what can organizations do to protect creative and innovative concepts?

Introduction

What is a Creative Concept?

A creative concept is an overarching "Big Idea" that captures audience interest, influences their emotional response and inspires them to accept activeness. It is a unifying theme that can exist used across all campaign messages, calls to action, communication channels and audiences. Typically, the creative concept is embodied in a headline , tagline and a key visual. Successful creative concepts are distinctive, memorable, unifying and relevant. Some examples include: Nike's "Just Practise It" campaign, the "Got Milk?" campaign and the Crimson Ribbon Campaign.

The "Large Idea" behind the UNICEF Tap Projection was to brand tap h2o in New York City. The campaign asked eating place diners to donate $one for the tap h2o restaurants unremarkably serve free of accuse. Diners were told that their $1 donation would provide clean, safe water to a child for forty days.

Creative concepts are based on the advice strategy and creative brief. This ensures that concepts are informed by a potent understanding of the situation, the audience, the channels that volition be used, the objectives the entrada seeks to reach and the benefits the audience will respond to. The creative team develops multiple creative concepts based on this information and then concept tests them to decide which one resonates best with the audience.

The Green Star entrada in Tanzania developed several creative concepts for their family planning campaign. The winning concept was to recognize everyone who was positively involved with family unit planning as a star. The concept could be used across audiences. For example, married couples who decided together which method to utilize were stars, media houses that reported accurately on family planning were stars and dedicated family planning service providers were stars. The concept worked across many channels, including print, community and mobile.

What is NOT a Creative Concept?

Creative concepts are NOT final products. They are rough drafts that give an idea of how the campaign could accept shape. Keeping this in mind, creative concepts are not :

Dissimilar colors or fonts	These are graphic design elements that volition be developed in the executions (materials) after concept testing. Colors and fonts should be tested during the pretesting stage.
Different models	Concepts typically use stock photography or rough illustrations to convey the general idea. Talent selection for the bodily models to be used in the concluding executions can be older/younger/shorter/ taller/happier/more serious. Models should exist tested during pretesting, once the concept is solidified.
Unlike informational letters or calls to action	The concept should be strong and overarching enough to work for all letters/calls to action.

Why Develop a Creative Concept?

In today's busy and constantly irresolute communication environs, social and behavior modify communication (SBCC) must be creative and strategic to compete with commercial advertising and capture the audience'south attention. The creative concept shapes the core of the SBCC campaign, which helps create consistency across letters and materials. Developing creative concepts is also of import because it allows the team to:

Test which benefit is most appealing to the audience
See how the entrada volition piece of work (or not) across multiple media channels
Identify an idea that ties the whole campaign together
Accomplish the audience more finer past finding 'big ideas' that resonate with them

Who Should Generate the Creative Concept?

In that location are different approaches to generating artistic concepts. One arroyo is to outsource creative development to an advertizing or creative agency. The creative agencies develop several concepts and examination them with the audience. Oftentimes, a committee made up of SBCC and regime professionals reviews the concepts and makes a final decision based on concept test results and entrada objectives. Another option is to hold a pattern workshop with multiple stakeholders, including SBCC professionals, technical/topical experts, service delivery partners, government officials, multi-sectoral bodies, audience members and a creative team, including creative directors, graphic designers, illustrators, script writers, copy writers, producers, actors and musicians. During the design workshop, the participants review the creative brief and concur artistic concept brainstorming sessions. The team needs a leader and it is sometimes helpful to have a creative practiced facilitate the exercise.

When Should the Creative Concept Exist Developed?

The creative brief marks the beginning of the artistic procedure and acts as a "creative contract" agreed upon by all partners. The creative brief provides a road map for developing the artistic concepts. Materials and activities are developed based on the winning creative concept.

Learning Objectives

After completing the activities in the creative concept guide, the team will:

Produce a fix of creative concepts based on enquiry findings and strategic insights
Select and refine the ideas that all-time support the SBCC strategy and artistic brief

Estimated Time Needed

Developing a creative concept can take anywhere from a few days to two months depending on who is on the squad, how experienced squad members are at creating campaign concepts, campaign size and number of channels selected, time needed for individual brains

Prerequisites

Creative Brief

Steps

Stride i: Develop a Problem Statement

Before property a brainstorming session, develop a problem statement based on information in the creative brief and the communication strategy. Information technology may help to review and revise (as necessary) the trouble statement developed during the situation analysis. A problem argument is a concise description of the issue that needs to be addressed past the SBCC campaign. Information technology answers three questions:

What is the problem or communication challenge to be addressed? This explains why the communication campaign is needed. [Instance: Low uptake of family planning services]
Who has the problem? This describes the audience to exist reached. [Example: Young married women ages xv - 24 in Kirongo region]
What volition the audience do as a result of the campaign? This will explain how the projection will measure out success. [Case: Speak to a health worker nearly contraceptives]

Sample problem statement

Even though services are available, very few immature married women in Kirongo region utilize modern contraception. This campaign will inspire young married women ages fifteen-24 in Kirongo to talk with a wellness worker almost contraceptives.

Step 2: Select the Brainstorm Squad

Assemble a team to conduct a artistic concepts begin. If outsourcing, creative bureau staff may do the brainstorming. If conducting a blueprint workshop, be certain to invite members from a diverseness of backgrounds, including government staff, creative professionals, SBCC experts and technical experts. Analyze the team fellow member roles before brainstorming sessions brainstorm:

Squad leader: responsible for developing the problem statement and inviting people to the brainstorm, presents the trouble argument with background data.
Facilitator: leads the begin, encourages full participation and the flow of ideas, and keeps the grouping focused on the task. The facilitator must be familiar with the creative brief, situation analysis, communication strategy and other groundwork information.
Annotation taker: writes downward ideas generated during the brainstorm, recalls ideas during the session every bit requested and compiles the notes into a [cursory] report.
Squad members: share ideas even if they seem unlikely or crazy, respect the contributions of others and actively participate in the brainstorm session.

Step three: Organize the Brainstorming Session

Arrange a fourth dimension and place for the session and invite participants. Ensure that the room is comfortable and has markers and a flip chart, white board or blank newspaper to capture ideas. To encourage creativity, it may exist helpful to decorate the room, provide toys to play with or play fun music.

Participants are more likely to exist creative if their minds are open up and prepared for brainstorming. When inviting participants, include any tasks they should exercise before arriving at the brainstorming session. For example, it may assist them to read or view something inspirational, endeavour something new or interrupt their usual routines.

Footstep 4: Provide Groundwork for the Brainstorm

At the kickoff of the brainstorm session, the facilitator states the objectives and expected outcomes of the meeting to create a common purpose. The facilitator then outlines what will happen in the meeting and the methods that will be used, such as individual idea generation, group brainstorming, small group work or critique sessions.

Adjacent, the facilitator helps the participants set ground rules for the brainstorm. For example:

Quantity over quality
No idea is a bad thought
Only i person can talk at a time
Nowadays ideas as speedily equally possible
No comments on whatever of the ideas during the brainstorm

Remind participants of what they have agreed to by posting these rules around the room. The facilitator will likely need to guide participants to follow the rules.

The team leader (or facilitator) then presents the problem statement and primal points from the artistic brief. Team members, including partners, share summaries of enquiry findings from the analyses conducted. This will help footing the idea generation, making information technology more strategic.

Step five: Break the Ice

To produce creative ideas, participants need to open up their minds and feel comfortable with each other. A silly ice billow or fun activeness can help participants arrive a artistic mind-set and not be as concerned almost what others remember of them. See the Resource section for links to ice breakers and other activities.

There are many ways to acquit a brainstorm session for artistic concepts. The following steps present one mutual method. Choose a method that works all-time for your group of participants.

Step half dozen: Individual Idea Generation

Beginning by giving participants a prepare amount of fourth dimension to generate ideas individually (30 minutes is usually good). Provide individuals with sticky notes and ask them to call up of themes or ideas that would encourage the desired alter and communicate a benefit for making that change. Commonly, this stage involves coming upward with an paradigm or overarching idea, simply individuals may remember of a headline or tagline , as well. Individuals can depict, write or limited their ideas in other fun ways on their viscid notes.

The purpose is to generate every bit many ideas as possible. Encourage all ideas, not merely "good" ones; ideas tend to go amend every bit the session progresses. Remind participants that now is not the time to evaluate their ideas. Taking time to sort adept from bad will break their creative momentum.

Once the time limit is reached, inquire everyone to put their viscous notes up on a lath. If time allows, participants can read their ideas out loud as they put them on the lath. Then permit participants walk effectually so they can see all the ideas up on the boards. If the group is smaller, the facilitator tin ask everyone to work together to group the ideas. If the group is large, assign a few people to group them.

Step 7: Expand Ideas

Next, expand on the groups of creative ideas. This is often washed in small groups, but information technology too can be washed all together, especially if the group is small. Split the participants into small groups of three or four, ensuring a good mix of backgrounds (creative, technical, communication, government). Assign each a grouping and ask them to further develop that creative thought. The small groups should come up with a visual and a headline, slogan or tagline that goes forth with the visual. Fix a time limit and remind participants of the ground rules.

The facilitator can provide participants with methods for expanding on ideas, such as:

Dissection: Take the idea autonomously and discuss how to improve or alter each role.
SCAMPER: Think of ways to substitute, combine, adapt, change, put to some other utilise, eliminate or contrary the idea.
Challenge assumptions: Ask what assumptions the thought makes and challenge them. Dig deeper to challenge the way the group views the problem and the audition.
Opposites: Inquire what is the opposite of the idea and whether it could piece of work.
"Yes, and…": Read the idea aloud. Then, say, "yes, and…", adding a new piece to the idea.

A entrada to reduce concurrent sexual partnerships developed two top concepts. 1. Tagline: "Some things are not meant to be shared." The concept involved people sharing unexpected items like sugarcane, mucilage, and toothbrushes. 2. Tagline: "How many are we?" The concept involved presenting scenarios where a couple thinks they are alone (car, eating place, sleeping room). Boosted characters would go along to enter the scene, creating obvious romantic linkages to the master characters and each other. The couple ends upward thinking, "Is it really but the two of us, or are we many more?"

When the time is up, each grouping presents their ideas to the larger grouping. During presentations, participants can help refine ideas using positive phrases like, "Aye, and…" The note taker should record every idea presented. Ideas tin can be written on a white lath or flipchart, recorded using visual notes or graphic recording, or captured using various applications and software.

If participants get stuck during a brainstorm, the facilitator can encourage creativity using various techniques:

Roadblock removal. Go rid of all barriers. Inquire what participants would do if there were no limit on time, coin or other resources.
Inspirational objects. Select a physical object from the room and ask participants to come up with ideas that include or are related to it.
Existing ideas. Inquire participants to share ideas from existing advice programs they believe are artistic and inspiring. The ideas do non take to exist related to health. Ask the group to imagine how these ideas could work for the problem they are trying to accost.
Roadblock introduction. Create a ridiculous barrier to get participants' brains working in a new fashion. For instance, tell them all the audience members are blind, or that they only have a very minor amount of coin.
Outrageous thoughts. Enquire participants to advise ideas that are fun, but risky – and those that could become them into trouble. Sometimes the best ideas outset off crazy!
"What Would He or She Exercise?" Inquire participants to imagine how someone else might solve the problem. This could be someone famous, a farmer or a small kid.
"What is the opposite of what nosotros want?"Ask participants to describe the opposite of what they desire to reach. Once they have some good ideas flowing, enquire them to switch directions to generate ideas of what they exercise desire.
Rotate. Ask participants to modify their physical position. For example, they tin can switch to a different group or move to a new location.

Footstep 8: Select and Refine the Ii to Three Best Ideas

In one case all of the ideas have been presented, the facilitator leads participants in an exercise to identify the strongest ones. The facilitator may have participants fill up out a rating matrix (encounter Templates for an case), or vote on the best ideas using a dot vote or other method. Participants should proceed the post-obit criteria in listen when selecting ideas:

Does it follow the creative brief and communication strategy?
- Is it appropriate for the audience?
- Does it address the communication objectives, primal benefits and barriers?
- Can it be rolled out in multiple ways across several media channels?
Is information technology 'fresh', new, outside the box? Does it capture attention?
Does it have the potential for expansion?

The facilitator reviews the results and identifies the superlative three ideas. Using methods like Round Robin and half dozen Thinking Hats, the facilitator then helps the group to refine the tiptop ideas into terminal artistic concepts. Some questions to consider include:

What are the good and challenging/potentially problematic aspects of this idea?
How might we fix the challenging aspects?
How can this idea be presented in a way that makes information technology real for the audience?
How can this idea work throughout the campaign/program/strategy?

Step 9: Check Feasibility

After the brainstorming session, check the 3 concluding concepts again to ensure they are viable and consequent with the artistic brief. For each, consider each of these questions:

Volition this work?
Will it interest the audience? Would it offend any audience members?
Is upkeep sufficient to support the idea?
Can this idea exist promoted through the communication channels selected for this programme/campaign?

For each feasible concept, search the Internet and query personal contacts to ensure the idea is not already in apply by another system or for another issue.

Pace 10: Fix Visual Presentations of Concepts

The creative squad now develops the terminal three concepts visually and verbally then that they can be tested with the audition. The almost mutual approach is to develop a concept board containing a headline, tagline and a key visual. The visual is an prototype that complements the idea and serves as a catalyst for discussion. Concept boards can exist illustrated or stock photography tin can be used. Sometimes the concepts can exist presented through a storyboard for a TV spot, an outline of a radio spot or a written description of how the concept would roll out across multiple media. Below are a couple examples of concept boards. Run across the Samples department for more.

For Folic Acrid utilise:

For controlling alochol consumption:

Creative concepts are crude drafts – just plenty to convey an idea. The team tin employ electronic presentations to develop them, with stock photos or basic images, or they can draw basic figures on newspaper. In one case developed, it is helpful to present the concepts to the original grouping of participants to vet them. And then, the concepts are tested with the audience to get feedback before developing materials.

Templates

Creative Concept Rating Matrix Template

Samples

Live & Thrive Infant and Young Child Feeding Community-based Support Group Model in Viet Nam

Stand Proud, Get Circumcised

Creative Concept Mockup Example

External Resources

http://world wide web.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play)

http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_tan_on_creativity

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence

https://www.safaribooksonline.com/blog/2014/12/04/how-to-creative-brainstorm/

http://scottberkun.com/essays/34-how-to-run-a-brainstorming-meeting/

http://www.inspireux.com/2013/07/xviii/tips-for-structuring-better-brainstorming-se…

http://bridgeable.com/facilitated-ideation-sessions/

Tips & Recommendations

Before brainstorming, participants should open their minds to inspiration from the world around them. Some ways to exercise this include:
- Read a novel, look at magazines and newspapers, or visit websites.
- Change normal routines—work from a new location, listen to a different radio station, interact with new people or exercise things in a dissimilar order.
- Talk to people in different fields to learn about the creative ideas that take worked for them, and think nigh how these ideas might apply.
- Expect at examples from other countries to spark ideas.
Hold the brainstorming session in a artistic environment. Decorate the room with unique objects, such as sculptures, architectural models and toys, photographs or drawings that may spark artistic thinking. Play unusual music as the session begins and during breaks.
Mix up small groups, making sure there are artistic, technical, communication and government people in each brainstorming grouping.
Practice not become discouraged if the outset brainstorming session fails to produce practiced ideas. Hold some other session with different participants.
Do non evaluate ideas when they are presented. It kills the new ideas.

Lessons Learned

Many people call back they are not creative, and dissever the earth into creative and non-artistic people. This is not the instance and creative concept team members need to believe in their ability to be creative. Facilitators can nurture this self-confidence by offering encouragement and a non-judgmental attitude.
About people fear the judgment of their peers, even at work. This fright causes people to think and speak conservatively. They might have a wild idea, simply are afraid to share it. Helping people feel secure by providing a trusted environment makes it more probable they will feel free to express their ideas.
Let people brainstorm in whatsoever language they feel most comfy.
During brainstorming, focus on the quantity of ideas, not the quality. When people come up with equally many ideas equally possible in the shortest time allowed, they are more likely to innovate.
Brainstorming generates much more creative outcomes when everybody follows agreed-upon rules. Information technology helps to postal service brainstorming rules on the walls—things like: "defer judgment," "go for quantity" or "think big." Providing written rules helps people break quondam rules and norms that they might bring to the artistic process.
When leaders and facilitators beginning out sharing bad or silly ideas, information technology frees other participants to speak their ideas. Information technology is disquisitional to have an environment where everybody feels comfortable sharing their ideas.
A practiced facilitator is essential to a productive brainstorming session. Cull a facilitator with good listening skills, precipitous grouping awareness and the ability to help people express their ideas, especially those who are usually quieter.

Glossary & Concepts

Advice challenge : The gap between what a grouping of people is doing and what they should be doing to correct a wellness trouble. This gap is what a communication campaign is designed to address.
Concept board : A visual representation of an thought that usually contains a headline, visual and tagline.
Artistic cursory : A short document outlining the audience, objective, promise, key bulletin content and the communication channels that will be used—a succinct account of a campaign strategy.
Creative concept : The overarching artistic theme that ties together all elements of an SBCC campaign. It is an imaginative plan for capturing the audience's heart and listen.
Headline : The lead line that is usually at the top of a impress execution with the most prominence.
Tagline : A phrase or slogan that identifies a production or behavior. Taglines are short and memorable. They requite the audition a reason to do what they are being asked to exercise.
Problem statement : A curtailed clarification of the issue that the communication campaign volition address. It should indicate why a communication campaign is needed, the people who are affected and the behavior(southward) those people should adopt.
Stock photography : Photographs of common people, places, landmarks or things that can be bought and used for pattern purposes. Typically, they are used to salve money on a photographer.
Storyboard : A fix of illustrated panels, displayed in sequence, which visually tells a story. A storyboard shows what happens in a story by drawing out the contents of the story.
Stakeholders : Those who are affected by, take a direct involvement in or are somehow involved with the health or social trouble.

Resources and References

Resources

Developing and Testing Artistic Concepts

References

Mark W. Stuhlfaut & Chan Yun Yoo, A tool for evaluating advertizing concepts: Desirable characteristics equally viewed by creative practitioners, Journal of Marketing Communications, Book 19, Outcome 2, 2013, pages 81-97, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13527266.2010.550009 (accessed May 2015)
Swee Hoon Anga, Siew Meng Leonga*, Yih Hwai Leea & Seng Lee Loua Necessary just not sufficient: Across novelty in advertising creativity, Journal of Marketing Communications, Volume 20, Outcome 3, 2014, pages 214-230. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13527266.2012.677464?src=recsys#.VVXMndGJjcs (accessed May 2015)
Erin Schreiner, The divergence between advert campaigns, strategies and concepts. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-betwixt-advertizement-campaigns-strategies-concepts-17682.html (accessed May 2015)
Riku Vassinen, The seven characteristics of the keen concept, Stand Strategy, http://standupstrategy.org/2012/07/11/the-seven-characteristics-of-the-one thousand... (accessed May 2015)

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Source: https://www.thecompassforsbc.org/how-to-guides/how-develop-creative-concept