Why Generic Ideation Tools Fall Short for Remote Creative Agencies
Many virtual brainstorming tools focus on one main function—creating a shared virtual space for ideas. Platforms like Miro and Google Docs provide simple online frameworks for brainstorming, offering a blank canvas or a shared document where teams can contribute ideas in realtime or over time. While effective for light collaboration, these tools were not developed specifically for the advertising business. Here’s why that matters and what you can do about it.
The creative process in advertising.
The creative process within agencies—be they outside or in-house—is time tested and true. It starts with an opportunity or need, a creative brief is written, a team of two (writer/art director) are assigned and briefed, ideas are developed by the team and shared with the rest of the account team, and the best ideas are comped up for presentation to the client.
It’s a solid process and has worked since the Mad Men days. However, we were all thrown a giant infectious curveball in 2020 that pushed us to work remotely. And, while many agencies and in-house agencies are slowly trying to move back to in-person work, it’ll likely never be 100%. Which puts pressure on agencies to find the virtual solutions to facilitate creative development with remote teams without the need for rubber bands and paper clips.
Are shared virtual work spaces enough for the business of advertising?
Ideasicle X mirrors the agency’s existing creative process.
When I first contemplated building a web application for agencies, it was well before that infectious curveball was thrown. Our coders were already coding in 2019 because we knew we had a better way for agencies to come up with ideas, full stop.
How did we know? I worked for ad greats like Jeff Goodby, Dan Wieden (RIP), and David Lubars. I strategized within the creative-team milieu on big brands like Microsoft, Titleist, Miller High Life, and others. And led countless pitches at Arnold where only great ideas win. We know advertising and with my developer team we mirrored the exact process listed above but made it all possible virtually on our web application.
Shop online for the right talent. If you don’t have the right team on an assignment, it’s over before you begin. Ideasicle X enables users to find the right creative minds by “shopping” our pre-vetted pool of Ideasicle Experts online or uploading their employees and/or their own go-to freelancers, ensuring every project is matched with the right high-caliber talent. Clients can review bios and invite 8-10 creatives with the hope of getting four who can do it and agree to the money and timing (more on “four” in a minute).
Briefing the teams. In advertising, a creative brief is foundational. It’s more than just a list of to dos, it’s a strategic document designed to inspire specific, targeted creativity. While platforms like Google Docs and Miro can house a brief, Ideasicle X goes further by providing structured virtual space for an uploaded pdf of the brief and a video from the agency explaining the brief top-to-bottom. The briefing materials stay integrated within the virtual project, ensuring the team can refer to it and easily go back to it when additional input is needed.
Realtime monitoring of the team’s ideas (as they happen). Most virtual platforms allow the user to see the ideas as they are posted onto the shared space. Ideasicle X goes much further and allows the user to assign an “Idea Director” to the job, whose responsibility is to follow the ideas as they are posted and then course-correct the team as necessary. It also allows the user to assign up to three “Observers” to the job. Observers can see what’s posted but can’t interact with the team in any way. This visibility into the job ensures that the creative teams stay aligned with the strategy and no time is wasted. Impossible to do with traditional freelancers, who go away for a few days and you pray to God their work is on strategy when they come back.
No more day rates. Managing payment for freelance talent can be challenging in remote setups. Freelancers charge day rates, but did they actually work all those days? And what is “working” when it comes to creativity anyway? Ideas don’t always hit you when you’re at a desk. We turned the freelance model on its head. Users of Ideasicle X propose what they wish to pay for idea projects and the talent then choose whether or not to accept the job. It’s not about day rates, it’s about contributions. We see anywhere from $1,000-2,000 per expert for a one-week idea session on the platform.
Seamless online payment process that motivates. Speaking of money, while platforms like Slack or Google Docs focus only on spaces for idea generation, Ideasicle X integrates payment functionality directly within the platform using Stripe. Once the job is over, it’s a click of a button and the team is automatically paid. This not only simplifies the payment process but also keeps freelancers motivated and engaged, knowing they’ll be paid securely and promptly. Of course, if you’re using employees on the team you won’t have to pay them and we have ways to customized the payments proposed (even if it’s $0). But the payment functionality is one of the final steps that solidifies Ideasicle X as an end-to-end solution for agencies and not just a virtual workspace.
Added bonus: in many ways virtual is better than in-person.
Ideasicle X conforms to how agencies already work so it can all happen seamlessly online. But there’s a ginormous added bonus. A bonus that even I was shocked to learn in the early years of Ideasicle.
We’ve found that in many ways creativity increases when teams are working virtually. We’ve written many pieces on this dynamic on this very blog, but here are the biggies:
Creativity happens out there, in the wild. You never know when inspiration will strike. Virtual platforms enable creativity to happen anywhere—whether it’s aisle 3 in a grocery store or on a mountain hike. When inspiration strikes, creatives can post the idea instantly from wherever and whenever they are. The team is immediately notified and invited to make the idea even better. In this way, Ideasicle X conforms to the nature of creativity while accelerating the team’s engagement.
A thing called the “online disinhibition effect”. Fear is kryptonite to creativity. When people are online they say things they would never say to someone’s face. Bad for social media, great for creativity. This lack of restraint creatives feel when online encourages bolder, more creative ideas, leading to unexpected and fearless solutions.
Removes human biases that get in the way. When it’s virtual, everyone on the team is reduced to a typeface. That removes bias, flattening hierarchy and eliminating unconscious body language or status cues that unconsciously influence how we perceive each other’s ideas.
Four is the ideal number. We found through trial and error that four is the “Goldilocks” number for virtual teams. Any more than that and the team clams up and feel the fear of being on stage. Any less than that and we lose the exponential output resulting from four different perspectives colliding on the assignment. We’ve found that four is way more than the traditional two.
No more rubber bands and paperclips.
Jen Wiese, a creative director in the Boston area and an Ideasicle Expert, responded to a Facebook question I posted recently asking creatives how they currently work when they’re ideating remotely. She said:
“I use all sorts of tools to collaborate & brainstorm with my design folks. Slack huddles, iPhone, Canva, uploads of sketches from paper to iPhone to whatever we’re using to communicate, screenshots & links pasted into an email.”
Sorta sad, actually. But it’s not just necessary anymore. Creatives no longer need to piece together various virtual brainstorm apps, Zoom meetings, Slacking this and emailing that, in order to maximize creative output while working remotely. We’ve thought it through and integrated everything an advertising agency needs in one place. And we keep on innovating and improving the platform every month.
How about a demo? We’ll show you under the hood and see if it’s right for your agency.
It’s time for agencies to deploy an idea generating tool worthy of their talent.
Will Burns is the Founder & CEO of the revolutionary virtual-idea-generating company, Ideasicle X. He’s an advertising veteran from such agencies as Wieden & Kennedy, Goodby Silverstein, Arnold Worldwide, and Mullen. He was a Forbes Contributor for nine years writing about creativity in modern branding. Sign up for the Ideasicle Newsletter and never miss a post like this. Will’s bio.