Autumn. It’s a time for cider donuts, foliage and crisp mornings – basically the stuff dreams are made of. But if you’re anything like us here at Peppercomm, autumn also means pre-holiday season brainstorming sessions. Many of our clients have holiday communications initiatives, and all of them want to stand out among their competitors in a season saturated with brand messages.
What ends up happening is both awesome and tiring all at once. Those of us who participate in brainstorms sit in (or lead) two or three hours of brainstorming per week. We find that Peppercommers love to attend brainstorms. It’s seen as a time in which you can step away from your to-do list and exercise that creative half of the brain. But with so many brainstorming sessions, sometimes it becomes necessary to make like a pumpkin latte and spice things up a little. Here are 3 tips for getting the most out of your autumn brainstorms:
1. Start with a tone-setting ice breaker. We on the Account Planning team love to come up with fun, engaging ways to get brainstormers’ brains thinking creatively. For example, a colleague of mine leading a recent brainstorm for a home sensor company started by dividing a house up into its different rooms, and asking us to invent products of the future in each room. I had the bathroom. Self-cleaning tiles, anyone?
2. Reverse the ‘quality over quantity’ mindset. In a brainstorm, one idea feeds off the one before it, even if it’s a bad idea. Obviously, no one should waste time by side-tracking the brainstorm, but if somebody’s idea makes you think of something else, even if it’s not fully developed, say it. It’s the job of a good brainstorm leader to take all the whacky, not-quite-doable ideas, and push them in a doable direction. He or she might follow up by saying something like, “OK, so if that idea costs a million dollars, what would a $500,000 version of it look like?
3. Write everything down. You wouldn’t believe how many times we’ve looked at the notes from a days-old brainstorm, and pulled themes, buckets, or new ideas from the madness. Sometimes a day or two of ripening turns those notes into something containing “the one.” Writing it all down allows you to see the flow of the conversation in a new way. It also allows brainstormers to refer back to an idea without having to re-explain it.
Happy brainstorming!
