Opinion / 07.06.18 / 4 min read

Creative goosebumps. Is that too much to ask?

We all look at the next, the new, the shiny. We drool over awards shows, the latest tech, art and product design that makes our lives simpler. The holy grail of the finished item.

Creative goosebumps. Is that too much to ask?

It becomes what we all wish we could do, or berate ourselves internally for not being good enough. In our mind’s eye it’s always amazing. But how do you work towards being THAT good? I call it the search for ideas so brilliant they stimulate a physical reaction; a snorted laugh, a ‘sh*t how the hell will this work?’ or even ‘I can’t wait to present this.’

What is this I hear you say? I’m calling it creative goosebumps.

Ideas so instinctive and exciting you can palpably feel the excitement coming off them, in a room full of your peers, or even on your own. We get enthused, clients get excited and they’re like a massive steamroller for brands. This is what brilliant creativity should feel like.

We’re not talking craft and style here, that comes much later. No it’s the seed of a thought, the scrap of paper (mostly a sea of colour-coded post-its – looking at you planners) – built from an insight so deep that it just lands. Smack.

It’s Mr B & Friends 12th anniversary this week. My business partner Simon and I are privileged to work with some of the brightest and bravest minds in the industry. For 12 years we’ve been delivering ideas and strategies for our clients businesses. Smart insightful planning, dedicated client service and outstanding creativity all help us to deliver goosebumps for our clients.

I think it’s interesting that lately I’m seeing a lot of judgement criteria for planners and agencies around how to judge ideas. Sometimes an agency has a positioning that helps to do this. McCanns ‘truth well told’ and BBH ‘zagging when others zig’ shows how they think, and therefore what clients can expect.

Mr B & Friends has ‘where next.’ It’s all about being ambitious. Taking clients on a journey to somewhere great. But that’s only part of the story. If we don’t get excited about an idea, feel the energy in the room lift, or get a tangible emotional reaction within our agency to an idea then it doesn’t leave the building. In the last two weeks, I’ve had it many times, which shows we’re doing many things right.

It bloody makes my day. Goosebumps normally mean we’re cold. But for me, they mean we’re on fire.

 

Sarah Dennis

Marketing Director