The Creative Brainstorming Session – don’t try this at home …or at work!

“We’ll start our fun brainstorming session as soon as the other ten arrive.” Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Why brainstorming is the bane of copywriters and designers. 

As a humble copywriter and somewhat creative person, nothing scares me more than the words, “Let’s get together and brainstorm some ideas.”

And by “brainstorming” I’m not talking about getting ideas for next year’s Holiday party or different ways to solve a logistical problem. I’m talking about a meeting where everyone is supposed to come up with ideas for a new theme line or promotion or something else in the creative and marketing arena. 

The creative brainstorming session scares me because it means that I, the humble copywriter, must sit in a room full of strangers and mere acquaintances and in the space of an hour or two -- after many big sheets of paper filled with big thoughts have been tacked to the walls -- come up with a “great idea”. 

The good news: refreshments are usually served. The humble copywriter can always use a snack. 

More good news: at the end of this post the humble copywriter will share some ways to get good ideas out of your creatives without subjecting them to brainstorming sessions. 

There’s actual scientific evidence that brainstorming is ineffective.

No matter what the internet says, brainstorming doesn’t work. Here’s a good overview of why. Still not convinced? Then look at it this way: if you were about to have major surgery, would you invite your surgeon to come brainstorm some ideas with you, his office manager, and your pal who is a nurse?

A friend told me about a recent brainstorming session she attended where the Marketing Director would get all agitated and shout “No, we can’t do that!” or “That won’t work!” during the session until someone slipped a Zoloft into her water bottle. OK, I made that last part up. But the point is, here was the marketing person messing up the entire session. But what can you do? 

 The structure of the brainstorming session itself is unconducive to good ideas. 

The typical expectation in a one- or two-hour brainstorming session is that the “perfect answer” will be found. If the participants can’t come up with that theme line or a new approach in that time frame, then the session will be a failure and the Boss gets disappointed, thinking all of these people – especially the creatives -- are a bunch of incompetents.

The problem is most people are not accustomed to treading into the dark place called new ideas and so they come up with worn-out ideas. 

H2: The lonely world of the copywriter and designer.

One reason why brainstorming doesn’t work is that most of the participants haven’t been trained in what the humble copywriter calls “applied creativity”. That is, coming up with new, but practical solutions to what may be confounding, yet common, marketing problems. 

The people who can come up with good ideas are experienced and imaginative copywriters, designers, art directors, developers, and some marketing people. Usually, they do their brainstorming alone or with just one or two other trusted souls. 

If the humble copywriter does get stuck in a brainstorming session, I’m mostly listening. I’ll pick up on little things and write them down. But I won’t blurt them out. Instead, I keep it to myself and after the meeting, I develop the most applicable ideas and the rationale. Then later I present my best ideas – providing there is an opportunity to present them. 

In my experience, the best concepts came about when just me (the humble copywriter) and a good art director would be left alone for at least half a day to come up with ideas. During that time, we would even float bad ideas hoping that they may lead to reverse thinking some good ideas. I’ve also had good ideas come out of working in digital with developers who understood the product, the market, and the capabilities of their platform. 

What can you do instead of a brainstorm session?

Assuming you’re a marketing or salesperson, there are several things you can do to help your creative team. In the future, I’ll write about how to conduct a successful brain dump, but in the meantime, here are a few thoughts:

·      Be sure your creative team understands marketing and business. Seriously. Pretty designs and a clever way with words aren’t going to sell your products and make you a profit. 

·      Encourage your team to ask stupid questions. In fact, if they don’t ask stupid questions there might be something wrong. Are they intimidated? Or are they just not curious?  I always ask stupid questions and from that, I get amazing insights.

·      Give them all the info they need, but no more. Don’t throw reams of research or arcane technical specs at them. Do the homework and distill it down for them. 

·      Arrange interviews with your best salespeople. Quite often, the salespeople have a very different take compared to the official view. Good creative people can use that information. 

·      Help them navigate your bureaucracy. Too many important people wanting to make sure their points are included in a marketing piece can totally overwhelm the creative people and dilute the final product. 

·      Give them one point of contact who will be accessible. And make sure the contact is a senior person, not someone without authority or deep knowledge of the company and its players.

·      Keep the decision making down to as few people as possible.

·      Don’t be afraid to say “Yes!”.

I got yer good copywriting right here. 

Regardless of whether your organization is conservative or cutting-edge, you still need marketing communications that are both sparkling bright, conceptually sound, and on-target. 

That’s why you may want to contact me, the humble copywriter, for your copywriting. I work both freelance and remote part-time with variations on that. 

Right now, I’m doing lots of web content including blogs and emails. Please note, I take an active interest in making each page useful and memorable including content strategy and UX. And I’m currently adding more and more knowledge to my SEO experience. Of course, you may also need print pieces. Yep, I do that too, including long-form collateral. 

If you haven’t done so yet, check out some of my work right here on my website. 

·      High concept work: CIBAVision and Holiday Inn Express 

·      Web content (financial & insurance): VOYA 

·      Technical writing (long-form collateral) written for non-technical people: EEC 

·      Small business websites: Southland Development

·      Business promotion and emails: SuppliesOnTheFly.com

Then click on that little Let’s Talk button and let’s get going!