Tame the Unusual Idea, with Thomas Leblanc and Vincent Ramsay-Lemelin

ArticleCreativity

Finding, capturing, selling and executing the right idea requires a journey that can be filled with challenges, obstacles, myths and misconceptions. That’s why La Factry is launching a revamped version of its Perfecting the Art of the Big Idea, a one-day boot camp for communications, marketing and creative professionals. Thomas Leblanc and Vincent Ramsay-Lemelin, two experts from the world of media and advertising, will guide participants through a creative process that not only allows big ideas to emerge, but also to come to life.

What is a “big idea”? What distinguishes a big idea from a normal idea?

Thomas: It’s a term that comes from the world of advertising. In general, it refers to an idea that brings people together, that solves a problem, that is easily communicated and that inspires them to take action. It goes beyond the world of advertising: you can have great ideas in politics, in the arts, etc.

Vincent: On top of all that, there’s the “success” factor which, from a business point of view, should always be the first criterion to identify a great idea. But it’s often forgotten. In the advertising world where I come from [Vincent has worked as a digital creative for over 20 years], competitions mean that a great idea will often be recognized by peers. But we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that a good idea must lead to a result. So for it to move forward, you have to be able to relate its potential impact to the objectives of the client (for an ad agency) or the company.

T: There are many myths around this type of idea. The goal of the training is to give concrete tools and explore how, with a particular methodology, one can come up with great ideas.

What are the common myths surrounding the big idea?

T: That impression, for example, that great ideas come as flashes of genius. Or the saying that the first idea is the best idea. As a facilitator, I’ve done a lot of interviews with creators, artists, and it excites me to hear them talk about the process-to see that there’s always a discipline behind it. You need a framework in which things can emerge.

V: A creative process, it’s conceptualized to come to a good result every time you need to generate ideas. And you have to realize that it takes a certain time.

T: Once you say that, I think we’ve all been in a bad brainstorm, in a bad process, at least once, and one of the points of the training is to deconstruct them to get some keys. For example, there is a time to brief, a time to reflect individually, a time to brainstorm collectively, a time for feedback…

V: Most of the good ideas I have had or witnessed in my life did not emerge during a brainstorm. However, the brainstorm is a moment that can rally people around an idea developed by an individual. It is the moment that gets the team members involved, and it is necessary to move forward. Having a good idea is only 2% of the work: you have to be able to sell it. To our colleagues, to the other employees of the company, to our client…

Graph illustrating the different types of ideas. From Vincent Ramsay-Lemelin’s presentation.

How does the training help participants go beyond ideation?

T: The training starts with a situation, a creative brief sent before the meeting, so that everyone starts thinking about the business problem we are going to try to solve together. The first half of the day is devoted to the creative process. The second half of the day is devoted to the presentation of the solutions developed by everyone. We then discuss the art of pitching your idea. And we give feedback, we try to get people to improve their ability to sell their idea.

V: When you choose an innovative idea, it comes with risks and, often, some misunderstanding from the people around you. As a creative, when you communicate this type of idea, you need to know the path to get there. For the person on the other end of the spectrum, buying an idea without knowing the next steps, what you’re going to face, is difficult. It’s like saying to someone: we’re going to build a really hot house, but we don’t know how much it’s going to cost or if we can get the materials. No one is going to buy a house on that basis. You have to come up with some answers as much as possible, and that’s what we work on in the second part of the training.

How did you respectively develop an expertise around the art of the big idea?

T: I’m really a jack-of-all-trades: I do radio, a bit of TV, I organize events… The common thread in all of this is to always try to do something that no one else can do, or to do it differently than everyone else. It’s been important for me to get to know myself as a creative, to learn to take risks that are worth taking, because I’m more of a conservative at heart. Also, through the many interviews I’ve done with creators, I’ve become very interested in the psychological aspect of creation and the social dynamics. We have a lot of biases about who we think is a creative person or not, and I’m interested in deconstructing that.

V: I come from a digital background, and in an advertising agency, it’s often been my role to get digital people to collaborate with marketing people. Through this process, I realized that there was a lack of mutual understanding, and I had to deconstruct the two ways of working in order to better align them.

There is a second important factor that pushed me to be interested in the path of the big idea: at a certain point, in the agency where I worked, we realized that we were having trouble realizing good ideas. In my opinion, we didn’t lack ideas, but we just couldn’t sell them to our clients. From that point on, it was clear to me that we had to find a way to better explain to them how we arrived at the ideas we were proposing. Then, one thing led to another, in my role as executive creative director, through the conferences I gave and the coaching of clients, it took shape.

The course has been redesigned quite a bit: enough for someone who has already taken it to find added value in the new version?

T: Yes, in concrete terms, people will not be working on the same creative project. Of course, it’s like a music class: there are basic elements that will come back, but it’s always good to refresh your memory. It’s a good little one-day boot camp to get back into the swing of things.

V: Even when I worked in an agency, the team was frequently reminded of the basics!

What advice would you give to creative people who are looking to think outside the box, to put on their explorer’s helmet?

V: One of the big realizations that participants have is that you have to put the helmet on: it’s not going to fit by itself.

T: We make them understand that they have to prioritize creation and defend their time. People are busy with many tasks on a daily basis, and it’s not in this context that great ideas are born.

V: Taking three hours to think about ideas is not super valued, but that’s what putting on your explorer’s helmet is all about. It’s saying to yourself: I’m going to dedicate a portion of my week to looking for ideas, and I may not end up with a concrete document to present. You have to learn to put on your headphones and assume what’s going on. There’s a lot of value in that, but you’re afraid to do that process.

T: Coming to spend a day at La Factry, giving yourself that time, is a good first step to wearing the designer hat.

Rectangle_Factry

Factry

Team Factry