By
Laurie Tema-Lyn of Practical Imagination Enterprises, Reva Dolobowsky
of Dolobowsky Qualitative Services & Marcia Mogelonsky of
Mintel International Group © 2001, Dolobowsky, Tema-Lyn &
Mogelonsky
More than
you might imagine! Take an issue of Modern Ferret magazine, throw
it into the grab bag of creative stimuli as we did for a team
of toothpaste marketers to generate new product ideas, and you
just might get a whole new slant on the familiar. As one of our
clients exclaimed, just as there was once "Old-Fashioned
Ferret" and now there's Modern Ferret, the team's charge
was to take their "old-fashioned" brand, and create
its "modern" incarnation.
Magazines
are a great way to surf for creative inspiration; the more distant
from your category, the better. In a recent session to develop
new food ideas, an issue of Vogue Magazine, in the hands of a
burly, football-playing guy, proved amazingly fertile in sparking
new ways to think about foods. Like ferrets, fashion imagery can
be mined for intriguing connections to your product that aren't
obvious at first glance.
How to do
it? Treat yourself to a few magazines that you don't usually read.
Look for subjects not traditionally associated with your
industry. What can you "borrow" from the worlds of music,
home décor, astronomy, art, or popular culture? Then flip
through the magazines by yourself, or with your team. You can
randomly pick a page and discover an idea for your product that's
lurking there. Or, immerse yourself in this "foreign world"
for a few minutes, forgetting about your business task or challenge.
Note the images and words that jump out at you, from ads as well
as articles. Then focus back on your topic, and see how many new
ideas you can come up with that are triggered by your magazine.
You're sure to "ferret out" a slew of new approaches!
