things to know about being creative in the digital age.

Three

Edward Boches @edwardboches

edwardboches.com

Being creative is all about combinations and collisions; so learn to make them.

1. Make collisions

In advertising we create collisions by combining images and images or images and words.

To convey what a low speed car crash feels like.

Combine low speed with an unexpected impact.

To convey why censorship is troublesome.

Combine a photograph and a visual element in a surprising way.

But of course, both of those are messages.

In the age of social, digital, and consumer participation, we need different kinds of collisions.

We aren’t creating messages; we’re creating experiences.

We have to combine words, images, media, technology, and community to create unexpected

and interesting outcomes.

Ask not what you can say to your consumer. !

Ask what you can do for your consumer.

2. Think “Do” versus “Say”

!

Invites participation Generates content

Inspires sharing Earns attention

What can you do that…

Alzheimer Nederland wants awareness for the disease and a cultural conversation.

Press release? Ad? Twitter feed? Facebook post?

Probably not…

Combine: images, tagging, Facebook, community, photo manipulation, social stream.

“Doing” works better than “saying.”

A.N. asked people to upload an image of a friend on its website

Image manipulators than edited the photo…

…and pasted it in photo of a non existing event.

The participants received a notification that their manipulated photo was placed into the event album.

People could then tag their friend in the photo.

People would then see themselves tagged in events they never attended before receiving the message:

!Confusing, right? You're now experiencing what it's

like to have Alzheimer's disease."

“Ideas that do” invite participation, generate content, inspire sharing, and earn attention

IBM wants the tech community to understand the cognitive power of Watson.

Press release? Ad? Blog post? White paper?

Really?

Combine: demonstration, physical presence, food truck, social media, crowdsourcing.

Do, don’t say.

Learning to dissect things that do work, from all walks of life, helps you find formulas and ingredients

to create collisions.

3. Master the art of dissection

• Kacie Kinzer, an NYU Tisch student, was studying urban migratory patterns. !

• She wanted to see if this Tweenbot could navigate from one part of the city to another, relying on the kindness of strangers. !

• The flag conveys the desired destination and a call for help. !

• One by one, passersby pointed the little Tweenbot toward its destination. !

• And the Tweenbot always gets where it wanted to go.

A creative accomplishment worth dissecting in search of a formula.

Break big things into little pieces

Break big things into little pieces

Psychic reward for participating

Break big things into little pieces

Psychic reward for participating

Trust people to do the right thing

Break big things into little pieces

Psychic reward for participating

Trust people to do the right thing

Don’t be afraid to ask

Break big things into little pieces

Psychic reward for participating

Trust people to do the right thing

Don’t be afraid to ask

Be joyful and enthusiastic

Is that a good formula?

Break big things into little pieces

Psychic reward for participating

Trust people to do the right thing

Don’t be afraid to ask

Be joyful and enthusiastic

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3.

Learn to create collisions.

Think “do” versus “say.”

Master the art of dissection to find formulas that work.