevant?
11. Is it bigger than the brand?
12. Can you explain why this a great ad?
13. Does it make the consumers care about the brand?
14. Will it stand the test of time?
15. Would you put your name on this piece of work?
Creative culture Knowing great work- 'why it won'
33%
66%
110%
Mediocre
Competent
Award
winning

Nivea's Child
Tracking Bracelet
Knowing great work- 'why it won'
Creative culture

Award winning work comes out of:
Motivations - Challenge & Fun
Empowerment - Freedom, Time & Support
Dynamism - Energy, Debate & Dialogue
Openness - Experimentation, Trust & Risk

Tools to get started

The most important piece of paper in the building.
The Creative Brief, The Product Brief and The Amends/Task Brief.  
We believe a good brief is a springboard for the creative idea.
The brilliant brief
A good brief is also a treasure map.

The brilliant brief
a) The Creative Brief b) The Product Brief c) The Amends/Task Brief

You know what the Somo Creative Department does.
(Strategy, approach & output)
!
You know how to engage with the Creative Department.
(Deployment process & Creative Sprints)
!
You know how the Creative Department delivers award winning work.
(Process & teams)
!
You now know the diﬀerence between ‘good’ work and ‘great’ work.
(Attitudes, values & standards)
!
You know how important the brief is in creating award winning work.
(New briefing template)
To recap…

Partner with us
Collaborations are born out of experiencing a complementary talent of
another individual - the very way that partnerships are formed.
Anyone who has ever succeeded did so with the help of someone else.
Achieving brilliant things is collaborative and always will be.
Q&A

Creative @ Somo education piece - Long version 11/9/14

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Creative @ Somo education piece - Long version 11/9/14