What’s Fun Got to Do with It?
Here’s a question I’ve been pondering lately: “What’s fun got to do with it?” More and more, my answer is: a whole heck of a lot.
I would argue that fun is a critical ingredient in making a true impact on anyone or anything. Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic would agree with me. He recently shared on Twitter that the key to helping Virgin make headlines is placing fun at the heart of marketing. He says it’s infectious. I’d go a step further and say fun is freeing. If you are truly looking to innovate, you must create from a place of freedom even in the face of inevitable constraints.
Have fun. Be confident.
Let’s consider the idea of creative confidence – something an agency is naturally expected to foster both internally and for clients. But what is creative confidence?
Lucky for us, the talented Kelley brothers of IDEO wrote a book called just that – Creative Confidence. It made a lasting impression on me. Their countless stories of students at Stanford and executives worldwide breaking out of typical routines and mindsets to solve inequalities in third-world countries, resolve management issues or build award-winning apps had one thing in common: fun.
It seems fun unlocks the mind’s imagination and leads to new perspectives and possibilities.
Believe you can do it.
I challenge you to believe you are creative. Just as creative as anyone else.
Are you starting to form objections? Maybe you’re thinking you can’t draw, or that you prefer spreadsheets. You’re not alone. But this has nothing to do with creative ability.
According to the Kelley brothers, everyone is creative. And here at Atomicdust, we agree. We see creativity as more than a possibility or necessity. It’s an inevitability. Because if we’re going to challenge industries and change the world, we have to ignite every bit of creativity. In ourselves, yes. But also in our clients.
That’s right. Our job isn’t just to showcase how creative we are. Our job is to help our clients build their own brand of creative confidence.
What does that mean? Many times it means changing a routine. Asking new questions. Considering another way or expanding expectations. All to arrive at game-changing solutions.
It’s hard to do on your own, and can be even harder without outside perspective. That’s where agencies come in.
It’s time to change the world.
Our job is to remind you to have fun and loosen the grip. To lead you into the exploration of the new, the unknown, introspection, wild ideas and laughter. Trial and error is part of it. And fun (there’s that word again) reigns in the process.
There’s an old quote that you can only change the world if you can conceive of doing so. And that’s the heart of creative confidence. The Kelley brothers compare it to suddenly driving freely after discovering you’ve been driving with the emergency brake on.
Discovering true creative confidence can unleash such exhilaration and purpose that nothing can stand in the way of slaying giants or finding a voice in a crowded space.
