"Creativity in PR" by A. Green chapter 6 "Greenlight thinking. Brainstorming"
1. Lomonosov Moscow State University
Faculty of Foreign Languages and
Area Studies
“Creativity in Public
Relations” by A. Green
Chapter 6. Greenlight
thinking brainstorming
Fulfilled: Antonova Anastasia
2. Brainstorming
The word ‘brainstorming’ is
often used as an umbrella
term to describe the process
of being creative. In the
context of this book, the word
is solely concerned with
describing a formal group
technique to generate new
ideas.
3. The rules of brainstorming
- Brainstormers are placed in an informal setting.
- Brainstormers are encouraged to run wild
intellectually.
- No one should criticize anyone else’s idea.
- The more unusual or crazy the idea the better.
-The more suggestions the better.
- Ideas can be combined and
recombined.
-All brainstormers’ views are
sought.
-All brainstormers are of equal
status.
4. The advantages of Osborn’s
style of brainstorming
- Time and effort arises from several people and therefore
there is access to more information and skill.
- More ideas and more varied ideas are likely to be
generated.
- Errors are more likely to be detected as more than one
person is involved.
- By involving individual team members, brainstorming
increases their commitment to any subsequent decisions.
- Brainstorming avoids the ‘tepid water syndrome’ (or
what we have earlier called ‘Brown Light thinking’).
5. Brainstorming has
considerable value outside
the arena of creativity
- enabling someone to overcome any personal anxieties
about being creative by providing a means to involve
other people, who can share the problem;
- team building and staff development, because it provides
the opportunity for members of a public relations team
and different grades of staff to work together;
- acceptance of an idea by participation;
- formally putting creativity on other people’s timetables:
if a group of people is ‘ordinarily’ asked to come up with
ideas, only one or two tend to make a serious
contribution; the others either never get around to it or
only put in a half-hearted effort;
7. Step 1:
A senior manager analyses the brief
The senior member works through the structured elements
Situation: the task is described and put into context. The key outcome is
stated as clearly as possible.
Problems: what problems are raised by the brief that need solving?
Objectives: what you want to achieve. Identify any new issues, adding
further objectives as necessary.
Audiences: the different groups you need to reach. You can be creative
either by extending the number of target groups, or by being more
specific and targeted.
8. Step 1:
A senior manager analyses the brief
Messages: what you need to say. Examine how
you can come up with new themes, messages and
points of view.
Channels: the different communication routes to
your audiences.
Opportunities: specific events or topical issues
that could be used to advantage
9. Step 1:
A senior manager analyses the brief
Threats: what could emerge to undermine your
Resources: don’t just assume your resources. Is
there any sponsorship to provide more income?
Program: distil all the ideas into a coherent
campaign, with deadlines.
Evaluation: think up benchmarks and measures,
working creatively.
Illustration: what ideas will help to sell the
program?
10. Step 2:
Criteria are established
Step 3:
An initial plan is
devised
Use Red Light thinking to
establish criteria for
evaluating ideas.
An initial plan is drafted as
a proposal for action. If you
need more ideas, circulate
the draft to colleagues
before the brainstorming
session. They should read
the draft as soon as possible,
so as to capitalize on their
incubation of ideas.
11. Steps 4 and 5:
Green Light thinking -brainstorming
session
Only at this stage should a brainstorming session
be prepared for. You will ideally need a flipchart
per group of three or four people, a variety of
colored pens, and a set of red and green cards.
Hold the session in a room that accommodates
everyone in comfort, offers privacy, is free from
distractions, and away from interruptions such as
telephones
12. Steps 4 and 5:
Green Light thinking
brainstorming session
- Timing is important.
- get people into a relaxed state of mind.
- The brainstorming session should have a clear
structure.
- Have a Cheerleader to encourage and exhort the
group, and to stay alert to any ‘wallflowers’ in order
to make sure they participate fully.
- The Scribe notes down all suggestions made.
- At the outset, you should set a strict time limit and
stick to it. The whole meeting can be completed in
around 25 minutes.
13. Step 6:
A day later collect any further
ideas
Next day, the coordinator follows up with each
participant and asks everyone to note down in no
more than 30 seconds – in order not to take up
too much time – any other ideas that have
emerged since the structured brainstorm.
14. Step 7: Red
Light thinking –
evaluating and
judging
ideas
Place the criteria alongside the ideas
noted. Rather than subjectively
evaluating individual ideas, the criteria
help to introduce an objective
appraisal.
Step 8:
Establish the
plan
Now establish a program using some of the
ideas. Include deadlines and measures of
success. Give a copy
of the program to everyone who took part in
the original brainstorm, in
order to provide feedback on their input.
Step 9:Gain
acceptance
The illustration stage of the creative process
is brought into play as it is vital to gain
acceptance from those affected by the
proposed solution.
16. ’60-second soapbox’.
This consists of giving every participant a
notional 60 seconds to write down ideas they
already have. This has two advantages; first it is
a very time-efficient means for capturing a body
of ideas people already have. Second, it enables
people to get their own pet ideas down, so they
can then have a free mind, without any baggage
of existing ideas, to generate new insights and
permutations.
18. Summary
- Brainstorming is just one among many techniques for
generating ideas.
- It is not suitable for all problem-solving tasks.
- Brainstorming is a good group technique for building
upon ideas.
- Brainstorming has value outside the arena of
creativity: in team building, staff development, and in
gaining acceptance of ideas.
- ‘Structured Brainstorming’ is a highly effective
creative technique.
- If you are in a brainstorming session lasting more than
45 minutes, leave the room.
