In a recent workshop I gave the example of the Playlist feature being a key reason behind the success of Spotify. This sparked a conversation around how original this idea was. Someone said, ‘well of course, the Spotify Playlist is just a modern version of the mix tape’. Spotify subsequently made the iPod redundant.
How to Make Creative Workshops More Strategic
In a previous post I wrote about how to inject creativity into strategy workshops. Now I’m going to discuss ways you can make your creative workshops more strategic. This doesn’t mean losing the energy and spontaneity required for creative sessions. It just ensures that the ideas you generate are purposeful and on brief. Here’s some suggestions on how to do this.
How to Plan and Facilitate Idea Generation Workshops
In the marketing world, there are 2 types of workshop we’re asked to facilitate - the creative and the strategic. Creative workshops are all about idea generation - new products, services, names, communications. Strategic sessions are about planning and making decisions. Sometimes you can combine a bit of both, eg creating brand positioning, but they do tend to focus on one or the other.
How to Structure an Idea Generation Workshop
Idea generation sessions are the workshops I enjoy the most. I love the buzz, the energy and it’s so satisfying to go through the journey of inventing something new. If you were to simply walk into an idea generation session, it may appear chaotic with post-its, magazines, random products and objects strewn all over the place. However, the best sessions are really well organised. Of course they need to be planned properly, but once this is done, this is how you structure them.