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Ideas on Creativity for Executives in Marketing, Communications and Public Relations Issue 9 – March 2006
“There is no use trying,” said Alice; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
— Lewis Carroll, from Through the Looking Glass (1871)
One of the ways I like to start my creativity classes is to show two photographs of a ‘coat hanger’ – the first, a common wire clothes hanger, and the second, the Sydney Harbour Bridge (often called ‘the coat hanger’ by
Australians because of its shape.) I ask which idea is more creative, and why? After a few entertaining moments discussing the purpose of an idea and its creative context, someone eventually asks the question: so where do ideas come from?
Any conversation about creativity ultimately comes down to its core element, the idea – just like a conversation about chemistry is reduced down to its core element, the atom. Like chemistry, it’s good to have a solid foundation of theory. However, the only element of creative philosophy that most people care about is the idea.
It’s a task we ‘do’ at work every now and then, whether we know it or not, whether we know how to do it or not.
Have you ever thought about where an idea comes from ? How do you make an idea? There’s certainly a lot of discussion about where ideas come from among creative experts, book authors and the like. Many provide easy brainstorm exercises to help you create ideas, but what good are the exercises if you don’t understand what elements are needed to make an idea? As if we were going to make our favorite meal for dinner, it would be helpful to have a list of ingredients and a recipe so we knew how to make ideas during a brainstorm.
I asked several experts (who also happen to be friends or colleagues) for their opinion. My doctor said ideas come from the brain, generated in the central frontal lobe of the brain – just about the right eye, to be precise.
A friend who is an architectural engineer said ideas come from technical improvements and advancements in science. The anthropologist who lives next door to me said ideas come from stimulus diffusion, or one culture building upon the ideas and innovations of another culture. A friend who’s a successful painter believes ideas come after intense thought and soul-searching. My counterpart at our advertising division Y&R said ideas come from a deep understanding of consumers and their desires. My friend Hertha, who runs Burson-Marsteller’s worldwide knowledge network (and who is maddeningly impossible to stump on questions like this) said ideas come from knowledge. Ever the pragmatist, my barber said ideas come from hard work.
Actually, everyone is 100% correct. Among these different answers are common elements needed to make an idea. They aren’t necessarily specific ingredients, like butter or sugar in a cake recipe. They’re more like kitchen utensils – tools needed to help make the idea itself. Interestingly, each item begins with the letter ‘I.’
– the combination of all of your knowledge and information about everything and anything.
Put another way, it’s everything you’ve ever learnt or experienced, captured inside your brain. You tap this significant wealth of intelligence to make ideas. To retain and improve your creativity, you must continue to be curious and learn new things. But don’t let your intelligence become arrogant or stagnant – both of which are lethal to creativity.
– your ability to imagine everything that’s possible and beyond.
Intelligence is about yesterday or today. Imagination is about the future. It’s a mental vision or picture of what might or could be. As a skill, it’s more commonly known as daydreaming. Sadly, most people associate daydreaming with inactivity or laziness – lying at the peak of a grassy hill, staring at the birds flying through clear skies. I prefer the pro-active kind of daydreaming at work where there’s active consideration and reflection of an existing or future business situation.

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– the isolation of a singular kernel of truth or understanding about a particular topic.
Insight comes after two important steps in the ideation process: observation and discovery (a thorough examination of the need or problem, background or history, the perceptions of the people who might use the idea), and obsession
(an intense pre-occupation with the problem, often when not directly engaged with the problem). Typically, the insight is a comparison or similarity between the goal (your need or problem) and another concept, idea or possibility – more accurately called a metaphor or an analogy. 1
– the combination of several people’s imaginations.
Think of the cliché ‘two heads are better than one.’ While it’s not impossible to brainstorm alone, it’s simply more effective if the imaginative power of many people are leveraged at the same time. By sharing individual ideas as well as energy, compatible ideas from different points of view can be combined and merged into bigger and more successful ideas. It’s no fluke that most of the world’s greatest inventions are the work of two or more people working together, often from different backgrounds.
– your unwavering relentless desire to create ideas.
It’s no secret creating good ideas is hard work, and it’s one task we sadly don’t always apply adequate time. We brainstorm for a short amount of time, and typically come up with a shorter list of ideas. If we apply the 90-10 Rule (90 percent of the brainstorm ideas are bad, but 10 percent of the ideas are good), it should be obvious that more ideas will yield more good ideas . It’s pushing beyond the average toward unique, risky and compelling ideas – and that doesn’t occur in five minutes.
– yes, one of the tools needed to create ideas is … ideas.
It may sound strange but it’s true. At its essence, an idea is simply one possible solution to a given need or problem. You’ve been making ideas, both good and bad, for thousands of other problems for exactly the same length of time you’ve been on Earth. When you brainstorm ideas, you’re really taking all of those other ideas you’ve already thought of, and using them to solve another (entirely unrelated) problem in front of you right now.
– the flash of brilliance, the electric spark of AHA! that comes when the first six elements ‘combust.’
Different people describe the moment of inspiration differently, but more often than not, it happens when the problem-solver least expects it, like in the shower, driving the car to work, or when it wakes you in the middle of night. It’s a spontaneous moment, occurring by serendipity, fate, change, luck or accident.
Given these specific utensils, we need a recipe – a formula or equation – to follow to make an idea. The one I prefer is not exactly a recipe handed down to me from my Grandmother, but she’d like the simplicity nonetheless. I created it from two points-of-view, one old and one new. James Webb Young, a creative director at J.W. Thompson in the 1920s, said: An idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements.
An online education course on creative thinking used this definition: an idea is two divergent thought elements
(which) come together to produce a new idea, one that is fresh, different and unique from the original sources.
It goes on to say an idea is about linking two diverse truths to create a new truth .
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These two quotes give us our ‘Idea Recipe.’ To make an idea, you simply combine two ‘ingredients’ together:
The Goal is one of two things: 1) your need or wish – something you want, or 2) your problem or issue – something you want to eliminate, to get to your Goal. Sometimes they’re both.
Whether you realize it or not, once the brain knows the Goal, it looks to any other Concept – essentially any other idea you’ve used for another problem – as a possible solution to solve this wish or problem. Sometimes it’s a similar problem, but more often, it’s a Concept which you’d never immediately associate with your Goal.
Or, sometimes it’s something which triggers or stimulates your imagination, like a word or picture.
1. A metaphor is a phrase or figure of speech that compares two things, either making an implied comparison or representing the second item as a symbol. ‘All the world’s a stage’ (William Shakespeare) is an example. Similar to a metaphor, an analogy is finding the similarity between two items or things which are otherwise dissimilar. Certain types of metaphors (called a simile) compare two unlike items specifically using the words ‘like’ or ‘as.’ For example, ‘ comfortable as an old shoe.’ Or, ‘ Like sands through an hourglass, so are The Days of Our Lives ,’ courtesy of the eponymous television show.
2. “Brainstorming and Promoting Creative Thinking.” Skillsoft Online Education. 2002.

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Confused? Let’s look to great historical inventions to show you how it works.
Perhaps as early as 2600 BC, Chinese farmers needed a way to keep track of their sheep while out in the fields.
Using small stones from a river bed, the farmers used a single pebble as a symbol for each animal, lining the rocks on the ground to note their location. This idea worked well, except it wasn’t practical to move when the flocks moved from field to field. To make the system portable, the farmers created a small wooden frame, replacing the stones with wood beads, and the lines on the ground with silk fibers (later wire). They essentially created the world’s first calculator, also known as the abacus.
Goal
+ Concept
= New Idea
To track sheep in the fields
Stones in ordered lines to represent the sheep
An abacus
Another?
In the 1850s, Samuel Morse couldn’t find an efficient way to keep an electric signal strong enough to travel from the East to the West Coast of the United States. On a cross-country expedition, he saw horses being exchanged at one of the many relay stations between St. Louis and San Francisco. He instantly realized he could create the same type of ‘relay station’ along an electrical path to keep the electrical signal consistent from end to end.
Goal To keep an electrical signal strong over a long distance
+ Concept
= New Idea
Tired horses replaced with fresh ones at key points along a path
Electrical relay stations
The examples are amazing, endless and often hilarious.
• James Watt noticed steam escaping from a teapot and wondered if steam could be harnessed in a way for transportation. He not only created the first engine which didn’t rely upon human or animal energy, but the invention itself started the Industrial Revolution.
• Another revolution was created because Earle Dickson had a lovely but clumsy wife. Tending to a cut on her hand from a kitchen knife,
Dickson only had wide surgical tape and large gauze pads from his employer, Johnson & Johnson. They were much too large for his wife’s dainty hands, so Dickson cut down both gauze and tape into small pieces suitable for a finger cut. The Band-Aid was born.
• In the late 1940s, research engineer Helen Barnett Diserens was searching for a new way to apply deodorant to under-arms. A colleague showed her an exciting new invention sweeping the country: the ball-point pen. Immediately taken with the simple mechanics of a tiny ball trapping a reservoir of ink, she re-created them on a larger scale, creating the first roll-on antiperspirant.
• Raking fallen leaves in his backyard, Alexander Liepa was thinking crazy thoughts: if he could stack the leaves on top of each other in neat piles, he’d save on rubbish bags! His crazy idea turned out to be extremely profitable – but for a different Concept. Do you recognize the theory of “stacked leaves” as the impetus for Pringles potato chips?
• The Jacuzzi Brothers manufactured pumps for the aviation and agricultural industries. One day, a friend asked the Jacuzzis to help his son who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. Using a farm machinery pump, they created a portable version which could be placed in water in a common bathtub, creating the first whirlpool spa and a cultural revolution of a different kind.
Nature is an excellent source of potential ideas. The same is true of man-made achievements: either scientific or artistic improvements are good sources for Concepts to merge with your
Goals.
Notice how Dickson and Diserens created their ideas in opposite ways. To create Band-Aids,
Dickson took the Concept of gauze and tape and reduced it in size to create the New Idea.
Diserens increased the size of the pen’s ball-point mechanism to create the roll-on. Sometimes you alter the Concept’s features, attributes or purpose to create the New Idea.
Notice how Pringles and the
Jacuzzi bath were invented backwards. The inventors in both cases already had their
Concept. Liepa used the Concept of stacked leaves to create a need.
The Jacuzzis used their Concept to re-define the Goal. In other words, how could they find a new market for their existing products?

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Do you notice that in each example, there is an area of similarity between the Goal and the Concept? This area of similarity is the metaphor which I mentioned earlier. Our ability to see connections, common areas, or parallels between two different items causes the ‘spark’ of the ‘AHA!’ which people exclaim when they’ve invented something new. (See the SIDEBAR below for an amusing side note.)
Sometimes the similarities are obvious, basic or usual; other times they’re surprising, unusual and entirely unrelated. In Dickson’s example, there’s not much difference between the Goal (wound) and the Concept
(gauze and tape). In hindsight, it seems like a very obvious idea to make a Band-Aid. Of course, Johnson &
Johnson are exceptionally happy they thought of it first.
In Diserens’ example, the Goal (deodorant application) and Concept (ball-point pen) have little to do with each other at first glance. But Diserens saw the metaphor: it was the mechanics of one Concept which could be applied to another. The same is true with the Jacuzzi bath. Farm machinery pumps and a bathtub have little in common until you see the metaphor of the pump pushing air, or the pump pushing water. Same Concept, different application. Ditto for Watt and Liepa. If you were brainstorming ideas for a new form of energy, would you immediately think of tea kettles? And if you want to make a new type of potato chip, would you think of gardening? In each case, the inventor saw a metaphor between two completely unrelated items, and used it to create a brilliant, new idea.
Fascinating examples perhaps, but they’re useless unless you can apply these tools and recipes to making better ideas. So, here are some basic tips for you to consider and try in your next brainstorm.
Then, search for a metaphor or analogy in an completely different industry, category or field.
Books, magazines, photographs, an at-hand internet connection, pens and colors, toys, words from a dictionary. For instance, pick any magazine filled with pictures or photographs. Flick through page by page, and use anything you see as a Concept to combine with your Goal.
Use Concepts which are peculiar, odd, strange, adventuresome, outlandish or crazy. It’s not to say that merging obvious or similar elements won’t create ‘Big Ideas’ (such as Band-Aids), but you can probably imagine that ground-breaking ideas tend to come from unusual Concepts.
閃 !
Archimedes
We might not know what an idea is, but we certainly know when we find it. “AHA!” is a frequent cry of delight for those who speak English. The
Spanish say “I have an idea” as se me encendio la luz which literally means
“my light bulb went on.” The Japanese exclaim Hirameita!
(“I have a great idea!”) which uses the character hirameki ” 閃 ” which if you look closely represents a person opening a door as a metaphor for discovery.
The Koreans say Gu Bun i O Shio So Yo which means “He came to me (my brain)” which may or may not refer to God, and which may or may explain why the French say j'ai une illumination loosely meaning “I have a bright light coming to me.”
The Greeks of course provided us with the most common exclamation, thanks to Archimedes, the brilliant mathematician and physicist.
Archimedes was asked by his king to determine if goldsmiths had cheated him by making a gold crown out of less than 100% gold. He struggled with the puzzle until the answer came to him in a blind flash of inspiration: while he was taking his evening bath. He noticed when he lowered himself into the bathtub, the water rose in direct proportion to his own weight. If true, this meant he could submerge the finished crown in water and compare the displaced water to an equal weight of gold versus gold substitutes.
Imagine with me his excitement as he leapt naked from his tub – well, let’s not imagine that – as he shouted Eureka!
, which is appropriately
Greek for “I have found it!”

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The merger of the two elements takes a bit of good old fashioned imagination to combine and create a fresh element. If one Concept doesn’t work, discard it and try another … and another. As it says on any shampoo bottle: Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Bad combinations are part of the brainstorm process. Go for quantity, not quality. The more ideas you create, the more good ideas you also create. That’s why you also …
Someone else may use your bad idea to create a good idea. Remember, the Post-It Note from 3M was created because the first scientist created a glue which didn’t stick very well. A second scientist found it worked perfectly for semi-permanent notes. This is why you should always be wary of, open to, or willing to create accidental combinations.
And that’s how you make an idea – using ingredients, utensils and a recipe.
Food for thought, wouldn’t you say?
Š Š Š
Best regards,
Andy Eklund
Regional Creative Director and Managing Director
Burson-Marsteller Asia Pacific
All trademarks noted in this point-of-view are owned by their respective corporations.
All creative@work points-of-view can be found at http://www.burson-marsteller.com/pages/insights/povs
Burson-Marsteller is one of the largest communications advisory and public relations firms in the world, and proudly holds an unrivalled track record in Asia Pacific. With its first office in Asia more than 30 years ago, Burson-Marsteller
Asia Pacific twice in the last four years received PR Week’s ‘Asia Pacific Agency Network of the Year’ Award. Burson-
Marsteller Asia Pacific has 25 offices in 14 countries throughout Asia, Australasia and the Middle East.
About the Author
Based in Sydney, Australia, Andy Eklund serves two capacities for Burson-Marsteller Asia Pacific: as regional creative director for client services, and as managing director of training for Burson-Marsteller
University Asia Pacific. Formerly Burson-Marsteller’s worldwide creative director, Andy has taught more than 500+ communications skills workshops in 20 countries.
If you would like more information on creativity, innovation or communications training, please contact Andy directly at andy_eklund@bm.com, or at +61 (2) 9928 1500.
© 2006 Burson-Marsteller