What do primary colors, plastic, and loud noises have in common … the play-place for children at the mall, of course. This weekend I had the privilege of babysitting my friend’s five year old, and playing around on swings, slides, and playhouses that were extremely disproportional to my adult frame. However, a lot can be learned from this shorter view on life and it made me think about how fun it is to be a kid again—if only for a moment. That reminded me how, in the “little” bubble of ad agencies and marketing strategies, we could benefit from approaching advertising like a kid.
Here’s what we can take away from young kids as it applies to marketing:
Creativity/Imagination: That platform playhouse in the play-place could be a castle where a princess is trapped and hot lava is flowing below. Or maybe it’s a space ship with window portals where you can look out at other aliens playing outside. Or maybe it’s a pirate ship with Captain Hook and Peter Pan.
Sometimes we need to take time to be creative and think outside of the box. Spend some time thinking up the wackiest ideas possible and then scale it back to apply to your client and brand. Kids don’t have to force creativity, but as adults, we sometimes have to make it a priority to think about the craziest, most creative thing possible. Take a few moments to be creative each day!
Energy: Have you ever noticed that children’s toys have a lot of color, fun shapes, and oftentimes, lots of noise? Why? Children are stimulated by energy: visual, tactile, and auditory. Kid’s spaces are energetic spaces. Kids themselves have tons of energy that they are trying to find an outlet for. (Perhaps this is from the influx of sugar, or perhaps it’s just due to their curious nature…)
Spend some time getting energetic about what you are doing. When you love what you do, it shows! Don’t be afraid to put some color into what you do, or play some upbeat music, or add some true energy to your space. There’s nothing like a Jack Russell Terrier to bring some energy to an office. Just stop on by Harmon’s office on Fridays and you’ll know what we mean!
Communication: Kids like to talk. It’s natural for children to want to interact and be social with other children, and other people of any age. Whether they are initially shy, or just love to gab, kids love to share their discoveries and desires with others. They want to show you their world.
We need to remember to always be sharing our world, our ideas, and our imaginations with our team. Part of the beauty of an ad agency is that you have a group of people who all are passionate about brand promotion, sharing ideas, and building new concepts together.
We get great work done, but we do let that inner-child out in our creative process. If you feel your company could benefit from our creative juices, contact us. We’d love to put together some creative marketing ideas for you.
(This article was originally posted on Harmon Group’s Marketing Blog. Valerie is a regular contributing writer on this blog. To see more of their fabulous articles head on over: http://www.harmongrp.com/blog.html)