Blog Archives
Creating the Conditions for Creativity – by @djgraymatter
Earlier this week, good friend Joe Gray (@djgraymatter) posted a video presentation around the topic of organizing a company to foster creativity. As an imperative element within any business culture, creativity is often siloed to titled creatives or a creative team at a company or organization. But how does one go about encouraging ALL team members to proactively think outside the box and consistently bring new ideas to the table?
Check out Joe’s insights below and be sure to watch the excellent TED talk he included at the end.
Old Spice Another Proof Point for Capturing Production
We all love good content. The perfect combination of text, audio and images delivered at the right time to the right audience is something content marketing pros strive for on a daily basis.
A huge chunk of campaign planning is typically devoted to developing the overarching storytelling framework and the crucial content that supports that framework. Without targeted content, you’re left with a great story but no actionable plan or vehicle for connecting that story with your audience.
A post last week on PR Daily highlighted the excellent video Old Spice recently published that provides the public with a “behind the scenes” look at their continued “Old Spice Man” campaign. Uploaded to YouTube on March 1st, the video has already garnered more than 500,000 views.
A similar successful “production capture” video was created last year around the Guy Walks Across America Levis video. I mentioned this in a previous post last year but I love the video and it’s great context for what Old Spice pulled off with their own effort.
Why Does It Matter?
In short, it’s a smart tactic and simple way to beef up your content framework to leverage your storyline beyond initial campaign execution. If you’re going to dump a lot of money into production, it makes sense to capture and tell the story about how that production came together and was executed. Both cases above demonstrate that there will always be a technical or brand enthusiast audience that craves more than the initial content/brand touchpoint. Give ‘em what they crave.
Note: This post also appears on Weber Shandwick Seattle’s blog.
Encourage Action to Shape Communications Process
Work Differently. Image By Matthew.
Process.
It’s a word we’ve all come to both love and hate. On the one hand, process organizes resources, drives efficiencies and keeps messaging consistent. On the other hand, process can cause routine and stifle creativity.
When things aren’t working, there is no worse reason to keep forcing a process simply because “it’s the way we’ve always done it.” Now more than ever, the world is thriving on bright young minds that are bringing a new host of skills and knowledge to help shape digital communications. Many of these individuals are used to working within a “trial by error” mindset as opposed to fitting squarely into a world of templates and checklists.
Is there risk in not embracing these fresh ideas and approaches to various communications processes? Absolutely. But as they say, with risk comes reward. Allow your team members to take a stab at a new strategy approach. Encourage those with innovative ideas to dive head first into trying an alternative measurement program. Foster and collaborate on a unique method for content development.
Process will ultimately follow with proven success but your window for action may be limited. Take action now. Develop process later.
Do you agree?
