3.
GIVE THEM WHAT THEY NEED

People don’t create new ideas out of whole cloth. They create them the same way chefs create recipes for new dishes — by taking some ingredients they already know about and combining them in a new way.

The more ingredients they have to work with, the better their chances of creating something special.

The people you work with have spent a lifetime accumulating many of the ingredients they need — the broad, general knowledge about life and people and events.

You must give them the other ingredients — the specific knowledge about products and customers and competition.

Give them everything you have. And get them anything else they want.

Again, when I was ideaizing a creative department, I insisted that every writer and art director be invited to every meeting that was held on the accounts they were responsible for. An advertising agency is a meeting in progress, so I knew they could attend only those meetings dealing with creative work. Still, it sent a signal to everyone that information was the fuel for ideas.