The Pic Tree foolproof method to solve problems and create great ads

• Step 1 Define the problem

Every problem has many possible solutions. Therefore it is vital that you define the problem accurately and fully. If you do not define the problem properly you will work to solve the wrong problem.

In advertising if the creative brief is not comprehensive, the creative work will inevitably be wrong. The main task of the brief is to define the problem in such a way that it is directional and inspirational at the same time.

• Step 2 Gather the information

The brief is the most important document in the agency and information is the raw material of creativity. 

Lots of information is required.

It is easy to fail to gather as much as is necessary. It requires perseverance and grittiness and determination and belief.

• Step 3 Actively attack the problem

The best way to get an idea is to get lots of ideas. 

Put them all on paper, even the ones that look ridiculous or silly. 

In a team don’t mock your own or your teammates’ efforts. That’s the fastest way to kill the production of ideas.

Share everything with the team. Seek to stimulate imaginations.

Put the effort in now. This is the crucial time. Don’t just sit there waiting. Go after it. Search for it. Think laterally, visually, look for elements to combine.

• Step 4 Forget about it

After putting in the time and energy and effort, put it to one side and work on another project.

Bertrand Russell wrote that the best plan is to think about the problem with great intensity for a few hours or days and at the end give orders to the brain that the work is to proceed subconsciously. After a few days working on another problem he would return to the original topic and find that the work had been done.

The secret is to switch gears. Let your subconscious work on the problem while your conscious mind works on something else.

Don’t worry about giving your brain a rest. It’s not necessary. The brain is not a muscle that gets tired.

• Step 5  Eureka, problem solved

When you return to the original job, your subconscious brain has found the solution and you implement the idea.

Most people don’t fail, they merely stop trying.

It really works if you follow each step properly.

At Pic Tree we start at the beginning by writing a creative brief with the client. Then, as necessary, we follow these steps as a creative team to arrive at the best solution.