SpencerHall

The demand for breakthrough ideas is intensifying. You can be patient and hope a big idea comes along, or rally the troops and paper the walls in hyper-brainstorming sessions. We've found that true innovation demands more.

SpencerHall's unique Flashpoint ideation process helps clients connect with their consumers, ensuring the team sees, feels, thinks and reacts through the consumerÕs heart and mind.

But that simply sets the stage. We know that the mind sets neural pathways that help us solve problems every day, without having to "reinvent the wheel." However, those set pathways can lead people to the same ideas over and over. At SpencerHall, we've developed proprietary techniques that break through those neural paths to help generate innovative new ideas.

We also believe that a mix of disparate perspectives helps create an "alchemy" of truly breakthrough thinking, so we include a number of relevant outside experts to share their insights and help brainstorm.

Typically, the ideation sessions run for two days. We begin with a "Meeting of the Minds" to ensure the entire team is grounded in key objectives and focus areas. We display colorful wall-size posters that capture target dynamics and learnings, to literally surround the participants in the life and experience of their consumer. Then, expert Flashpoint facilitators stimulate revolutionary thinking among participants, using a series of creative exercises, including:

• Stream of Consciousness Pathing

  In small teams, participants select an insight/category and free associate words, feelings, colors, sounds, smells, and ideas. This technique helps prevent participants from simply taking the first path or the first idea that rears its head (which often tend to be line extensions). The next idea, or the next, is often a better, more breakthrough idea.

• Transference

  We identify relevant, but unrelated, product categories or experiences and brainstorm elements that are reflected in the "best of" those offerings. These attributes are then ÒreappliedÓ to the client category to create new ideas.

• Soft Sell

  This exercise is based on the premise that people don't want to buy 'things,' they want to have their basic needs and desires met. It encourages team members to focus on intangibles, and to think about the implications more than the products.

• Idea Fusion

  We create grids with unrelated elements, which force the teams to connect these discontinuous benefits, categories, technologies and other elements to uncover solutions never considered before.

By the second day, hundreds of strong consumer-based ideas have been generated. The Flashpoint facilitators then lead the team through a series of convergence and building exercises, to optimize the lead ideas.

Coming out of the session, SpencerHall translates the lead ideas into complete written concepts, including key visuals that are ready for consumer evaluation/optimization.