Posted by admin at November 4th, 2007



I never thought I would ever have to stoop to this level. I never thought I would go to a coffee shop, order a latte, and sit there with my laptop, listening to conversations that other people are having, pretending to be busy, as if I am there to get some work done. What those individuals did not know is that I was trying to get a concept for an advertising campaign I am working on.

I could not come up with the selling idea. No matter how many techniques I used I was stuck. So I forced myself to find inspiration elsewhere. That elsewhere was ease dropping. Yes I felt bad at first, but then I realized that no matter what, I was not going to share with anyone what I was listening to. I was just out to find things going on in someone else’s life. Perhaps their stories can be the next selling idea.

My Process

I sat down next to two different tables. One had a couple and the other had two friends. I would tune in on one table and out on the other from time to time. As conversation progressed, I was not concerned about their story, but rather the keywords they were saying. It is all the random things that come up in conversations that I was looking for. So whenever I heard an interesting sentence, word, or even maybe a story (hey sometimes it gets really interesting), I would quickly type it out.

After a couple hours of story time, I went home and cleared my head. Had a nice dinner then printed out all 16 pages. I took those pages, and started scrambling for the “big idea” There were so many ideas that my imagination could spark.

It was a great way for me to bring something new and original to my clients. It worked out extremely well, so the next time you are in a jam and nothing works, consider ease dropping. It isn’t the nicest thing to do, I agree, but it is about finding inspiration in the corners you never thought of looking.

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