How to take ideas to the next level
Tips on how to push your creative concepts further
The New Blood Awards Judges aren’t looking for just any old idea. Nope, ordinary won’t cut it. They’re on the lookout for big, ballsy, brave ideas. L.A. Ronayne (Group Creative Director at Anomaly) has been one such judge. Here Ronayne shares a few killer tips on how to make your ideas next-level.
What makes really good work stand out from the stuff that's just good?
Regular level ideas are everywhere. In the professional world they’re safer to buy, so more of them flourish in the wild. At starting-out level they’re easier to make look and sound like the 'profesh’ stuff, so more of them make it into portfolios.
Next level ideas are a much more dangerous substance. If you mishandle them, they fuck up. But when you get them right they rain fire all over everything else.
How do you know when you're onto a really good idea?
Reactions. When you shout something out and a room full of people laugh, you know you’ve probably got something funny. If they stand and applaud, that’s nice too. If nobody bats an eyelid, not so much. An idea’s not good until it gets a banging reaction.
Other people might come up with the same idea, so how can you push it further?
You can solve this problem up front with better research and more of it. When everyone else stops at the first thing that smells like an insight, explore weirder and more wonderful places.
Or you can solve it by producing the absolute pants off your execution, i.e. dazzlingly sublime craft.
(Hint: Do both).
How do you make an idea work across platforms?
Don’t force executions onto platforms. Nobody likes a TV ad that’s been hammered into a YouTube pre roll. Get yourself a big, central idea then work out the most entertaining way for it to come to life in the channels most relevant to your audience.
What does it take for an idea to go the whole hog and win a Yellow Pencil?
Intelligence and good looks get an idea a long way, but wit gets them over the yellow line.
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