The pitch: Everybody has the creative potential

By NICK MORGAN*

The room is bristling. The assembled creatives, two dozen or so, are not actually slapping each other on the back, but pretty close to it.

The executive creative director of a worldwide advertising agency has just shown a reel of its excellent TV ads, 50 per cent or more of which have been major award winners.

The egos swell like a concerto seconds before its climax, but then just before they are about to explode the director drops the big one.

You can hear a pin drop when he says that every one of those ideas originated outside the creative department.

Secretaries, assistants, accountants, account services and the receptionist all had a hand in those ideas.

Okay, so the initial thinking had to be elaborated, extended and produced to an acceptable standard and that takes skill, but what it goes to prove is that everyone has the ability to be creative.

I once read that the difference between the average person and a creative is that the latter makes his or her ideas happen. It's that simple.

Of course serendipity and an amount of good fortune have their part in it, but how many ideas gurus can actually explain how they come up with the big idea.

Because of this lack of sharing creativity remains the domain of an exclusive handful of agency types and a couple of artists, sculptures and musicians, to boot.

I believe that creativity can be taught.

The explanation I read was that a genius is not defined by what they think, but by how they think.

The thinking process, explained to and understood by junior creatives, can enable them to think more creatively and make their thinking more productive, as opposed to reproductive where every decision is based upon previous experience and knowledge.

The greatest example of a productive thinker is Einstein. When asked what made him different from the average person he replied that the average person when searching a haystack for a needle would stop once they found it. He, on the other hand, would continue through the whole stack to determine there were no more needles to be found.

That's not to say that a lot of these techniques are not already being used.

Some creatives swear by mind-mapping Edward De Bono calls them "concept fans" but that's because he's good at repackaging existing ideas, and labelling them with buzz words.

But more can be done.

The benefit of offering our young (and older) creative brains the tools to think outside the box, is that we develop their ability, in parallel with their desire, to achieve the greatest thing of all - a unique, original idea.

Of course, in the field of advertising, that means more sales. Unique ideas stand out, get noticed, and shout me, me, me.

* Former Saatchi & Saatchi creative director Nick Morgan runs creativedirector.co.nz.

* Email Nick Morgan

* The Pitch is a forum for those working in advertising, marketing, public relations and communications. We welcome lively and topical 500-word contributions.
Email Simon Hendery.