Points of View

Generating insight might be all very well in theory, but how can you do it in practice? One important element is the ability to see things differently, to think laterally and to be able to come up with as many ‘What if’ questions as you can, with as many answers as possible.

• For example, think about trainers. What would happen if sports training shoes were to become fashionable? (Enter Nike!)
• Consider a crowd of bored commuters at Waterloo Station. What if they had something to help them wile away the time? (Enter Metro!)
• Take a group of young women who feel under huge pressure to be ‘beautiful’. What if that pressure could be alleviated? (Enter Dove’s ‘Real beauty’ campaign!)

• Revolution: Challenge all of your rules and assumptions. What if you go against convention and don’t have skinny glamour models in your adverts? What if you had to produce it for half the cost? What if you reversed the process…?
• Related worlds: Where else is there a similar challenge and what can you learn from that? What if a deodorant was liquid? How could it be applied without dripping everywhere? The answer came from ballpoint pens…
• Re-expression: Re-express things using different senses: what would it look like if you had to draw it or act it out? What if you had to express it from someone else’s point of view (e.g. what would a child make of it)?
• Random links: Use a random stimulus that has nothing to do with your challenge and force a connection with it. Inspiration in this area can sometimes occur naturally in our subconscious if we contemplate a challenge for a while, go and do something completely different and then come back to it with fresh eyes.