TALKS WITH ADFEST TITANS: Ravid Kuperberg, Partner & Trainer, Mindscapes.
“ Why wait for an exceptional creative idea to appear when you can apply simple technical actions to build one.”
Ravid Kuperberg left agency life with a rich background in both strategic and creative thinking and managing roles that helped him to develop a unique perspective about creativity and its operations manual. He took with him the industry tenet that exceptional creative ideas are those that break rules and manifest an original way of thinking. But he also came to understand that celebrated original ideas also share recurring patterns of thinking. When decoded and mastered, they can be used to disrupt common thinking moulds and empower original thinking outcomes. Now he works with ad agencies and brands around the world to help them to understand the rules behind breaking the rules for creative brilliance.
Interesting job. How did agency life turn into structured creative thinking training?
Ravid Kuperberg: Very easily. Creative thinking has always been at the center of my career and life. I was one of those annoying pricks at the agency which relentlessly followed creative work from around the world and would say “I think that’s already been done…”. I was also more drawn to the thinking process, and to the adrenaline rush when a great idea pops up in your head, than to whatever came afterwards… So, it was natural for me to focus on that. Very quickly I learnt that I enjoy analysing and decoding creative thinking. And even beyond that, running creative thinking workshops. So, eventually I think I achieved the ultimate dream - making a living out of something I really enjoy doing. In your face football players.
You are at ADFEST to discuss the power of what you call structured creative thinking. What in essence is it? How does it work?
Ravid Kuperberg: There are many different effective ways to structure your creative thinking. The starting point is clear – if you structure the way you think, in ways which override cognitive biases and intuitive thinking, that many times limit our creativity and imagination, you can boost the efficiency of your creative thinking. Even if you are an experienced awarded thinker.
The main approach we apply at Mindscapes is based on a very simple principle. Unique creative ideas are commonly perceived as those which break rules and manifest an original approach. Which is true. However, if you address this from a different prism, you can actually spot recurring thinking patterns embedded in many of these ideas. Patterns which when decoded, can help understand how to operate the mind in ways which spark breakthrough unconventional thinking. Designing practical thinking tools based on these thinking patterns is the essence of structured creative thinking. Why wait for a nice repurposing idea to appear when you can apply simple technical actions which help drive your mind towards many exceptional repurposing ideas?
As a fun teaser, here are 3 awarded ideas which share a common thinking pattern. Can you identify what it is?
Renault Plug Inn:
Ziploc Preserved Promos:
Honest Eggs Fitchix:
What are its benefits? How does it help creatives?
Ravid Kuperberg: The main benefit is efficiency, which is translated into saving time, less fatigue and less frustration. Yes… sometimes you nail that perfect idea within minutes. But let’s be honest, that doesn’t happen too often. Using a structured thinking method, with a clear starting point, a clear thinking path, and a clear thinking action which liberates the mind, is the perfect prescription for all the other occasions. It’s also a lot of fun!!! And has proven to be very helpful in creating award winning work. 52 Cannes Lions have been developed by teams using Mindscapes’s structured creative thinking tools. More than 80% of Grand Prix and Gold winners at Cannes Lions in the past decade can be associated to one of the thinking patterns we’ve identified.
We have never had, or used, more information (data) to creative great advertising and yet creativity is under fire? What do you think has gone wrong?
Ravid Kuperberg: I am not sure anything went wrong. I think present creativity is currently still work in progress. As it has been in the past many times. We are at a major junction, with a major technological revolution that’s changing everything, and it takes time to adapt. We’ve seen such revolutions throughout the history of advertising, with the rise of TV, or the internet, or the impact of digital design and editing software, for example.
AI has redefined the borders of innovation and craft in our landscape, helping translate imagination into reality and data into value, in many different ways. Well done AI! However, as of today, for original disruptive thinking, the most important and advanced technology you need to prompt, when you begin, is still… your mind. Just like after every other revolution in the past. So now, it’s all a matter of finding the right balance and formula to construct the ideal new journey of creativity.
