How to get more creative ideas for no extra cost

A parable - A small child gave a dollar of his own money to his Dad to buy lollies. The Dad bought 10 lollies, selected one and threw the other 9 away.

Understandably the child wondered why his dollar had bought so few sweets. “Oh,” said the father. “We had some others, but trust me, this is the best one for you.”

“Can’t I decide which is the best one … or maybe even keep ‘em all,” asked the perplexed child. “After all I’ve paid for all 10.”

“Sorry.” said the Dad. “You see, I’m a creative director of a large agency and that’s just the way we do things. Now let me tell you again how good this one lolly is.”

OK, this is hardly the miracle of the loaves and fishes. But it does sum up something that has perplexed me since I joined the advertising industry.

All creative ad agencies are ideas factories. Huge numbers of ideas are generated. Most are worth talking about, but for some reason big agencies only like to show a few. And sometimes they only show one.

I’ve never fully understood why. I have a few guesses though.

- Sometimes the Creative Director wants his idea to be made so he only presents that one.
- Sometimes the agency doesn’t trust the client to pick the right ad.
- Sometimes the agency has what they believe is an award winner and (as mentioned above) fear the client will choose another option.
- Sometimes only showing one idea conveys a sense of rarity and specialness to the creative process.
- And sometimes it’s “just the way we’ve always done it”.

A better approach (and one that we at TRA follow as much as time allows) is to generate as many ideas as possible and then … present them all!

Usually the ideas are grouped into campaigns and presented as quick scamps. Each campaign is executed into several different channels. Sometimes an idea doesn't extend out, but if it's good we'll show that too. And of course we often give a recommendation if we believe there's an obvious winner.

This method has several benefits to you:
- You can see that certain directions have been explored. These may turn out to be dead-ends, which is fine, but at least you know they’ve been tried.
- Certain ideas will emphasise different parts of the brief. This gives you a chance to confirm what’s really important.
- It is possible (although not always) to mix and match bits of ideas.  
- You save heaps of time.
- You don’t feel pressured or cornered by a looming deadline.
- You don’t have to play the role of judge, with the agency ‘selling’ and you rejecting or accepting. By discussing various options s a team, you become part of the creative process.

So next time you brief a piece of creative ask to see lots of ideas. After all, like the wee boy with the lollies, there will be many and you will have paid for them. You might as well have a look.

TIPS FOR MARKETERS
Creative agencies come up with lots of ideas. Ask to see them.