Tim Hayward

Ten things you don't want to hear in a brainstorm

In 1948, Alex Faickney Osborn, the 'O' in BBDO, published a book called 'Your Creative Power' in which he first laid out the principles of a new method for generating ideas. It is, perhaps, fortunate that Osborn passed away in the 60's so he never had to witness what agencies have since done to his original concept of 'Brainstorming'.

The core of his idea was the suspension of judgement in the early, generative portions of a thinking session, a notion that, though sound in itself, has been universally misinterpreted into the lethal theory that 'there's no such thing as a bad idea in a brainstorm'.

Anybody who's spent any time facilitating will tell you that this is rubbish. There are bad ideas in brainstorms. There are arse-clenchingly, tooth-grindingly dreadful ideas. There are ideas so utterly inappropriate to the project that you wonder if the team are actually sharing ideas or merely timesharing use of a single functioning brain cell.

In a brainstorm, of course, these ideas have to be given due consideration and because they've usually been floated by some senior client, too often end up running all the way to uneasy execution.

An equally incorrect interpretation of Osborn's model lies in the notion that 'anyone can have a good idea'. This fatuous piece of counter-intuitive nonsense was most popular in the short-lived 'commune' agencies of the early nineties but still lingers like a bad smell.

The problem with allowing the client's intern and the agency receptionist to contribute is that, through inexperience, they always come up with exactly the same chunks of sloppy, received wisdom. Just for the record and for the betterment of the human race through sounder thinking, here are the top ten facile aperçus to look out for…

1. People lead stressed lives - they want us to take control
2. People want to be in control - they don't want us telling them what to do
3. People need to improve their work/life balance
4. People like to pamper themselves
5. We're just an (insert product) company. We do one thing brilliantly.
6. We're so much more than just an (insert product) company
7. It's all about our people
8. It's all about our customers
9. We're simply the best

And yes, several of these are entirely self-contradicting which leads, inevitably to the last in the list…

10. We're neither X nor Y. (Pause for effect). We're a third way!

Three or more of these have come up in every client/agency brainstorm I've facilitated in the last five years. Unfortunately, agency staff and senior clients, utterly remote as they are from real consumers, usually mistake these moronic ejaculations for burning consumer insight.

You think I'm exaggerating? Take this simple challenge. Tear out this list and sit through the next three commercial breaks. Count how many times one of these exhausted tropes has managed to drag its sorry carcass through the creative process to land polluting your screen like a decomposing camel.

Unfortunately, as there is 'no such thing as a bad idea in a brainstorm', we've had no mechanism for throttling them at birth - until now. May I suggest an extension of Edward de Bono's wonderful 'coloured hats' process. We can keep the white hat for objectivity, the green for creativity, the yellow for opportunity, the red for intuition and the blue for thinking, but let's chuck out the black hat of critical judgement. Lets replace it with a special one to be worn by anyone who comes up with one of the ideas on the list.

I'm thinking of something with a flashing light and bells. Large, pink and vaguely phallic.



		Ten things you don't want to hear in a brainstorm In 1948, Alex Faickney Osborn, the 'O' in BBDO, published a book called 'Your Creative Power' in which he first laid out the principles of a new method for generating ideas. It is, perhaps, fortunate that Osborn passed away in the 60's so he never had to witness what agencies have since done to his original concept of 'Brainstorming'. The core of his idea was the suspension of judgement in the early, generative portions of a thinking session, a notion that, though sound in itself, has been universally misinterpreted into the lethal theory that 'there's no such thing as a bad idea in a brainstorm'. Anybody who's spent any time facilitating will tell you that this is rubbish. There are bad ideas in brainstorms. There are arse-clenchingly, tooth-grindingly dreadful ideas. There are ideas so utterly inappropriate to the project that you wonder if the team are actually sharing ideas or merely timesharing use of a single functioning brain cell. In a brainstorm, of course, these ideas have to be given due consideration and because they've usually been floated by some senior client, too often end up running all the way to uneasy execution. An equally incorrect interpretation of Osborn's model lies in the notion that 'anyone can have a good idea'. This fatuous piece of counter-intuitive nonsense was most popular in the short-lived 'commune' agencies of the early nineties but still lingers like a bad smell. The problem with allowing the client's intern and the agency receptionist to contribute is that, through inexperience, they always come up with exactly the same chunks of sloppy, received wisdom. Just for the record and for the betterment of the human race through sounder thinking, here are the top ten facile aperçus to look out for… 1. People lead stressed lives - they want us to take control 2. People want to be in control - they don't want us telling them what to do 3. People need to improve their work/life balance 4. People like to pamper themselves 5. We're just an (insert product) company. We do one thing brilliantly. 6. We're so much more than just an (insert product) company 7. It's all about our people 8. It's all about our customers 9. We're simply the best And yes, several of these are entirely self-contradicting which leads, inevitably to the last in the list… 10. We're neither X nor Y. (Pause for effect). We're a third way! Three or more of these have come up in every client/agency brainstorm I've facilitated in the last five years. Unfortunately, agency staff and senior clients, utterly remote as they are from real consumers, usually mistake these moronic ejaculations for burning consumer insight. You think I'm exaggerating? Take this simple challenge. Tear out this list and sit through the next three commercial breaks. Count how many times one of these exhausted tropes has managed to drag its sorry carcass through the creative process to land polluting your screen like a decomposing camel. Unfortunately, as there is 'no such thing as a bad idea in a brainstorm', we've had no mechanism for throttling them at birth - until now. May I suggest an extension of Edward de Bono's wonderful 'coloured hats' process. We can keep the white hat for objectivity, the green for creativity, the yellow for opportunity, the red for intuition and the blue for thinking, but let's chuck out the black hat of critical judgement. Lets replace it with a special one to be worn by anyone who comes up with one of the ideas on the list. I'm thinking of something with a flashing light and bells. Large, pink and vaguely phallic.

		© Tim Hayward 2005 - 2007