Creativity - Let's put her back in the box

So I was watching Top Chef...

Clichés can be horrible things, they can really fix perceptions and force people to overlook the obvious.

I was watching Top Chef, because I like to cook and competition is fun when it involves knives. In this episode one competitor was given access to ingredients early and could choose anything he wanted. To his competitor's frustration, any ingredients he chose were then strictly off limits. The challenge was surf and turf and this chef chose lobster and Filet Mignon - truly earth shattering.  

Then it hit me...

The chefs that were given limitations, however minimal, had much deeper conviction in their choice of proteins. The first chef went pacing up and down the large industrial size refrigerator and could not make up his mind on what to choose.

He even commented that "the ingredients were not speaking to him" and that he basically could not find inspiration. Creativity was not coming to him. Instead it hit his competitors like bolts of lightening. Frogs and Muscles. Belly of Pork and Scallops. Suckling Pig and Shrimp. Pork and Eel.  

Put creativity in a box...

Let's be honest boxes can be cute. Creativity is all about working within them. Creativity has nothing to do with leaving the box, that would be cheating. Innovation is about answering the questions - what can I do with the tools I'm given? How can I use these resources more effectively?

Raw material is limited, solutions are unlimited. Don't work outside the box, just rearrange the inside by giving yourself limitations to guide inspiration. 

Provide yourself artificial limitations...

I would argue that companies, for example, that have smaller marketing budgets have to be more creative and can dream up much more inventive ways to achieve results with less. This means you have to give yourself reasonable limitations to really come up with creative results. Once you make decisions on how you will be limiting yourself, you have effectively limited down the infinite possibilities and allowed yourself to simplify and focus on only those that apply. You can develop a strategically innovative mind by knowing when to limit yourself, hold yourself back in ways that frustrates you. Frustration and need is the mother of all inventions, they do say.

Here is a great TED talk the incapsulates everything very perfectly. Making art within limitation, makes for new never-before-seen results. Embrace the limitations!

MUST WATCH TED VIDEO

Because it is very insightful and revealing. Trust me, you'll thank me when you're finished. 

http://www.ted.com Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West -- and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another.

Coke's Share Can - Half the size, Twice the happiness

**IF ANYTHING, Skip down and watch the TED video below in its entirety - it's amazing!​

Have you seen Coke's ingenious new share can - I would argue its quite the marketing miracle. Think about it, customers get half the amount of coke they usually receive and in return they get this hard-to-measure thing called "2x the happiness". Customers are giving up something in return for what? Here's the video

For years, Coke has encouraged people to share happiness-and has given them lots of surprising ways to share a Coke. This time, they've taken the classic Coca-Cola 330ml can and designed it for two persons. Twist, turn and share-"yes", the Coca-Cola can itself.

This concept I think well demonstrates how marketing is uniquely equipped to deal with an ever growing world with increasingly strapped resources. The intangible value added into the Coke Share Can is something that costs no extra money or resources - and yet the customer in the end is much more content with the user experience. Mathematically, Coca Cola is cleverly giving you the same - if not more - satisfaction for half the amount of product (which in the end is better for the world, I would argue - making us appreciate more while consuming less).

What placebo effect? - a good marketer would argue (as you'll see in the TED video below). If the customer in the end is more satisfied with the product isn't that better? If not, what is the customer really looking for then? There is nothing inherently wrong with added value, although sometimes it can get a bad rap.

I think we need to remind ourselves that marketing is not and should not be in the business of deceiving customers (Mad Men style). Marketing is ultimately in the business of creating additional value ​in our lives - hopefully so we can all live just a little bit richer. Don't believe me?  Watch the video below - it's one of my all time favorite TED videos - a must watch!

http://www.ted.com Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider real value -- and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.

I highly recommend you watch the above video