Ideation in marketing (or other creative pursuits) is just a way of thinking that improves your output.
It helps you improve a product’s welcome screen; product sells better. Or it helps you write a better slogan; product sells better. Yeah, ideation is a sales tool.
It’s more than that, of course – it’s also repeatable behaviors that induce a consistent flow of “business-valuable” ideas over a period of time – a campaign, a quarter, a year, even the lifespan of a business.
But at its core, it’s a way of thinking, just like “critical thinking”, which David Foster Wallace discussed in his “This is Water” speech. My paraphrase:
Critical thinking is not how to think but what to think, or more to the point – how to choose what to think about
If you know mindfulness meditation, you’ll recognize it here – that once you quiet your mind, you realize that a neverending stampede of mostly stupid ideas runs through it.
But prime your mind properly with ideation, and worthwhile, non-stupid slogans synaptically appear.
The question becomes, which thoughts do you choose to think about? Choose the right ones and you’re halfway there.
Sorry if you were looking for practical advice on writing slogans!! In my next post, I’ll give you five tips (but maybe they’ll be ideation tips in disguise).