People throw around the word “Creative” all the time without really defining it. Some people think “creativity” means abstract things like Picasso paintings or weird Andy Warhol art:
But simply being “abstract” isn’t the only way to be creative.
For example, if Joe needs to stab a mofo, he can just grab a knife and do it:
But Joe stabbed a few too many people, now he’s in jail :-(
They don’t allow knives in jail…..so if Joe wants to stab another mofo he has to get creative. So he cobbles together some random materials he can get his hands on and creates a new type of knife:
Now Joe can get back to his regularly scheduled stabbings with his new prison shank knife!
Joe has just demonstrated creativity. He made a knife using materials traditionally not associated with making knives.
Applying different methods to the traditional way of doing things:
James Dyson came up with a “creative” solution to the ordinary fan.
Instead of a bunch of blades spinning around to create airflow, he invented a blade-free fan that pushes airflow in a totally different way.
Previously there were fans with wooden blades.
Previously there were fans with plastic blades.
Previously there were fans with steel blades.
But this jump in creativity created a fan with NO blades:
The Dyson fan used the hydrodynamics law of “entrainment” to multiply airflow. It’s when you use an existing current to augment the flow of a smaller current. This is typically used in different types of water pumps.
However the Dyson company had the insight to use this same principle to an air current. Simply applying an existing known principle to a different application made this a very “creative” way to make a fan.
Because the Dyson fan was so “different” than other fans, it was able to be sold for $300 – $500 per fan….whereas normal desk fans are relegated to the ~$50 range:
So by applying different methods to an existing invention, the Dyson company was able to sell a product for FAR more money and profit per unit.
When you are thinking of one problem, but then see something else happen that’s similar:
The story goes that when the famous scientist Issac Newton was hit in the head with an apple, that’s when he came up with the idea of gravity:
He pondered why the apple falls DOWN, instead of falling UP.
He concluded that small objects are somehow attracted towards larger objects. So the apple is simply falling TOWARDS the Earth!
This stroke of creativity was discovered because Issac Newton noticed one phenomenon (a small apple falling towards bigger Earth), and realized it worked the same for the moon.
This small realization got him on the path to calculating if this could be true….and he found this theory that smaller objects are attracted to bigger objects worked out.
Take two different fields and smash them together:
I’m always amazed at the results we get consulting clients in old school industries like real estate or health care. It’s because many parts of those industries haven’t caught up to modern marketing tools and best practices.
Simply making a LAME email signup on their website will do wonders.
Simply making a LAME autoresponder has tremendous effect.
Simply making a LAME giveaway can kill it.
By simply applying the tools from one industry to another can have a huge impact!
Machine Learning has technically been around since the 1940’s…..but computers were slow and expensive and lame at that time. However most of the mathematics required for machine learning was invented by that time already.
So only in the last decade have those mathematical principles and computers finally merged into something useful:
An interesting trifecta of everyone having phones, wireless internet access, and platforms for people to freelance turned the taxi industry upside down and massively improved the experience in the last 5 years:
We take it for granted today, but in 1995 Toy Story was released as the first ever fully computer animated movie. Since then this trend has continued. But it was the combination of movie making and computers that fostered this invention.
The more things you know, the more creative you can be:
If you have more fields of knowledge to pull from, the more creative you can be:
This means if you fill your head with more fields of expertise, your chance of “being creative” goes through the roof!
This concept is similar to our Becoming A Triple Threat concept. By adding on more skills and fields of knowledge, you become a more powerful force.
For example, if you only know Geometry. Your life is relatively limited…
You can make some cool shapes on a piece of paper but not much else:
If you know geometry AND architectural design…
Now you can turn those interesting patterns into something that can be built:
If you know Geometry AND Architectural Design AND 3D Printing….
Now you can turn those interesting patterns into real life structures, and since you’re on the bleeding edge of 3D printing technology you can even make structures that were literally IMPOSSIBLE to build with traditional manufacturing!
As you can see…..the more stuff you know, the more creative you can be.
Constraints Create Creativity:
Let’s say I give a $1,000,000 budget to throw me a copywriting conference for 200 people.
That means you get $5,000 per person to throw this conference. Easy!
You can host people in a nice hotel for a whole weekend, fly in expensive speakers, and cater every meal.
BUT….what if I take off three zeros from your budget:
Now you’ve got only a $5 budget per person.
You will have to get REALLY creative and make this a totally different type of conference.
Your conference will have gone from a “Swanky W Hotel” kind of event with 5 course meals and martinis, to more of a “picnic style” casual event serving pizza and cheap beer.
A helluva lot of people think creativity as a copywriter means trying to be clever.
This is not true.
The job of a copywriter isn’t to show off their word-wrangling skills.
My job as a copywriter is to make a sale!
It’s to convince people of the argument they’re making.
It’s to convince people on the merits of a product.
It’s to write stuff that people enjoy reading.
Showing off how many big words you know is NOT part of the copywriters job description.
How To Be Creative Cheat Sheet:
So we’ve covered 5 ways to be creative so far:
- Applying different methods to the traditional way of doing things.
- Drawing similarities between how things work (Newton).
- Take two different fields and smash them together.
- The more things you know, the more creative you can be.
- Having constraints. Constraints Create Creativity.
Based on the 5 methods presented above, we can make some exercise statements that can “tease” out some creativity:
As you can see, when you break it down, being creative is actually something that can be developed and cultivated.
So if you’re ever feeling a bit uncreative, give these questions a try and see if they help!
Creativity Generator:
This generator will come up with some “Creative Questions” you can ask yourself to see if they spark new ideas:
How do they handle [INDUSTRY] in other industries?
What if you took [INDUSTRY] and applied it to shipping.
What if you took [INDUSTRY] and applied it to software.
What if you took [INDUSTRY] and applied it to movie making.
What if you took [INDUSTRY] and applied it to real estate.
What if you were only allowed to do [INDUSTRY] for $1,000. How would you do it?
What if you were only allowed to do [INDUSTRY] for $100. How would you do it?
What if you were only allowed to do [INDUSTRY] for $10. How would you do it?
If you had to work on [INDUSTRY] alone, how would you do it?
If you had a team of 5 people, how would you do [INDUSTRY] differently?
If you had a team of 20 people, how would you do [INDUSTRY] differently?
If you had a team of 20 people, how would you do [INDUSTRY] differently?
How does [INDUSTRY] apply to gravity?
Who is the most success [INDUSTRY] person in the world. How can I emulate them?
What company do I admire or envy for their [INDUSTRY] skills.
What do other [INDUSTRY] professionals do wrong?
What do other [INDUSTRY] professionals do right?
How am I 10X better than other [INDUSTRY] professionals?
What is the biggest problem facing [INDUSTRY]?
How could I make [INDUSTRY] 5x cheaper?
How could I make [INDUSTRY] 5x better?
How could I make [INDUSTRY] 5x faster?
Share Link:
https://copywritingcourse.com/what-is-creativity/?topicconsult=
Watch the Creativity Video:
This video visually takes you through what creativity is, some examples of creativity, and how to get some creativity flowing in your own brain!
P.S. Here’s some similar articles that can help spark creativity:
- How to become a “Triple Threat”
- How to overcome “Writer’s Block”
- Creative Copywriting Exercises
- Problem Solving Activities
Bro… this is amazing!! by the way… How do you make the images with movement? Is it a .gif file?
It is gif.ted
how would you sale a pen?
by adding emotions to it. no matter what you purchase it is because of emotion. so that you get satisfied.
SO now sell me a 100$ pen.
Like this :)
https://copywritingcourse.com/sell-me-this-pen-technique/
The exploding gifs in this post are amazing!! You’ve outdone yourself, Nev.
Thanks Rob! They are far more explanatory than writing it out :)
I like to watch stand up comedy or documentaries to get a perspective on social problems that could be fixed. Comedians are street reporters and there is always truth in sarcasm! Documentaries can show some problems that might have been solved by a different industry.
You’re right, Ronnie, watching standup comedy — on Netflix, YouTube, or even better, live (small venue >>>> big venue) — is THE BEST. So great for sparking new ideas and helping you write about them tighter.
The Gary Gulman episode about joke writing on James Altucher’s podcast is a great example of this. Highly recommend.
Love Gary Gulman, I hear him on Pandora and he gets me every time.
If you like fun comedy, I would HIGHLY SUGGEST checking out “Bumping Mics” by Jeff Ross and Dave Attell on NetFlix, it’s hilarious!
Definitely agree….huge fan of comedians, they are often like the modern day philosophers (also just plain funny) :-P
I’m super impressed with this article… I want to be good at copy writing and I hope following your free articles will help me since I can’t afford the copy writing course. Lol… But thanks for the amazing job that you do.
Sorry you can’t join, but stay tuned for all the free articles (and free videos here)!
woot woot! shout out to the lame pop up box! I agree with all your sentiments in the article. Applying new teaching methods to standard lame classroom learning is kind of my thing. https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(17)32092-5/fulltext Also, always love the stick figures. my fav :)
BAHAHHAHA, this was right as you made your own lame pop-up box….but as you know: IT WORKS!!
Newbie heređ. Love what I see so far. I’m inspired. Thanks
Great post. Another aspect of creativity is to work on the underground / your infrastructure (consciousness) to boost up your creativity.
When I was practicing improvisational theater, there was this technique to improve and realize our subliminal consciousness. One of them is to practice lucid dreaming, but you don’t need to go that far. A great and simple technique is simply keep a journal near your bedside and write your dreams down.
It will be difficult in the beginning: you won’t remember your dreams, you will remember parts of it, you will remember things that you don’t want to remember. And actually that’s the purpose. It is a muscle that develops.
You can see instant results within a week. You’ll notice yourself thinking more outside the box, pulling easier from all different perspectives you mentioned in the post.
Give it a go!
Hey Sidar! You know what, I actually went through a phase where I tried exactly this technique of writing down my dreams every night so I could learn to lucid dream.
I was surprised that I would wake up and have like 7+ things written down (in horrible night-time-I-can’t-see handwriting).
I thought I only had 1 or 2 dreams a night but it’s actually way more.
I SORT of got the lucid dreaming down. I could take control over the dream for maybe 5 seconds each time before I got too excited and exited the dream.
I can’t imagine how fun it must be for people who can control an entire dream!
I left writing for almost two years now and I’m still struggling to get back my nice writing styles. I think I sick at writing right now though. For a while now I’ve been learning so many thing that are not related to my field. I think I know what to do with them now after reading this post. it’s time to bring the creativity out.
Hey man, maybe don’t concentrate on your writing style….no one reads your stuff for the STYLE! They read it for the good content and helpful information.
Just focus on that, and the style will naturally follow :)
Whoooaaa this is the most engaging article I’ve read in a long time.
Explanation style is epic.
What are some ways you can âteaseâ the creativity out of you??
I’m not sure hey, I generally get automatic connections. Usually funny. Then I role with it.
But yeah consciously doing it in terms of your exercises is something I’ll keep in mind if I get stuck.
Thanks!
Thanks Thomas!
The reason you notice this article is different is because of images. In fact there’s 20 different custom images in this post.
Glad you enjoyed, more to come soon :)
Thanks Neville this so captivating and educating. This could actually help me innovate in my field of expertise.
Why thank you Funmi! Most innovation in a field often comes from someone who just applies an innovation from ANOTHER field….so yes this is a great way to kick off some innovation :)
Great article as always Neville!
Now, writerâs block is no excuse.
Which brings me to a book by James Webb Young called âA technique for producing Ideasâ that discusses creativity.
Itâs a short read, one great copywriter said it made âwho moved my cheeseâ feel like âmoby dickâ.
But I beleive itâs a must-read for every (kopy)writer, it discusses a system on how to create/produce ideas.
Hint: Itâs putting two (ususally unrelated) ideas together to create a new idea.
Thanks Sebastian!
I agree with Mr. Webb that smashing two unrelated ideas together can often create a spark (although sometimes it falls flat). I’ll check it out!
Hi Neville, I love this. I’ve recently moved into Copywriting and I know exactly what you mean by copywriters think that being a copywriter is about using long words and confusing people with their wit. I’ve recently been hired to write web copy for a company whose previous dude wrote in riddles. Yay! They are so happy I write simply and clearly. Great stuff. Thanks.
BAHAHHA! Classic “Riddle Guy” always trying to show off his copy talents đ
If the purpose of your copy is to SELL, then usually trying to show off how smart you are through riddles only a few people will understand is definitely not the way to go.
Hopefully you can bring some clarity and simplicity to that project :)
Hi Neville,
This post just tears down all the walls that block creativity. I’m beginning to consider that maybe creativity has been so overated that it sounds abstract.
Keenly following the trail of these words, I just felt the mystery behind ‘how to get creative’ look really silly.
Thank you! This really helped.
I have a challenge getting my first gig copywriting though. I would do any gig for free! But I hope to gain some experience with credibility. I would be glad if you assisted me.
Hey Nana, I think “creativity” is way overrated also :)
It’s not something that mystical, even a computer can be creative when trained correctly.
As for getting your foot in the door copywriting, I think you should follow this method for first-time freelancers.
That should help get you started!
Hey man,
I’m just here to tell you that I think this is the first email I’ve gotten about stabbing people with a prison shank, and I think that’s swell. Keep on keepin’ on.
Hey….gotta give prison shanking some credit for its creativity đ
When I need to come up with creative ideas, I just open my notebook and skim through the 300 visual ideas I came up with and have a look at some of my raw materials around the house (I have a creative box with magnets, colorful strings, boxes, etc). Using not just my mind, but also my hands (touching some of these objects) sets me to incubate great ideas.
Other times, I just go to a museum or go to a live concert to listen to a band I would never listen to normally.
Oh that’s a great tactic. I also do the same, where I look through my old notes for ideas. And since most of my notes are handwritten kind of like this, there’s something about that tactile experience that boosts creativity.
Very kreative! Love your stuff!
Thanks Maggie, very Kool of you :)
Come now Neville! It is almost 2020.
It isn’t a $5 per person picnic.
It’s a “Millenial Modern Meetup”; Where instead of all the same old fancy boring stuff, people get to all pick ONE craft beer and go try to sell it to someone else. It’s a “game”. Totally not an event cost issue.
Also, movies and tv.
If it is for some reason popular.
There is probably something in it that works.
(Disclaimer: This creativity tactic is not to be confused with an excuse to binge watch netflix…unless you do that anyway ; )
Hahhaa, this seems like not a good technique đ
Whenever i need to come up with something really creative – like – WAY OUT OF THE BOX creative – i do this:
Think of 3-5 things that popup into my mind, that will be creative ideas or solutions – ignore them – since they were the first things that popped up to mind. Come up with 3 more ideas – ignore them too. And now, since i eliminated all the “mediocre” ideas, i will now be forced to come up with extra creative ideas :)
It is sort of a warmup to help me come out with better ideas. Works every time.
Oh cool! I used to write ALL ideas down when brainstorming, now I do something similar where I don’t write anything down, and the best ideas just naturally bubble to the top. Cool technique Yair!
Hi Nev we learn a lot from you and please make you articles easy to understand like this one because we learning English and can’t understand everything. Anyways thanks for this and visual format blog, very helpful.
You’re welcome Learner…..yes these more visual articles make everything much easier to understand :)
Never thought about creativity in this light, especially with copywriting. It almost seems like in some cases you have to turn the creativity down to get your point across the quickest.
Hey Reed, yes for some copywriters they need to turn the creative juices DOWN a bit. I often get people who will sway far from the subject so they can make a creative joke, but after a while the reader has no idea what topic they are on đ