Coopr Academy session #3 – Creativity and brainstorming
From a fountain that spits chocolate sparkles to a pop-up store that serves #SpecialSandwiches. Creativity means different things to different people and it can be used in all types of organisations and industries. But what is creativity in PR? And how do you translate the strategy into creativity?
During our third meeting at the Coopr Academy, Shelly, Arusha, and Dorieke channelled our inner creative souls by enlightening us about everything there is to know about creative thinking and brainstorming.
When it comes to creative thinking, I used to have this image in mind of a room filled with a team of creative gods and goddesses whose capabilities of innovation and thinking outside the box were close to being mystical. Yet, as we learned, everyone can be creative and part of this process.
Today’s best creative minds are increasingly relying on the art of picking someone’s brain to give an answer to the problems that need to be solved. Building an organizational culture where creativity can thrive requires the ability to strengthen trust with and between team members.
After all, the greatest enemy your ideas have are you and your surroundings. It therefore should come as no surprise that self-censorship is considered to be the highest crime against creativity. In other words, the lesson we learned was to stop putting ideas of our own to death and to start listening to our gut instinct instead.
With this in mind, creativity can be defined as the abilities to make new things, think of new ideas and to be innovative. All with the purpose being to generate ideas and solve problems. And that is why, at the start of the evening, we got together in small groups to try to find something we had in common.
Not only did this exercise allow us to get to know each other a bit better, but it also underlined the importance of brainstorming – a crucial part of the creative process at Coopr. Brainstorming is a way for people to stimulate each other’s creativity and ultimately to produce a flipchart full of lines and ideas.
This can especially be helpful when trying to find ‘the next big thing’ for a new campaign or slogan, with a variety of brainstorming techniques that can be used to start seeing things from a different perspective.
To complete the circle, after having discussed a couple of inspiring and fascinating case studies, we found ourselves in groups of four people again. This time to actually apply the theories and principles on a case Coopr once worked on for a client.
By using brainstorming techniques, such as brainwriting and negative brainstorming, creativity does not have to be chaotic. Simply keep in mind not to criticize or judge colleagues and allow them to speak up and express themselves. A well-executed brainstorm session can be incredibly rewarding as some ideas can actually turn into winning campaign pitches.
Looking forward to the next session!
Jeroen
