When I say “Brainstorm” do you automatically imagine a group of people, a whiteboard and some Post-It Notes? Because solo creators can (and should) brainstorm with the best of ‘em. So whether quarantine has caused you to go solo, you’re sick of Zoom or you just need a little inspiration, here are 7 brainstorming activities you can do to come up with Tongal pitch-winning concepts… all by yourself.
1. Zero Draft
This free writing exercise will help you bust through the blank page and get your brain in idea mode. It’s as simple as “stop thinking and start writing.” Don’t try to come up with an idea just yet. Just start writing everything you know and need to know about the project.
Let’s pretend the brief is to come up with an idea to help launch a new soft drink, Soda X. You might start with things like:
What does it taste like? What does it look like? How does it make you feel? What does it remind you of? Do you have any opinions or first impressions about the product or brand (even negative)? Who is our competition? How are we different? Why should people believe us? Who is the target audience/who should drink it? What do we know about them? How will we reach them? How will we get them to believe us? etc…
As you go along, write down questions about anything you still need to know. Chances are your audience will have some of the same questions.
Sometimes the act of free writing alone is enough to get the ideas flowing. But once you’ve finished writing, go back through and start ideating creative ways to answer the questions you’ve written down.
For Soda X, let’s say you’ve written that you’re creating a video showing music fans that Soda X tastes like bubblegum. What are some creative ways we can bring that to life? Maybe it’s a taste test at a music festival shot docu-style or a music video shot with a bubblegum pop aesthetic, or something that’s yet to be thought of.
2. 10(0) Ideas in 10 Minutes
Here’s another way to unclog your brain and get out of your own way. Similar to free writing, this is free-ideating. So, set your timer and stop thinking. Challenge yourself to come up with as many ideas as you can in 10 minutes. We’re looking for quantity over quality here – so don’t worry whether the ideas are bad or good. In fact, don’t even think about it!
At the end of 10 minutes, go back and read through your list. Are there any ideas that jump out at you? Anything that you can refine and make work? Are there any recurring themes that you can find within the ideas that inspire you to explore further?
3. Questioning Assumptions
Every industry has an unspoken set of beliefs (and cliches) everyone follows. This exercise will help you do things differently than everyone else by flipping popular assumptions on their head. It’s helpful for all aspects of the process from big campaign ideas to a single social media post.
Make a list of 10-15 assumptions you have about the project – true or false. This can include industry cliches, cultural beliefs, and your personal feelings. Then, take each of these and try to flip them on their head, as a way to generate new thought starters and ideas.
For example, what comes to mind when I say a major drugstore beauty brand is launching a new long-wear foundation?
Some assumptions you might write down include:
-Arm swatching to show the shades
-Highly photoshopped celebrities and models (unrealistic beauty standards)
-Beauty Influencers
-YouTube tutorials (by influencers)
-Serious, luxurious tone
Now, take that list and question each assumption – is this a trend you want to lean in to or flip on its head? How can you make these things unique to you?
-Arm swatching -- is there another creative way to show the range of colors besides on the arm?
-Highly photoshopped celebrities -- do you choose to go unretouched or feature real people or flaws?
-Beauty influencers -- do you feature real people or influencers outside of the beauty sphere (maybe those who might benefit from the foundation’s longevity)?
-YouTube Tutorials -- tutorials are highly searched for on YouTube, but is there a new spin on a beauty tutorial that you haven’t seen yet?
-Serious, luxurious tone -- is there an opportunity for humor or silliness? Can you embrace the “dupe” mentality and lean into the drugstore price point?
4. What’s Trending?
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, why not tap into cultural trends to inspire new concepts? Make a list of popular trends that have nothing to do with your industry. Look at what’s trending on Twitter, use Think With Google tools, and/or just think about what everyone is talking about in your own life and online – movies, TV, music, etc. A “trend” can even be as simple as a video or meme you liked.
Here’s a list of current trends to get you started:
-Masks (and PPE)
-Inclusion and diversity
-Loungewear is the new Work Wear
-Pink hair (apparently there’s been a surge in women dying their hair pink in quarantine)
-Parents doing double duty (parenting-teaching-work)
-Summer
Take a few minutes to brainstorm how you can tap into each trend for your project. Whether it’s as simple as a meme that lets you join the conversation or a full-scale product launch, you’ll be surprised at the random connections you’ll come up with.
5. What Will Get You Fired?
Trying to come up with a “big idea” is the best way to block up your creativity. So, allow me to take the pressure off. This is your permission to come up with bad ideas. Go ahead, do your worst – the cheesy, controversial, slightly illegal, stupid, terrible, never-in-a-million-years, BAD ideas.
They say a lot of bad ideas have the seeds of good ones. So, try to find the good in what you’ve got. What is the opposite of your bad idea? Is there an aspect of the idea that can be used to inspire a good one? Where did this bad idea stem from?
Any ideas yet? Either way, you’ll have a few laughs and it might lead to some unexpected connections.
6. Tagline First
Give your un-thought-of concept a catchy name and then use that to inform what the idea actually is. Start with a simple word banking exercise: compile a list of keywords that describe the benefits of your product, consumer needs, and synonyms of everything you want to say. The thesaurus is your friend here! Next combine some of these keywords to form a few catchy names – whether it’s a video title, headline or tagline, new product name, etc… Now that you have the concept names, try to back into the idea. Write the script that fits a video name, a campaign manifesto to fit the tagline, and so on.
7. Get Visual
Sometimes words aren’t enough, and you need to see your ideas for them to come to life. Search keywords on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and Vimeo, and create a mood board of images and videos that convey the potential aesthetic(s) you’re going for. Sometimes a single image or video will spark an idea, or at the very least, you’ll have a look and feel once your project is off the ground.
When all else fails, go do something else. Unplug and take a walk or a shower. Ideas will hit you when you least expect it.
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Note From Tongal: "7 Ideas for Brainstorming Killer Concepts" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
