Lawrence Medina

What is Ideation?

Ideation… it is essentially the bastard child of “Brainstorming,” but taken to an idealistic goal. I think most people will look at the word and wonder if it’s even a real word—it is. Should it be? I kind of want to say no. When did it pop up? I want to blame agencies for the creation and continued use of this word. It’s here to stay for now, but what can we learn from it?

Quick aside, “Ideation” is actually an old word, but the use of it feels almost unreal. “Sitting down to ideate” … “going in for an ideation session” … Something about it conjures images of some strange contraption made to squeeze the very essence out from the muses. Where some may feel coming up with ideas would be a “natural” process… Ideation is a corporatized way of creating ideas.

Somewhat on track, but a bit of a digression. I wanted to look at what ideation is, the above shares my thoughts on it. But in a straightforward explanation, it’s just coming up with ideas or concepts. In most cases it will be used in a conceptual sense. You and I will sit down for an ideation session to come up with what your next big idea ought to be. From that session, we’ll (hopefully) have a bevy of thoughts that can become something more. Would it really be someone like you or I in that ideation session though?

Who “Ideates”?

Whose responsibility is it to come up with ideas? The short of that answer is the creatives at large. But everyone at every step and level of an organization is technically ideating at all hours. Random daydreams, little doodles, and a couple odd wordings of a story—it’s all sort of ideation. At the end of the day ideation is typically done at a higher level.  Don’t just come up with one idea. Never stop at one good idea. No matter how mind-numbingly bad or head-explodingly great the idea.

Ideation involves creating massive well-springs of ideas and concepts from nothingness into something tangible. This is not to say that every idea has to become something, but rather it has the potential of becoming something. Once that idea/concept has been thought up, it must have the potential to live in other mediums and spaces.

It is the creatives job—whether it be designers or copywriters—to bring these ideas to life and sometimes make the argument for why they should be created. But before the argument is made and the greenlight is given… We’ve got to ask:

What Comes from Ideation?

The hopes for ideation are to create… The Big Idea. To boil this concept down really quick, its ultimately what advertisers are looking for. The Bid Idea is what brand voices live by—it is the culmination of their voice brought to life by those who ideate. Think of Nike’s “Just Do It,” from this alone they’ve spring boarded numerous ads, various types of copy, and incredible designs that capture the attention of millions across the globe.

The Big Idea is something that can live for years—decades if it’s that ironclad. The Big Idea will create more ideas from it, which all tie into the brand voice and ultimately make people gather around. We’re all in search of the Big Idea, it’s incredibly elusive, but hopefully through ideation, we can hunt it down and truly make it our own.

Those “ideators/ideaters” (?) are the ones who work tirelessly to try and come up with the concept that will best amplify and bring to fruition the brand voice of any company. The people in those creative rooms, most whose names your average Joe won’t know, are the main drivers of those fun, thought provoking, and interesting ads we see in our day-to-day. When making the idea you can’t forget your audience, but to truly make an idea that sings, you’ve got to know the company/client.

Who Needs It?

Clients, simple as.

They need ideas that connect their greater brand voice to the world at large. More often than not that are too far in the weeds of their product to be able to create an idea that connects to their audience. Too much familiarity with a product can often blind you to the benefits it has for your audience—while too little familiarity will create something that has no real tie to the product.

Creatives strike that middle ground, just enough information to come up with ideas and just far enough removed to be able to move around and play with seemingly unorthodox or disconnected ideas. All these ideas—whether they be small or large, funnel back into the brand voice. The brand voice is your company’s thematic throughline and you want to make sure you don’t lose that connection.

Ideation creates threads in that throughline. It pieces together to make that missing link. If you feel that you haven’t been connecting with your audience as well as you should be, then you need some creative.

The Root of Ideation

It’s always one of the three—French, Latin, or Greek. Here we see it’s sort of the trifecta—but I’m no hardcore etymologist. I would like to just stick with one meaning, but that’s often boring to do. Words work best when they carry more than their initial worth.

There was one definition of Ideation that I found interesting… “Fixed Idea.” We can thank the French for this one. A “fixed idea” is an odd notion. What should we take this to mean exactly? Has the idea formed fixed the problem at hand or is it an idea stuck in place? I kind of like the latter in this case. The idea formed is one that sticks. It can’t leave your head. Anyone else who happens upon it is struck by that same curse. It finds a new place to crawl into and propagate.

In the end… Ideation’s purpose is to create ideas that stick. Ideas that are impossible for others to ignore. Whether this is through brainstorming with others, discussing with clients, or fighting the talking heads. There is an idea just waiting to burst forth. I for one, am going to continue to try and find those ideas.