An odd thing to say, right?
But harnessing the power of creative ideas and understanding the importance of challenging the obvious is vital for survival in business. Sometimes, the opposite of the logical solution is also a good idea.
When you look at things from multiple perspectives, you'll have a huge advantage over those who don’t. People who are capable of thinking illogically are seeing things differently. It's been proven time and time again. Some people call this lateral thinking or the old cliché, “thinking outside the box.” We call it, creative common sense.
That's one of the many reasons why Studio Sigraph constantly preaches about "creative effectiveness" and not just "creativity". We know people want results, and we know our clients are more likely to see big gains when we all buy into “thinking laterally.” The work is better. Brands grow stronger. (And when applied consistently, it always pays dividends in the end.)
The most effective creative ideas always seem silly at first... everything new always has. But if it feels a bit alien, that's a good sign. It might make you feel uncomfortable, but in a world that’s very samey, uncomfortable is actually often a good thing — you may just have something fresh and new! That really should inspire confidence. You've created something that will help you stand out. Which, when you say it like that, is obviously the right thing to do.
Behavioural science tells us that we're preprogrammed to fear the unfamiliar; it's a survival instinct. But, bizarrely, that's why so many brands fail. When the aim is to be visible, if you end up creating something that feels familiar, you're playing the most dangerous game of all. You're bland, you're ignorable, and you're unlikely to succeed.
On the flip side, some creative people will state, “You need to be creative,” but provide little tangible evidence as to why. We’ve always been very much against “creativity for creativity’s sake.” That sort of vigilante approach is equally pointless when it comes to solving practical challenges like positioning, advertising, and marketing. Ultimately, we’re not artists; we’re creative marketers. We’re people who understand why creativity is the most powerful (and often underused) tool in every brand’s arsenal. We’re here to outthink our competitors… creatively. Not to deliver wild ideas for wildness’s sake. Everything needs sound reasoning behind why it’s being done.
Every facet of a brand should be optimised to deliver on business goals, and thinking creatively is free currency that can drive that goal. That currency will always lead to a bigger bottom line when applied consistently.
That’s why whenever you think, you should also think about what the opposite of a “good” idea is. Sometimes, the most powerful ideas don’t make sense… until they do. (Then everyone copies them.)
Rory Sutherland, the behavioural science expert, uses this sat nav example to explain why sometimes we need not to listen to logic (in this case, the U-turn-screaming sat nav).
"No one is denying that the sat nav is an extraordinary feat of technology and a triumph of logical thinking. Developed by US military intelligence, it uses satellites some 10,000 feet above the earth, broadcasting signals with little more power than a 100w light bulb that can pinpoint your location and then map out the quickest route from A to B with astonishing precision.
So then why are we arguing?
Because the sat nav doesn’t understand human emotion or instinct, it only knows what it knows based on the data it has. What the sat nav doesn’t know is that the driver may gladly wish to sacrifice time for a scenic route that reminds them of times gone by or prefers the longer routes as long as the traffic keeps moving. Either way, the sat nav doesn’t understand emotional decision making, which is precisely what separates humans from machine. Human decision making is based on a duality in the brain between.
However, that being said - just like the sat nav, the conscious part of our brain has not been configured to recognise many of the instinctive factors that drive our actions. In fact, behavioural theory even suggests that we do not even have access to the reasoning behind a lot of our decision making because, in evolutionary terms, we are better off not knowing.
It’s exactly this balance however that makes for some strange but absolutely brilliant decisions. Take RedBull energy drinks as an example - their success is not logical. It’s a premium priced, small can of liquid, that in market research tests consumers said tasted disgusting. It shouldn’t work… and yet it does."
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by
Dean Spicer, Founder
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