on demand. No matter how hateful it sounds, you will improve
your problem-solving ability by improving your self-image. How
you think about yourself will directly determine your creative
success rate. In short, you need to think like someone who has
lots of brilliant ideas in order to become that person.
To get started, have a loose discussion in your head (or out loud
if you’ve the opportunity) about what you’re trying to say.What’s
the biggest single problem here? Can you state it clearly in one
sentence? If not, keep redefining the problem until you can. This
is important: how can you expect to solve what you can’t
describe? Once something decent emerges, write it down and
use that as a starting point. I tend to scribble it down in the
middle of a big sheet of paper and then hang associated ideas off
this central thought in a rough mind map. If these newly added
ideas naturally cluster together away from the centre of the sheet
of paper then that might suggest my original insight was wrong
and I need to look at everything again.
I might then try drawing connections between related ideas – the
more lines a particular idea attracts, the more important it must be.
Once I’ve made all the connections I can, I should be able to see
which ideas are the real winners. If I’m doing something longer and
more detailed, I can then number these ideas to provide a rough
sequence for the whole piece. Now it’ll practically write itself.
Three key thoughts 27
brilliant
tip
Talk to yourself (or a sympathetic other) to clarify the problem. Feel
free to ramble as the mood takes you. Once a vaguely promising
idea emerges, write it down quickly. Add associated ideas and
connect these to the central idea and each other as appropriate –
the more connections to a particular idea, the more significant it is.
When you’re finished making connections try numbering the main
nodes, and there’s your rough outline.
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Getting unstuck
If it’s not happening try going for a walk – getting out into the
fresh air really does help. While he was writing On the Origin of
Species, Charles Darwin had a special path (the ‘Sand-walk’) con-
structed at his house in Kent for just this purpose. Another
technique recommended by many of my interviewees later in this
book is engaging the other half of your brain, or at least doing
something radically different. Read some poetry, look at a design
blog, listen to The Ramones at top volume, do all three – what-
ever it takes to get your mind off the problem. Other techniques
I’ve found useful include changing location (try a meeting room
or the kitchen table instead of your desk), changing tools (com-
puter for pencil or vice versa), automatic writing (keep scribbling
about your subject non-stop for a few minutes without hesitation,
repetition or deviation) and my old favourite, staring into space.
A technique for producing ideas
For my money the all-time top text on creativity was written in
1965 by a gentleman named James Webb Young, a J. Walter
Thompson account executive. It’s called, helpfully enough, A
Technique for Producing Ideas and it divides the creative process
into five stages. So universally applicable and effective is his
approach that it’s worth describing in some detail. I’m not exag-
gerating when I say that getting to grips with what follows is half
the battle of brilliant thinking in any field.
The first stage is to gather your raw material, both specific and
general. By specific I mean anything relating to the product or
service you’re writing about. By general I mean whatever
enriches your mind, no matter how apparently off the topic it
might seem. As Young wrote, ‘It is with the advertising man as it
is with the cow: no browsing, no milk.’ A similar sentiment was
expressed by designer Adrian Shaughnessy when he wrote,
‘Cultural awareness, backed up by targeted research, is the high
octane fuel that drives great ideas.’
28 brilliant copywriting
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The second stage is a process of mental digestion.You need to
masticate the raw material you’ve collected. Examine the facts
from unusual angles, looking for any sort of pattern or fit. Don’t
read them too directly – it’s more a process of listening than
looking. But don’t scrimp here – you need to thoroughly engage
with your texts to do them justice.
If you’ve undertaken this stage with real diligence then two
things are likely to happen: first some initial, half-formed ideas
will appear out of nowhere (grab them while they’re hot – they
could be your answer) and secondly you’ll become tired, angry
and utterly fed up with the whole wretched process. Excellent –
you’re making progress.
The third stage is to forget the whole thing. Go away. Do
something else. Distract yourself. The best way to do that is to
turn to whatever stimulates your imagination and emotions.
That could be music, film, art or whatever. Just not bloody copy-
writing. The aim here is to let all those ideas you swallowed in
stage two really ferment in your subconscious. This is my
favourite stage.
The fourth stage is the Eureka moment. Out of nowhere ideas
will appear. Once you’ve stopped straining for them and gone
through a suitable period of rest and relaxation, the magic will
happen. They’ll be raw and rude, but these ideas will be the
genuine product of the material you consumed in stages one and
two. Collect them all.
The fifth stage is the patient work needed to make these ideas
fit your exact problem. This is a process of tuning, refinement
and distillation. As Young points out, ‘Good ideas have a self-
expanding quality – possibilities in them come to light under
further examination.’ This stage requires patience and hard
work. If the previous four stages are about producing the oft-
quoted 1 per cent inspiration, then this stage is about the 99 per
cent perspiration part.
Three key thoughts 29
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I’d like to add an addendum to
Young’s masterly technique: your
first idea is often your best. It’s the
freshest, the thing that sprang to
mind before you filled your head with too much clutter. Don’t
neglect your other ideas, but treasure that first response. And
lastly, when the ideas are coming, when you’re in what athletes
call ‘the zone’ where everything comes together, action is effort-
less and you can do no wrong, don’t stop. It’s tempting to think,
‘I’ve cracked it, time for a coffee’.Try to resist this urge until you
are genuinely dry.
In a nutshell:
G Nurture a blue-collar approach to writing – it’s a job.
G Force yourself to believe you can do it.
G Look for a relationship between unconnected ideas.
G Talk to yourself to clarify the problem.
G If you’re stuck, engage the other side of your brain.
30 brilliant copywriting
your first idea is often
your best
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