Richmond hosted its inaugural TEDxRVA event last Friday where 500 members of the Richmond community came together to listen and react to a curated host of talks and fascinating stories from a  line-up of innovative creatives, storytellers, entrepreneurs, athletes and community leaders. In this open forum setting, the audience and speakers engaged in a showcase of ideas that stirred actions. With each of the speakers’ unique experiences, the audience was encouraged to step into their shoes and reflect on how their ideas might translate into our own realities. It was a sensory overload – excitement, humor, sorrow and success. The audience laughed, cried, was brought to chills and was challenged to think about redefining themselves as innovators and doers.

For example, James Walker, founder of Dead Bicycles, discovered an often unnoticed object on the streets of Richmond and used it to cause social interaction and local awareness. When no one else did, Walker saw that Richmond streets are littered with bicycles locked to street signs and poles. These bikes left by their former owners frequently had their wheels stolen, leaving the naked metal frames to lie useless. In an effort to call attention to these unnoticed bicycles, he scoured the city shrouding left-behind bikes to show appreciation and love for them. Soon, others noticed the memorials and began leaving flowers and letters of gratitude. One bicycle and shroud was even cremated. Walker noticed a mundane item that many walk past every day without a second thought and created a new awareness for and appreciation of bicycles in the city of Richmond.

Oddly enough, following the TEDxRVA event, I was walking a street in Richmond and noticed a lonely bike frame locked to a pole. I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have noticed it had I not heard Walker’s talk. It caused me to question what else goes unnoticed in my everyday life that I could bring attention to and use to inspire others.

Many words of wisdom and advice on creating and inspiring others were shared at TEDxRVA. These are some of my favorite experiences and tips.

1. To be creative is to be alive. Brian Andreas, artist and writer behind StoryPeople, says that if you are more concerned about working hard to be creative, you’ll end up less creative. Live your life and more creativity will come naturally. Build it from within your bones and encourage others to do the same, because the more you engage, the more creative you’ll become.
2.  If you imagine it, then do it. Just say yes to any idea you have. Elementary art teacher Julie Crowder felt inspired to show love and gratitude for the city of Richmond in light of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. She asked her students, neighbors and friends to write on a construction paper heart what they love about Richmond and stick it in their yard. It spread like wild fire through the city.
3.  Get out of your comfort zone – vulnerability inhibits creativity. Zoe Romano, runner and philanthropist, says it’s easy to be vulnerable, but difficult to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. With disciplined determination, she set the goal of running across the country and achieved it.
4.  Avoid complacency and predicting the future. Sheryl Connely, global trends manager and futurist for Ford Motor Company, says that by default you’ll be forced to become much more nimble and much more prepared to naturally allow creative to happen.
5.  Suspend judgment and within the chaos, you’ll find genius. Ivy Ross, artist and CMO of Art.com, says allow yourself to play. Many people think the opposite of play is work, but really it’s depression. Understanding the patterns of possibility makes you fearless to express what you really feel.

After attending TEDxRVA and learning from such a diverse group of people, I am newly inspired, moved and encouraged to redefine myself as an innovator and a doer. Taking from these lessons, I plan to pay closer attention to things that I usually pass by and consider ways that I can bring awareness to an issue that is important to me. I also plan to say yes to more ideas that come to mind and opportunities that arise. And, I hope to inspire others by sharing my own experiences and ideas without hesitation or fear of being judged.

If you’re interested in finding a TEDx program near you, visit www.ted.com/tedx.

At CRT/tanaka, we have made a promise to “whatcanbe,” a simple idea of endless creative possibilities. This mindset of looking at the world through a slightly different lens is emulated through our work, process and agency culture. Rather than sharing some digital marketing tactics today I wanted to share some videos that I felt emulated the whatcanbe mindset. Whether it’s a different way of looking at negative space, electromagnetism or a year of your life, all of these videos present a different/whatcanbe approach to a solution.

Reverse of Volume

Magnet Happy

One Second Documented Everday for a Year

 The following article originally appeared in the “Five Tips” section of the Fall 2011 issue of Comunicas: Revista de tendencias en comunicación de Grupo BPMO (Communicate: Review of Trends in Communication) from Spain.

1.       Be Descriptive

In many ways, the best designs – whether for a collateral piece, website or video – are the ones that look effortless.

They hit the mark when it comes to clarity of message, interpreting the brand and connecting with the audience. It all begins with the brief. When constructing the perfect creative brief, be sure that you are as descriptive as possible when providing the most pertinent information for the designer. Some basic questions that the creative brief should answer include: What is the goal of the project? What is the client trying to communicate and why?

2.       Include Project Specifics

Each creative project is different.

While the creative brief shouldn’t completely restrict the creativity of the designer, it should include specifics of the project. For example, is the company logo required for the piece? Is there a specific color palette for this project? Are there fonts that must be used or avoided? Also, include a description of the brand personality, positioning statement, tagline and any other information, such as the web address and phone number. The more specific you can be in the creative brief, the more pleased everyone will be with the product.

3.       Keep the Audience in Mind

 When constructing a creative brief, first and foremost, always keep the intended audience in mind.

Go beyond age and gender and provide demographic and psychographic information. What does the audience already know about your company, product or service? How does the audience currently think, feel and behave in relation to your product, service or company? What unique or focused message should the audience walk away with after reading or seeing the piece? A design piece can be creative, but if it doesn’t connect with the right audience, it’s useless.

4.       Provide a Timeline

From the start, the designer should be aware of pertinent deadlines.

To ensure this, the creative brief should be as explicit as possible with a reasonable timeline. When are the initial creative concepts due? When will revisions be done? At what point will designs be shared with the client? When will the piece be completed? When will the piece be ready for publication or viewing (in the case of advertising), ready for print (for collateral pieces) or uploaded (in the case of websites)?

5.       Explain Measurement Criteria

The last and arguably the most important part of the creative brief should be some criteria for measuring success.

Measurement criteria are not only essential for determining whether or not the creative piece has succeeded, but they also focus the designer to consider how the creative piece is expected to work. Ask yourself, what are the objectives that the design solution will be measured against? These metrics should go beyond sales. They should also include how effectively the piece has captured the brand’s personality and equity.

Here are some links to other articles about writing effective creative briefs related to advertising, PR and logo design:

•  http://www.adcracker.com/brief/Creative_Brief.htm
•  http://breezycreativedesign.com/2010/01/26/10-most-important-questions-to-ask-in-your-client-creative-brief/
•  http://freelanceswitch.com/clients/the-ultimate-design-brief/

The day-to-day of maintaining a social media account can take its toll on the manager - connecting with a fan isn’t as fun as it used to be, the idea of using Facebook in your free time no longer appeals, and tweet after tweet after tweet only add to your social media malaise. If this is you, it’s time to reclaim your zest for all things social.  Here is the first of three steps to revamp and revive social media efforts that have become lackluster.

Step 1: Get Unstuck
If it’s the same old, same old, turn the whole thing upside down.

In our whatcanbe sessions with clients, we ask the question “How would you solve this if you were someone else?” Oprah?  Abraham Lincoln?  Snooki and JWow? This challenges you try on another pair of shoes and see things you miss when you’re in the day-to-day.

You can also do this by eliminating your go-to excuses and problems:  Lack of resources, lack of time, potential legal run-ins and so on.  Facing these issues can mean getting stuck in them.  These problems are often ingrained in your organization, and end up more personally exhausting than productive. 

If you have had any role in bringing social media to your company, you know these brick walls well, and have hurdled over a few of them. 

Or perhaps you used one of these.

Instead of conquering them one grueling problem at a time, avoid them altogether with bright spots problem solving. (See also, the serenity prayer.) 

Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath recommends “bright spots” problem solving as a means of overriding your institutionalized, brick-wall problems to make something happen despite them. Using bright spots means you find something that works and try to duplicate it. 

We’ll cover a bright spot worth duplicating tomorrow.

(If you’re ready to get thinking, we’re giving away a deck of Whatcanbe cards to the first 10 people who request them.  Tweet @crttanaka with your request, and tag it #whatcanbe)