Here you’ll find relevant use cases for Ideasicle X. Articles on the art of generating ideas while working remotely. Insights and studies into creativity itself. All from the desk of our founder and CEO, Will Burns.
Ah, mid-December. The season of holiday cheer, last-minute shopping sprees, and—if you’re a marketer or an agency—a full-blown panic attack. Budgets need to be spent. Campaigns need to launch. And, oh yeah, the Super Bowl is coming. It’s enough to make even the most seasoned pro make like Griswold and reach for the eggnog. But at Ideasicle X, we say: breathe. We got this.
Read MoreI spoke recently at the In-house Agency Forum about the many ways virtual idea generation is better than in-person. Things like this thing called online disinhibition, it’s asynchronous, it allows creativity to happen in the wild, etc. Worth considering as agencies contemplate moving creative people back to the offices or go hybrid. We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Read MoreEverybody’s talking about Coca Cola’s new Christmas ad, which was made entirely with artificial intelligence. The issues people have with it are many. Everything from it being creepy to others saying Coca Cola cheaped out and didn’t want to pay real actors. I also found the ad to be creepy, particularly the scenes with people in them. And it was in the creepy feeling that I had a small spiritual epiphany.
Read MoreMany 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, it doesn’t take long to realize these tools were not developed for the advertising business. Google Docs wasn’t even developed for idea generation. Here’s why that matters and what you can do about it.
Read MoreMany businesses think their logo is their brand. Spoiler alert: it’s not. A logo, like a brand name, is simply a symbol that represents a brand, but it doesn’t define the brand itself. What makes a brand truly powerful goes much deeper than visuals or words.
Read More2024 is moving by at a blinding pace. But 2025 is giving us clues as to what marketers could be doing now in order to get ready. We want you to be prepared, so we’ve been thinking about what the three most important “kinds” of ideas marketers can be thinking about now in preparation for what will likely be a wild 2025.
Read MoreIn much of the advertising world, the creative brief is treated like a static document—a checklist, a rulebook, a set of instructions. But at Ideasicle X, we see it differently. For us, the brief isn’t the final word—it’s the first spark. It ignites the creative process, and while the brief itself doesn’t change during the creative process, its influence on the creative team grows and evolves as the ideas take shape. When approached the right way, a brief doesn’t dictate creative solutions, it fuels them, turning into something dynamic and alive.
Read MoreI talk to agencies all the time, from the large global players to the nimble boutiques. I talk to clients all the time, too. And as I hear their stories, a few clear themes are emerging. Themes that will require a more energetic and potent way to for agencies to differentiate from other agencies.
Read MoreThe advertising world often worships the new, the fresh, and the young. But dismissing older creative people as "out of touch" is highly short-sighted. Are experienced creatives more expensive? Sure, on paper. But here are five reasons why older creatives can be invaluable to any advertising or marketing team, despite their higher ticket prices:
Read MoreThe advertising world is in flux, and so is the way we think about utilizing creative talent. Good talent is expensive and hard to find, the talent an agency has is maxed out, and to top it off client budgets aren’t getting any bigger. In fact, brands are rejecting traditional "agency of record" relationships. Instead, brands are dipping in and out of agencies as they build up their in-house teams. What is an advertising agency to do in this environment? I’ll tell you. Agencies need temporary help on a continuous basis.
Read MoreRecently, we ran an idea project that brought together Ideasicle Experts and students from Texas State University to collaborate virtually. One student, Jason Lovejoy, was so impressed by his experience that he introduced me to his professor, Sage Baker, a Lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State. Jason believed our platform could be an excellent tool for university collaboration. We set up a meeting with the three of us, and here’s what happened.
Read MoreIn the world of creativity, there has long been an unspoken divide—those who seem naturally gifted with imaginative prowess (like our Ideasicle Experts) and those who struggle to come up with anything original. But with the advent of AI, that gap is starting to close. AI is not just a tool for automation and efficiency; it's now being harnessed to elevate the creative abilities of individuals. A recent study from the University of Exeter reveals just how AI is leveling the playing field.
Read MoreWe recently took on a project that challenged us in ways we hadn't anticipated. It started with a bold client (a research company) who proposed a unique approach: form three teams composed of both our seasoned Ideasicle Experts and college students from Texas—students who represented the very market we were targeting. Sounded smart, at least on paper. But could students with very little life experience bring something valuable to the table? Um, yeah.
Read MoreAs you likely know if you follow us at all, we are now in development of a new service we’re calling “IX Embedded.” It moves our existing Ideasicle X virtual idea generating platform organically into an agency’s web environment. I asked Rebecca Armstrong, CEO of Portland, Oregon, agency North, to explain why North has agreed to beta test IX Embedded. Here’s what she had to say.
Read MoreI was interviewed this week by Fox News Digital about the effects of brands going “woke” in their advertising. Since my Forbes Contributor days I’ve written about the perils of brands taking sides in highly charged political issues. Because once a company takes a side—either side, mind you— the company alienates its brand to the same degree the issue is polarized.
Read MoreI talk to agency execs all the time. It’s tough out there. They’re facing a dual challenge: staying creatively competitive while also finding new revenue streams to sustain and grow their businesses. We are developing a new form factor for Ideasicle X that will not only improve an agency’s creative output, in general, it will help optimize existing creative resources while generating new revenue streams.
Read MoreThe recent news of Liberty Mutual hiring Bandits & Friends, a small 15-person agency in New York City, as their lead creative partner marks a significant shift in the advertising industry. This move away from larger, established agencies signals a broader trend: the rise of robust in-house agencies on one hand and the evolving scope of the “Agency of Record.” Is that even the right name for these agency/client relationships anymore? More on that in a minute.
Read MoreYou may not know this, but not all of the Ideasicle Experts are creatives. We have PR people, planners, retail experts, and media people, all at the ready to bring their respective perspectives to any given idea project. One of our media experts is Mike Labella. I have always found Mike to be one of the most creative media people in the business. I asked him if he’d like to be featured on the blog and, after he sent me his story, I now know why he’s so creative.
Read MoreBack when I started Ideasicle in 2010, I launched an audio podcast called the “Ideasicle Podcast.” The point of the show was to explore the concept of creativity and I invited all kinds of experts to provide their points of view. I recorded 37 episodes over a couple years and really enjoyed it. Today, I’m bringing back three of my favorite episodes: Beck, Sir Ken Robinson, and David Lubars. They are not only my favorites, they are evergreen in their content.
Read MoreImagine Godzilla and King Kong opened a lemonade stand together. That’s how I perceive this agreement between retail enemies, Staples and Amazon. At first, you hear the idea and you’re like, okay whatever, Staples is accepting returns from Amazon orders. Who cares? But dig into the details and one can see how brilliant this move is for Staples. It’s an idea Sun Tzu (“Art of War”) would be proud of. Let’s break it down.
Read More
