Creating Demand: Generate Cool, Custom Marketing Ideas - Softcover

Gerardo V. Tabio; Sally Beamer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1591027551 ISBN 13: 9781591027553

Publisher: Prometheus, 2009

Synopsis

Everyone knows the importance of good marketing, but few companies consistently create successful campaigns. Spending marketing money wisely, especially when times are tough is more important than ever. Based on 40+ years of marketing experience, Creating Demand offers readers a solid marketing strategy that will help them develop innovative ideas targeted to the interests and wants of their customers. Using a methodology honed with both large corporations like Coca-Cola, Toyota, and Volkswagen as well as many small businesses, Tabío and Beamer will guide you step-by-step through the process of the creating a marketing plan that will produce positive, measurable results.

About this title

About the Author

Gerardo V. Tabío (Bixby, OK), president and founder of Creative Resources Group, has been consulting with a broad range of organizations for more than twenty years. Among his clients are Turner Entertainment, TV Guide, America Online, Tommy Hilfiger, Toyota Motor Sales, Tyson Foods, CBS Radio, and many more.

Sally Beamer (Atlanta, GA), a partner at Creative Resources Group, has more than fifteen years experience consulting for such major corporations as Wendy's, Coca Cola, CBS Radio, Cox Radio, Pizza Hut, the YMCA, and Clear Channel Communications, among others.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Creating DEMAND

Generate Cool, Custom Marketing IdeasBy GERARDO V. TABO SALLY BEAMER

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2009 Gerardo V. Tabo and Sally Beamer
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59102-755-3

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................21PREFACE: IDEAS ARE THE NEW CURRENCY........................................231. MAKING LISTS AND MAKING CHOICES.........................................312. THE CAST OF CHARACTERS..................................................413. FOUR APPLICATIONS OF THE CREATIVE RESOURCES PROCESS.....................494. WHY YOU CAN'T GET WHAT YOU WISH FOR.....................................555. THE MARKETING ANALYSIS..................................................756. THE MARKETING OBJECTIVE.................................................1237. IDEA GENERATION.........................................................1398. THE MAGIC OF DETOURS....................................................1579. MAKING CHOICES..........................................................19710. DEVELOPING THE IDEA....................................................21511. TROUBLESHOOTING........................................................25112. CREATING A TIMELINE....................................................26513. PREPARATION............................................................27714. FACILITATOR TIPS.......................................................297CONCLUSION: NOTHING LEFT BUT THE DOING.....................................319NOTES......................................................................321INDEX......................................................................323

Chapter One

MAKING LISTS AND MAKING CHOICES

"Good morning everybody." The man speaking is standing at the head of the table. To his left is an easel with lots of flip chart paper. He has a blue Crayola[R] marker in his hand. His official title is regional sales manager for his company. But not right now. Right now, he is playing the role of facilitator. And he's on a mission.

"Good morning!" the group responds with anticipation.

"Before we begin our session today, I would like to ask you guys to help me make a list of all the different names you might give a dog."

The group is silent for a few seconds, as if waiting for the first participant to break the ice.

"Lady."

The facilitator writes the word Lady on the flip chart.

He has barely had a moment to turn around when he hears a burst of names.

"Trixie."

"Spot."

"Buddy."

"Honey."

The facilitator is writing so fast it is becoming difficult to read his handwriting.

"Snoopy."

"Ziggy."

The torrent of names begins to slow down until there is silence in the room again. As the facilitator writes down the last name on the list, he turns around and says, "Let's pretend it's a really big dog. What are we going to call it?"

A new flood of ideas begins as the participants call out names for really big dogs.

"Cujo."

"Beethoven."

"Marmaduke."

The facilitator begins a second column on the page and feverishly writes down all the names as quickly as the participants call them out. With his back turned toward them, he repeats, "Big dog!" and it seems to spur the group to give even more names.

"King."

"King Kong."

"Goliath."

And just as it happened with the first list, the calling out of names slows down, then stops. The facilitator captures the last item and turns to face the group again.

"Okay, I want you to forget that it is a big dog. Let's imagine that we are going to name one of those yappy little lap dogs. What are we going to call it?"

Once again, the participants become rejuvenated by the question and new names begin to pour out. The facilitator turns his back to the group once again, attempting to write the names down as the participants call them out.

"Cuddles."

"Fifi."

"Jenny."

The group bursts out laughing when they hear this name. A smallish woman in the room, whose name is Jenny, says, "Thanks a lot!"

Five or six names later the facilitator has filled the second column of names and begins a third column on the same sheet of paper. Predictably, the flow of ideas again begins to slow down. And again the facilitator turns around, this time saying, "Okay, one last question; let's forget about the small dog. Let's pretend now it is the typical family dog. Imagine the kids named it. What names would they choose?"

Just as if he had flipped a switch, the names pour out quickly.

"Benji."

"Pepper."

"Luke."

"Puff."

"Barney."

"Missy."

The facilitator writes the last name at the bottom of the third column of the flip chart page and takes a deep breath. "Look at what a great job you've done! In just under five minutes you filled this sheet of paper with names we might give a dog.

"Our next job is to make choices from this list. I need you to pretend you are getting a new dog. Of course, when you get a new dog you have to give it a name. In a moment, we are going to go around the table. I am going to ask each of you to give me three pieces of information: I want you to tell us your first name, what kind of dog you are getting, and then what you are going to name your dog. The only requirement is that the name of your dog has to come from this list. I'll give you a moment to review the list and then we'll begin."

The facilitator pauses for a few seconds, giving the participants a short time to look over the list and then says, "I'll start. My name is Richard. I am going to get a Labrador and name her Honey."

As he mentions the name he's chosen for his dog, Richard picks up a red marker and puts a red check mark in front of the name Honey, which appears around the middle of the first column.

One by one, the participants introduce themselves, saying their name and the kind of dog they are getting, and choosing one of the names from the list. And, as he did at the beginning, Richard puts a red check mark in front of each name as it is chosen by a member of the group.

Once he has heard from everyone, he puts down the marker and stands aside to let the participants look at their choices. The flip chart looks like figure 1.

FIRST MAKE A LIST. THEN MAKE CHOICES.

Whenever a facilitator conducts an idea-generation session, he begins the session with a simple exercise like the one just described. Whether the task is to name a dog or to come up with places to go on vacation, he first asks the group to make a long list of different ideas. Then he asks each member of the group to read the entire list and choose one option. The results are always the same: three columns of ideas and check marks all over the page.

The results are so predictable, in fact, that we use a similar exercise to teach the group the fundamentals of idea generation. And the fundamentals are disarmingly simple: The most effective way to come up with a new idea is to first make a list of ideas and then make choices from that list.

WHY WE MAKE A LIST

We make a list of ideas for at least three reasons:

1. When you get in the shower you turn the hot water on first, right? You do that because it takes a few minutes for the water to get really hot. Once the water is nice and hot, you turn on the cold water and adjust the temperature to what feels best to you. Idea-generation sessions need to warm up as well. At first, most of the ideas generated are conventional and familiar. This is especially true if the marketing objective has been addressed before. It takes a while for the participants to get conventional ideas out of their system and begin to explore possibilities they had not considered previously. 2. A good list of ideas contains variety. One of the tasks of an effective facilitator is to make sure the client has a variety of ideas to consider. By definition, variety can come only from quantity, which gets us back to the need for a long list. 3. Making a list works. Put a list of options in front of someone and watch her make choices from all over the list instead of limiting herself to the first few choices. The list of names for a dog shown in figure 1 is a very accurate representation of what most idea-generation sessions really look like. You can see how the choices were made from all over the list.

HOW TO MAKE A LIST

Alex Osborn first proposed the notion that idea generation is the result of two separate actions (first making a list, then making choices) in his book Your Creative Power, which was published in 1948. Osborn described his new technique as the act of first generating ideas without evaluation or judgment, then choosing the ideas that were best suited to accomplish the objective at hand.

Knowing that it is difficult to create an environment free from judgment or evaluation, Osborn proposed four rules that should be followed by any team of people engaged in brainstorming. We have borrowed those four original rules and taken the liberty of adding three more that, in our experience, complete the job of setting the right expectations for a productive list-making or idea-generation session. And although we refer to them as the "Seven Rules of Brainstorming," we see their usefulness as far beyond idea generation.

Seven Rules of Brainstorming

As you will see when you follow the Creative Resources Process, the Seven Rules of Brainstorming should be followed whenever any individual or group wants to make a long list, regardless of the contents of the list.

Rule #1

During the list-making or idea-generation session, there will be no judgment of ideas, no evaluation, and no criticism. By writing the ideas down and not judging them-positively or negatively-we encourage more ideas to be generated. When people don't feel judged and when they recognize that anything they say will be written down, they generate more ideas, resulting in a longer list.

Rule #2

Freewheeling is allowed and encouraged. Wild and outrageous ideas are welcome. People often don't believe us when we say this. They think to themselves, "I bet they won't write down this idea." Then they say something that's distasteful, illegal, or unaffordable, or something that's been done before. Our response is always to celebrate the idea, whatever it is, by writing it down with confidence. What we are communicating is, "We want anything and everything you can think of, because when we write it down it is going to make a connection for someone else; it's going to lead to all sorts of possibilities and ultimately make our list longer."

Rule #3

We are going to make a long list. Remember that we're striving for quantity rather than quality, because when making lists, quantity leads to quality. Your job as a facilitator is to get quantity, because if you have quantity, you can offer your client options. It is your mission to get a long list. And this can be difficult. When you're learning to be a facilitator, there's a tendency to think that all the ideas on the list have to be good or you're not doing a good job. This isn't the case. When you go for quantity, you're assured of having cool ideas on the list from which the client can make choices.

Rule #4

We are going to take detours and make connections that create quantity, novelty, and relevance. We have added this rule because we want to set the expectation with the group that from time to time the facilitator will change directions and he will want the group to follow along and explore any opportunity to search for additional ideas to place on the list.

Rule #5

We need ideas to be specific and clear so that all participants can understand them. Specific ideas have a higher likelihood of becoming reality. As facilitators, when we are given an incomplete idea, it's our job to help the group fill it in with enough specificity that everybody in the room-especially the client-can visualize the idea in action.

Rule #6

All ideas must be written down. Choosing not to write an idea down would be a violation of rule #1. We recommend that facilitators set the expectation with the group that everything they say in an idea-generation session deserves to be captured on the list, even if it has been said before. Sometimes a participant comes up with an idea that is almost identical to one that has already been captured on the list. It is much better to write it down again than to waste time looking for the earlier version to compare the two.

Rule #7

Everybody participating in the list-making or idea-generation session is equal in rank. There are no bosses. There is no hierarchy. Idea-generation sessions need to be devoid of rank because rank suggests that the ideas offered by the boss are better than those of others. Groups appreciate when the facilitator reads this rule in the presence of the boss. It reminds everyone that all ideas will be considered equally, which elicits a longer list of ideas.

INTRODUCING DETOURS

As you read rule #4, you likely noticed the word detour and wondered what we meant by it. Detours are a very important tool for generating ideas. The best way to introduce detours is to show you how they work.

Let's say we ask you to make a list of things you can do with a chair. Your list will likely look like this:

Sit in it

Lean back in it

Stand on it

We have a few responses but we need more. So we take a detour. We ask, "Please imagine you were five years old. What might you do with a chair?"

Suddenly the direction of the idea-generation session changes:

Stand on it to reach a cookie jar

Build a fort with it

Color it with marker

Hide under it

A detour is a technique the facilitator uses to help a resource group generate more quantity, novelty, and relevance in a list. As the term implies, it causes a person's mind to go in a different direction and search for new ideas in new and often unexpected places.

In its simplest form, a detour is a question, suggestion, or piece of information that serves as a spark to inspire the generation of ideas.

As you saw when Richard helped his resource group make a list of names for a dog, detours are generally used by facilitators when the number of ideas being generated slows down or when the facilitator would like to explore a different way of looking at the problem being solved.

Later in this book, we will discuss how detours can be complex, full-fledged techniques that completely distract the resource group by engaging them in a separate endeavor with the intention of bringing them back to the original objective with entirely new insights.

Whether they are simple or complex, detours help a resource group make fresh new connections they may never have considered otherwise.

MAKING CHOICES

We have found that making choices is one part heart and one part brain.

Most clients have enough experience in their own business that a choice based on their gut should not really be considered a reckless shot in the dark. And this is fine when we are asking the client to make the first cut from the list. However, we know that not everything that feels right is going to work. Once the client has selected the ideas that feel good, the Creative Resources Process calls for the use of criteria to more thoroughly vet the ideas before selecting the one that will ultimately be executed. Criteria will be discussed more thoroughly in chapter 9.

* * *

Now that you understand the basic premises of the Creative Resources Process, let us introduce you to the cast of characters that you encounter in the typical idea-generation session.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Creating DEMANDby GERARDO V. TABO SALLY BEAMER Copyright © 2009 by Gerardo V. Tabo and Sally Beamer. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1591027551
• ISBN 13: 9781591027553
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 337