A workshop designed to illustrate and inform about the role creativity plays in working with technology to attain effective marketing

1. Creativity & Technology:
Learning to Play Well in the
Internet Sandbox
A Workshop Presented to
National Space and Technology Association
(NSTA)
April 6, 2011
by
Joe Fournet and Troy Burwell
copyright 2011 Ideas & MORE, all rights reserved
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2. What we’ll be chattn’ about
What is creativity
Power of ideas
Driving traffic to your web site
Which comes first: Design or Content
How do search engines and SEO figure into this
E-mail campaign - what makes for effective one
But, wait, there’s more
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3. S’more chat and some fun . . .
Capturing creativity when you don’t have
an iPad
Presenting the iKit
Warp Speed Thinking
Drill down technique
Idea Tub
Creative environment
Things to ponder & Wrap up
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4. Creativity & Technology
C re a t i v it y a n d Te c h n ol ogy can co-exist.
Te ch n ol o gy seems all about execution
a n d c o ol results (think iPhone).
Cr e a tivity seems all about
t hought and co ncepts.
S o , w h a t ’s t h i s c re a tivity stuff?
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5. What is creativity?
Crea tivity is the spark - the spark that
ignites what you say and how you say it.
Or what you do and how you do it.
We’ ll explore thought, the power of the
mind and of ideas, and how they must
play well w ith technol ogy for effective
Inter net ma rketing – the cyber sandbox
if you will.
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6. What does creativity mean to you?
OK, who wants to be first?
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7. Creativity Insights
Creativity is a state of mind
when the mind has fun, creativity is boundless
Creativity occurs when people perceive there are no limits.
Creativity can be defined as the ability to see, feel, touch,
think and imagine what one has not seen, felt, touched,
thought or imagined before.
Creativity – the sudden cessation of stupidity.
“Intelligence having fun.”
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8. You’re creative if . . .
You have the ability to challenge your own
imagination and stimulate thoughts to lead you to
a new level of solution.
Each one of us represents a different perspective, a
different creative slant.
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9. No Guarantees
There is no one thing you can do that will
guarantee results. Results can best be gauged
and marketing success can best be measured
through a mix of efforts.
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10. Power of Ideas
Don’t underestimate them.
Simplest idea, creatively and smartly executed, can differentiate the
forgettable from the memorable.
A mix of logic and magic.
For best results, ideas should be media and discipline neutral.
No boundaries, no limitations.
Don’t just think FaceBook or Twitter; think much broader.
Companies should only care about two things: How to make the
idea work and be relevant.
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11. Power of Ideas
Never fall in love with your idea!
Why?
There’s always a better one
around the corner.
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12. Creativity’s Cardinal Rules
Don’t ever underestimate the power of
your mind or imagination.
In order to innovate or create, move
beyond the conventional.
Don’t be afraid to ask . . .
“why, why not, or what if?”
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13. Driving Traffic to Your Site
Which comes first:
Design or Content?
OK, who thinks what?
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14. Search Engines & SEO
Search Engine
A service which collects web pages
and provides a search database of
collected files based on relevance.
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15. Search Engines & SEO
Search engines exist for one reason:
To provide the most relevant search
results as fast as possible
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16. Search Engines & SEO
SEO - Search Engine Optimization
The use of on-page and off-page
elements to improve natural or
organic placement with search engines
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17. Search Engines & SEO
SEO is:
Going fishing
from the eyes
of the fish
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18. Email Campaigns
What makes for an effective email?
Intriguing (better than interesting) and relatively
short subject line
Personalization
Grabber of a headline - ties in with subject line
Enticing image or visual + alt tag
Don’t forget the TEXT version
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19. A Syndicate Sample
Sample emails designed to promote the
blogs of Marketing Syndicate:
Once Upon a Time
Syndicate Squares
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20. Intermission
This is a time out.
Rest your genius for a bit.
Joe and Troy will return.
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21. Capturing Creativity
How do you
do that
when you
don’t have an iPad?
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22. Presenting the iKit
Ye Olde Creativity Survival Kit:
Makes you feel creative, think creatively
Warp Speed Thinking
Drill Down
Idea Tub
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23. Warp Speed Thinking
Generating ideas at breakneck speed by
capturing one idea (single word or two or
phrase) per Post-it Note in answering
simple question to solve a problem.
How to increase NSTA’s awareness?
No time to analyze or judge
Strive for 50 ideas in 5 minutes
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24. Drill Down Technique
Trying to hit THE idea from a different perspective
Select 5 best ideas from Post-its -- Discard
Select 5 more
Discard
Select ideas until you’re down to one.
Is it the best one? It may be the hidden gem.
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25. Idea Wall & Idea Tub
Idea Wall - anywhere your Post-it Note
ideas can gather together in one place
Idea Tub - physical place, thing or
electronic file where all ideas ever
submitted are collected and organized in a
manner that’s easily accessible
Remember: Bad ideas are forgotten; good
ones need storage
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26. Creative Environment
Don’t manage creativity; manage FOR
creativity
Environment must be open and receptive
to new ideas
Be prepared to take risks
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27. Pretty Gutsy Quote
“So it comes with being daring that
you're going to screw up. But I'd rather
apologize than to be so timid as to not try
and do anything smart or brave.”
-- Lee Clow
Worldwide Creative Director
TBWA/ChiatDay
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28. Failure is an option
Have the courage and guts to accept failure. Build it into your
culture as part of the process; don’t ridicule it, but honor and
embrace it.
Adopt Pixar Studios’ “suckless mentality”.
How we work, how we execute.
When presented with something that doesn’t quite measure
up, be lighthearted.
Say something like “Gee, that really sucks. However, if
your tried this or that, it might suck less.”
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29. Be like Harley
“Creativity as a weapon of business is under-leveraged
not for lack of ideas, but for lack of courage to use them or
refusal to give up on them. The phrase, ‘We don’t have time
for creativity,’ is not something you would ever hear in the
most successful businesses.”
-- Mark-hans Richer, SVP/CMO
Harley-Davidson
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30. Don’t Let Execution Bury Idea
An idea is only as good as its execution.
Plenty of good ideas have been trounced because
execution sucked or some decision maker didn’t have
the courage to stay true to it.
The computer and software are just tools to enhance
the idea, not to compete with, replace, or screw it up.
If you don’t have an iPad, be able to jot down your
thoughts on paper or the infamous cocktail napkin.
Low-tech or soft-tech still works in high-tech world
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31. Oddball Observation #1
Recognize that the key to doing great creative (or robust
thinking) isn’t always thinking outside the box. It’s often
finding something no one has done before inside the box.
Don’t assume everything has already been tried before. Even if
it has, maybe it hasn’t been tried this way. Or, just take the
approach there is no box.
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32. Oddball Observation #2
The key to accomplishing
anything great
is being too stupid to realize
it can’t be done.
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33. Oddball Observation #3
There will be mistakes made.
According to Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle:
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
copyright 2011 Ideas & MORE, all rights reserved
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34. Thank You!!
Please send your donations to:
Joe Fournet Troy Burwell
Ideas & MORE 4 Guys Interactive
www.ideasnmore.net www.4guys.com
j4net@ideasnmore.net troy@4guys.com
281-980-1802 281-807-4344
copyright 2011 Ideas & MORE, all rights reserved
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