Tag Archives: Creativity

We All Need a Little Spark of Creativity.

Adobe Stock

A few weeks ago I read a piece from the New York Times about a man who cultivated his creativity at a young age. While we all may not echo his circumstances, we can sure learn from them. Every one of us needs a little spark of creativity now and then to make life a wee bit more interesting . . . And fun.

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Last May, my father-in-law showed up at my house with a child-size drum set in his trunk. That might make some parents shudder, but I was thrilled. I was a drummer when I was younger, with a set just like this one, and now my 7-year-old son could follow in my footsteps.

I’ve learned two things in the year since. First, you can’t force your kids to like the things you like; my son has probably played those drums for 15 minutes total. More important, though, I learned that I wasn’t a former drummer. I’m still a drummer. Even though I hadn’t engaged that part of my brain in years, my trips downstairs to do laundry now usually include a few minutes bashing on that little drum set. I’m not making beautiful music — just ask my neighbors — but I’m having a great time. Every little session leaves me feeling energized.

That spark of creativity is something my colleagues at Well, The Times’s personal health and wellness section, think everyone could use more of. Starting tomorrow, they’ve got a five-day challenge that aims to help readers nurture their creative side. I spoke with Elizabeth Passarella, the writer behind the project, to learn more.

After years away from the drums, I’ve been shocked by how good it feels to make music. Why is that?

What you feel is what many of us feel when we do something creative: giddy and inspired. Whether you do something more traditionally creative, like draw or play music, or riff on a recipe because you were out of an ingredient, it gives you a little boost. And there is plenty of research that links creativity to happiness and better moods.

Some people reading this are gifted painters and musicians, I’m sure. But others would probably say that they don’t have much artistic talent. What would you say to them?

You are all creative in some way. There’s a definition of creativity that researchers use: generating something novel that is also useful. That could be the score to a movie. It could also be, as one expert told me, a brilliant solution to keeping your dog out of a certain area of your house. Or making up a weird game to play with your toddler.

Basically, anybody can be creative at any time.

Yes. And it might come more naturally to some of us. But it’s a skill you can practice and grow. Several researchers I spoke to emphasized how curiosity — just being open to something new or asking questions — is a hallmark of being creative. We can all nurture that.

[Note:: I have an avid curiosity and a sometimes warped sense of humor].

Part of the goal here, I know, is to help people actually get over the hump and do a creative new thing. How does that happen?

Every day, we give you a short exercise that’s a warm-up for your brain. Kind of like a stretch. And we tell you the aspect of creative thinking that it’s demonstrating, some of which you probably already do but just don’t realize. For example, having constraints when you are problem-solving can improve your solutions. It’s why I write snappier articles when my editors give me word counts (which they always do). On the day we talk about constraints, we’ll ask you to write a poem using only certain words we provide. I love that challenge. You’ll see one of my poems as an example. Be nice.

I’m sure your poetry is just as good as my drumming. Before this project, did you consider yourself a creative person?

[Note: I agree with what he says; I’ve been an advertising creative director, copywriter, and currently a freelance writer]

Absolutely. I’m a journalist, I write books and I have no other employable skills. Writing is the only job I’ve ever had, so honestly, learning techniques to get out of a rut and knowing I can grow my own creativity feels like I’ve gained a little job security. (Haha, just kidding. There’s no job security in writing.) But in all seriousness, before reporting this story, I would have said that creativity always alights on you, like a muse. I learned that, no, you can work at it. That makes me excited and hopeful.

I hope all you creative and soon-to-be creatives get something from this article. After all, a part of creativity is sharing about creativity. Have fun, guys!

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

By Tom Wright-Piersanti, an editor on The Morning.

A Few Quotes to Feed Your Soul.

When executing advertising, it’s best to think of yourself as an uninvited guest in the living room of a prospect who has the magical power to make you disappear instantly. — John O’Toole, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself. — David Ogilvy, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Creative imagination — the lamp that lit the world — can light our lives.– Alex F. Osborn, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

I have always believed that writing advertisements is the second most profitable form of writing. The first, of course, is ransom notes. — Philip Dusenberry, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world, it will come through the expression of your own personality, that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature. — Bruce Barton, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

The soft stuff is always harder than the hard stuff. — Roger A. Enrico, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Let us blaze new trails. Let us prove to the world that good taste, good art and good writing can be good selling. — William Bernbach, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Creative people thrive in environments that stimulate and reward original thinking — where freedom is valued and controls are kept to a minimum. — Keith Reinhard, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

The advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything. — David Ogilvy, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Know what the client wants, know what the client needs, and know how to cause the client to want what the client needs. — Keith Reinhard, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Anyone who thinks that people can be fooled or pushed around has an inaccurate and pretty low estimate of people — and he won’t do very well in advertising. — Leo Burnett, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Brands shy away from creative risk

Periodically I come across articles of interest that I want to share. Below is one such piece. It’s written by Aaron Baar and delves into the mindsets of marketers and their respective brands when it comes to taking risks. Given the current socio-political environment, it’s no wonder that companies are backing away from and giving second thought to creative risks. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

Among marketers, 63% are focused on short-term tactics rather than long-term brand building, up from 53% in 2023. Photo via Adobe Stock

Dive Brief:

  • Only 13% of brand marketers and creatives view their companies as “risk-friendly” when it comes to creativity, while 29% are highly risk averse, according to the 2025 State of Creativity report from Lions, which produces the annual Cannes Lions creativity festival.
  • The report, now in its fifth year, surveys more than 1,000 marketers and creatives around the world and includes qualitative information from one-on-one industry leaders. More than half of respondents (51%) said their customer insights are too weak to develop bold creative, and 57% said they struggle to react quickly to cultural moments. 
  • The survey also revealed that brands are increasingly focusing on short-term marketing activities, rather than long-term brand building. In the 2025 survey, nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents said their brands were focusing on such tactics, up from 53% in 2023. 

Dive Insight:

Brand and agency executives are becoming more risk-averse when it comes to marketing creative, which could negatively impact growth, according to the largest creativity festival. Outside data cited in the report backs up the assertion that stronger creativity leads to better business results. Brands that take creative risks generate four times higher profit margins than those that don’t, per WARC and Kantar. Additionally, brands with an appetite for creative risk are 33% more likely to see long-term revenue growth, according to Deloitte.

The aversion to “creative risk-taking,” defined by the survey as “bold, unconventional ideas that challenge norms and engage audiences in unexpected ways,” boils down to issues marketers face like poor insights and an inability to respond to cultural moments quickly, per the report. 

With regard to insights, 51% of respondents said their ability to develop high-quality insights was poor or very poor. Conversely, only 13% said their ability was very good or excellent. The main barriers to developing quality insights were a lack of understanding and clarity as to what makes a good insight, not enough priority on insight development and insufficient time allocated to insight exploration. 

The report noted that strong agency-brand relationships and more diverse teams and methods yielded better, more actionable insights. Additionally, AI use also increased efficiency and reduced bias.

A lack of confidence in consumer insights is also leading to brands’ inability to respond to cultural moments. According to the report, 57% of brands struggle to react quickly when something happens, and only 12% rate their ability to do so as “excellent.” Other challenges include too many layers in the approval process and limited resources and investment. Recommendations include streamlining internal processes and shaping culture rather than chasing it.

Interesting take, wouldn’t you say? I’d be curious as to your take on this report and, given your perspectives, what comments you may have. Let me know, okay?

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Creativity Without Productivity?

Though I’m not sure where I first read this post, I believe its author is a designer named Noah Kay. It intrigued me so I thought I’d pass it on to my fellow creatives, and those who want to be.

I’ve always considered myself a “creative person”. I’ve always been into art, always had a deep appreciation for it. Paintings, drawings, sculpture, music, writings, movies, games, you name it. I have a distinct appreciation for all of them and the uniqueness for what each can accomplish only in their own medium. Eventually design was tacked onto that list and became seriously entrenched in the idea of doing it for a living. And now that’s what I do. I’m a designer, for my real life job, right now in this timeline.

I feel like there’s something I need to create. Something I need to make on almost this instinctual level, but nothing really seems to really hit this imaginary mark I seem to have created for myself.

Looking back I feel like so many outlets for my creativity throughout my life have been rooted in some sort of need for productivity surrounding work or potential work: Highschool and college classes giving out artistic or design related assignments, pursuits for the prospect of getting a specific type of job, or to potentially expand my skills of a job I already have.

I told myself that I want to “get back to making things just for me” about a year ago now, since I was in a “creative rut” for a good 3 years beforehand. Well, less of a rut and more of a prison.

My previous job would leave me so exhausted that the idea of coming home and working on endeavors that didn’t melt my brain was not in the cards. Brain was out of gas. But because I wanted out of my then job, I forced myself to other things. But many of those things were for the purpose of getting a different job or furthering my career: Working for non-profits, honing my skills in After Effects to be able to add that extra bullet point on my resume, working on my portfolio endlessly to make it feel like something I both don’t hate and recruiters don’t hate.

I didn’t entirely hate what I was doing since I had a bit more creative freedom in choosing and executing on these projects, but there was still this veneer of “these things need to make me hirable”. That same veneer was on school projects made through the relatively narrow framework we’re taught in design school. The same veneer was on the extremely restricted world of haphazard corporate design that suffocated me for almost 3 years.

What drew me to design in the first place was the artistic side, which has been beaten out of so much of what we see today. I’ve always loved looking through old design history books, looking at techniques and pieces from non-European designers, seeing how people crack and break that Unimark-crafted framework that has been beaten into us by both big money and Eurocentric dominance influencing design curriculum.

This is the first time in my life that I don’t desperately want to leave my job, I don’t have any mandated assignments to finish, I don’t have any mandated guidelines to follow. And honestly I think that’s why I’m feeling this way because to be honest, I’ve never done my design work like this before. Photography has always kind of been my “fuck around and find out” medium of choice, but applying that same mode of thinking to a form of creativity which I have done my entire life in the exact opposite way is…more difficult.

I think that’s why I’ve been trying other things I haven’t done before too, like this whole “writing” thing I’ve been doing sporadically or even making a couple of YouTube videos that I hope people never see. Mentally breaking that restriction of “will making this get me a job” as the primary motive for whether I go pursuing a project or not. This general sense of aimlessness has me throwing darts at the proverbial dartboard to see if trying something else completely unrelated will tick that box I’m desperately trying to erase.

I tell other people things like this in regards to creativity all the time, “if you like it and you want to try it then fuck it dude, ball out. go nuts. see what happens.” and I really need to start taking my own advice here.

I don’t need to know why, I don’t need to rationalize it, I don’t need to be “productive”, I just need to make.

Where this fellow is a designer, I’m a writer with design instincts. I can relate to a lot of what he says, especially the corporate aspect.

To my readers, I hope you get something out of this as well.

I’m Back with New Quotes

It’s been awhile since quotes have been featured on this blog and since various sayings by interesting people are not going away I thought it time to have quotes resurface. So . . .

Creativity is no longer about grabbing attention or raising consumer awareness. Its goal is to remind consumers about what is fundamental and gratifying about a brand. — Peter A. Georgescu, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Attract attention, maintain interest, create desire and get action. — E. Elmo St. Lewis, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Regardless of the moral issue, dishonesty in advertising has proved very unprofitable. — Leo Burnett, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom while discouragement often nips it at the bud. — Alex Osborn, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine. — David Ogilvy, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

I have come up with something that I think is a bizarre and novel method of execution. One designed to challenge your talents. — Twilight Zone’s “The Jeopardy Room” by Rod Serling stars Martin Landau and John van Dreelen.

Every area of trouble gives out a ray of hope, and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable. — John E. Kennedy, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Meetings are all too often the burial grounds of great ideas. — Keith Reinhard, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than with the imagination being awake? – Leonardo da Vinci

Today’s marketplace is cluttered with products that are no better and no worse than their competitors. — Phil Dusenberry, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.

And, check out various creative selections from ideasnmore.net.

Jolan tru!

The Season of Creativity

Photo by Joel Holland

Periodically, my friend, Felix Scardino, a psychotherapist here in Houston, publishes an email/blog that touches upon various aspects of life and its challenges. The below segment is his latest and I thought I’d share it on this blog. Learn and enjoy!

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In our winter message, The Season of Inwardness, Thomas Merton urged us to Trust the winter when the plant says nothing. He was reminding us that, although things appear dead, hidden within them are resources that lead to new life. With its burst of color and growth, spring validates that concept. Let this season be your teacher. Spring can remind you not to jump to dire conclusions when all seems lost, when you can’t see much in your future, or when you feel that your reserves have dried up.

Take a lesson from nature. Our resources for new ideas and insights are often so hidden that our lives look like dead branches. If you find yourself in a personal winter of doubt, confusion and fear (what Shakespeare calls the Winter of our Discontent), rest assured that there is a creative source within you. You will begin to see shoots of life and hope, which usher you into your spring. But be prepared to work for it!

In spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

                                                                        ~Margaret Atwood 

‘Smell like dirt’ means be willing to do the work, take a chance, experiment, risk disapproval, fall on your face, start over! New biomedical research suggests that you will thereby activate your healing system. We feel most alive when, acting from our deepest nature, we allow what lives inside of us to come out.

Don’t wait for the big bang of colossal insights before you roll up your sleeves. Trust the “still, small voice” of your quiet inkling and hunches–not by thinking about them, but by acting on them.

Honor them, work with them, shape them as you would clay. Speak them, write them and teach them in your office and at school. Stir them, mix them and chop them in your kitchen. Hammer them, sand them and paint them in your workshop. Make bold strokes. Make a mess. You can always clean it up and start over.

Welcome spring and your new creative self!

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

At the Intersection of Curiosity and Creativity

Seems like I’ve run across a number of articles over the past month or so dealing with a variety of topics in the realm of creativity. This posting is no different, and, yet, it is, uh, different. While many may find it difficult to define what creativity is, many will no doubt have an easy time knowing about curiosity. While everyone is curious, not everyone sees themselves as creative. Well, maybe this post will alter your perspective.

An article I recently came across by Helge Tennø discusses what happens at the intersection of creativity and curiosity, and what doesn’t happen.

He states the reason we struggle to come up with original ideas is not for a lack of creativity but a lack of curiosity.

“Every year we go into the same room with the same information and the same questions .. what do you think happens? Every year we come out with the same ideas” — frustrated workshop facilitator.

Creativity is limited to what we already know, it is only the re-combination of available information and experience. Creativity is not magic, it doesn’t produce ideas out of thin air.

In addition, most competitors think the same way, because they use the same methods and the same questions to find the same insights.

Outperforming your competition is not as much about who is the most creative or who has the deepest data. It’s as much about who can see something nobody else can.

Currently the trend is to apply a lot of data to buy our way out of this problem. Hoping that the machine will magically see connections our human brains can’t.

But machines are only reflections of our own values, ideas and biases. If we are staring down one rabbit hole the machine will only help us dig deeper.

We should therefore redesign our creative workshops. From combining information into ideas, to exploring questions we need to ask and information we don’t have.

There is a simple way to unlock this behavior: just ask “what has to be true for x to be true”, where x is your strategy, an existing product, something you are already doing .. anything.

One of the most productive ways to learn something new is experimentation.

The purpose of an experiment is not to confirm that you are correct (sometimes it is), but it should most often be used to surprise you.

To help you learn something that you didn’t know two minutes prior.

And the way to do that is to reduce the cost of an experiment to almost zero (because if experiments are expensive the organization will more likely prioritize experiments confirming their existing knowledge).

“The real measure of success is the number of experiments that can be crowded into 24 hours.” — Thomas Alva Edison

With cheap and fast experiments the company can explore hypotheses and assumptions they never tested before, learn new things, capture new insights, venture into new areas.

With their new learnings they can combine both information they never had before with questions they never asked before.

“Researchers suggest it is uncertainty, or when you think you know something then discover you don’t, that leads to curiosity and learning outcomes.” — Celeste Kidd, assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley.

In short:

We only know what we know, and we know very little. (But we know a lot more than we think we do.)

We need to shift our focus from creativity to insights and questions. And experimentation is a low hanging fruit and one of the fastest tracks we can use to get us there.

Recommended places to start your experimentation journey:

(4). Experimentation works, Stefan H. Thomke

(5). How managers can build a culture of experimentation, Frank V. Cespedes and Neil Hoyne

(6). Why Business Schools Need to Teach Experimentation, by Elizabeth R. Tenney, Elaine Costa, and Ruchi M. Watson

(7). Get Comfortable Breaking Your Product, Rik Higham

 

While I agree with most of what the author states, creativity should always embrace insights and questions. Creativity is not borne out of thin air but rather from the insights and experiences we have within us. Curiosity can definitely spur on creativity and vice versa.

 

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.

And, check out creative selections from my website.

Jolan tru!

Seven Principles for the Future of Creativity

Recently, I came across an article featuring Nick Law, global creative chairperson, Accenture Song, laying out seven principles for the future of creativity. He took a deep dive into the necessity of establishing and embodying principles as a brand. 

Law stated, “Every company needs to have consistent principles and dynamic practices. Sometimes, our industry forgets that it needs to be dynamic.” 

He shared a set of principles that can help brands cultivate a fresh perspective when it comes to generating creative business ideas. 

Nick Law, Accenture Song’s global creative chairperson was speaking at Goafest 2023

The seven principles for the future of creativity, guided by Law, emphasize the importance of embracing creativity, technology, and collaboration.

The principles are as follows:

Consistent principles, dynamic practices

Law’s first principle highlighted the need for organizations to establish robust principles as a framework while adapting to the changing practices of the industry. 

“Without such principles in businesses, scaling becomes a challenge. We need to maintain a strong marketing philosophy while fostering innovation within a company,” he said. 

Singular vision, collaborative culture

The second principle emphasizes the importance of collaboration in the creative process. 

Law shared, “The need for mixing and matching different talents and fostering a collaborative environment within teams is key.”

First, design yourself

Law’s third principle shared the prominence of being sharp at the top level and connecting at the bottom level of the marketing funnel. 

He said, “Organizations should have effective communication and connection between top-level management and employees at all levels. Clear communication and understanding of the company’s goals are essential for a brand’s success.” 

Loose with ideas, tight with execution 

Law’s fourth principle pointed out the need for creatives to be dynamic and adaptable in the face of rapid change. 

He shared, “When it comes to ideation, it is key to connecting the diverse abilities, organization, and consumers to foster creativity within an organization. There should be both generalists and specialists within a business to ensure ideas are executed effectively.” 

Technology is creative 

“Creativity cannot exist without technology. Creatives should work closely with evolving technologies to achieve impactful storytelling,” expressed Law.

Deep simplicity

Law shared an example from his experience working with Nike, where a complex product was simplified to ensure consumers were not overwhelmed with unnecessary complexity. 

“While creating Nike Pods we had complicated the process with too much data. The key is to marry both creative ideation and technology to effectively target a consumer,” he said.

Start in the middle

Law also touched on the evolving marketing funnel, stating that the consideration phase is now key in the consumer journey. 

He concluded, “Businesses should look at human connections and emotions in the bottom level of the funnel. We should aim to create an impactful storytelling approach to engage consumers effectively.”

 

During the past ten to twenty years, creativity has seen a world of change and, yet, there are certain truths that, while tested, always bear fruit. Nick’s seven principles seem to echo those truths. Today’s creatives should take these seven principles to heart. You won’t be sorry.

 

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.

And, check out creative selections from my website.

Jolan tru!

Top Tips for Kick-Starting Creativity

Albeit some years back, I came up with a list of tips for kick-starting one’s creativity. These are tips I’ve learned over the years and have put into practice. May they serve you as well as they have me!

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.

 

Feel free to review various creative selections from my website.

Quotes and Quotes

Each month I feature a variety of quotes from different personalities on different subjects. However, they all center around one topic: Creativity. Enjoy!

 

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. – Erich Fromm

There is nothing like a dream to create the future. – Victor Hugo

A good ad should be like a good sermon: It must not only comfort the afflicted, it also must afflict the comfortable. — Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Horace Mann said, ‘Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.’ Let’s paraphrase that tonight. Let us be ashamed to LIVE without that victory. — Rod Serling “A Most Non-Political Speech” May 31st 1964, Delivered by Dick Van Dyke/ Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Time is what we want most and what we use worst. – William Penn

Like the musical score, a mission statement is only as good as the performance it inspires. — Keith Reinhard, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

The heart of creativity is discipline. — William Bernbach, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Let’s gear our advertising to sell goods, but let’s recognize also that advertising has a broad social responsibility. — Leo Burnett, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Why do musicians compose symphonies and poets write poems? They do it because life wouldn’t have any meaning for them if they didn’t. That’s why I draw cartoons. It’s my life.⁠ —Charles M. Schulz⁠

Good advertising is written from one person to another. When it is aimed at millions, it rarely moves anyone. — Fairfax M. Cone, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

 

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.