Capitalizing on Creative - Fundamentals to Success

Matt's more creative in the morning. But Jenny cranks out her best
work late at night. So just how do you capitalize on everyone's
creative thinking?

A recent survey of advertising agency employees revealed a whopping 66 percent are more creative in the morning. Only 14 percent say they're more creative at night. The other 20 percent were more creative at various times throughout the day.

Capitalizing on everyone's brightest ideas isn't impossible, though. There are certain factors you can add to the working environment to make sure you're getting the most out of the creative process.

Meeting Space So you want to have a morning meeting? What does that mean for Jenny? She's already said she does her best thinking at night. The first thing you want to do is make your meeting space comfortable.

Even those creative morning types aren't going to be concentrating on your ad strategy if they're too busy fidgeting in an uncomfortable chair. Right on Target You just landed a huge client: Granny Grable's Green Beans. So much to do. You need a brochure, POP, Web page and a print ad campaign.

Focus on one project at a time. Instead of getting everyone's thoughts on the size of the brochure and then moving on to the type of POP that would be most effective, just take it step-by-step. Start with the slogan for Granny Grable's Green Beans. Get everyone's best one-liners. Then you can move on to other tasks -but give each one its own segment of time.

Getting Matt's ideas on the brochure, Jenny's ideas on the Web page and you're just left with a bunch of cluttered ideas. Those thoughts could've been worked into a great ad campaign if they'd been given the proper attention. Now they're just forgotten and the stress kicks in as your deadline approaches.

Don't Shatter Their Light Bulbs If you haven't already, develop a "No Bad Ideas" policy. It seems so trivial but you wouldn't believe how many great ideas never make it to the table. Some people are still afraid of being embarrassed - or even worse - having their thought being proclaimed: BAD IDEA.

Build on Those Light Bulbs You have your "No Bad Ideas" policy in place. Now take those ideas and build on them. Matt has a great idea. Jenny offers her input on Matt's idea. And so on. Allow and encourage everyone to take a good idea, build on it and turn it into solid, profitable advertising.

Feed the Fire A lot of people ignore the most basic of human needs. We all need energy! Add fuel to your creative fire with food and drinks. If Jenny's hungry, she's going to be more focused on what she's going to have for lunch than how she can improve the brochure copy for Granny Grable's Green Beans.

When incorporating these five fundamentals into your creative process, don't limit everyone's ideas to meetings. Keep an "Open Door" policy. Make sure everyone knows they can come to you anytime they have something to add. Contributions to your ad strategy will rise. And so will your profits.