A horse walks into a bar…
It’s a good set up and it might be funny, but you don’t know because you haven't heard the punchline yet.
People offer ideas the same way: you get the beginning, but not the rest of the story.
For you as the facilitator, helping the group describe each idea with enough detail to see how the ideas on the list are different from one another is a skill as important as a comedian delivering the punchline of a joke.
In the world of marketing communications, we often see idea lists that look like this:
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Video pre-roll.
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Endorsement campaign.
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Sponsor Freedom Fest.
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Sample at the tailgate party.
All of these might be ways to persuade the target, but they’re unfinished. It’s not enough. They are just generic communication tools until you facilitate enough detail to know how that tool might be used.
Here are some of our favorite prompts to help the resource group deliver ideas that are clear and unique.
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Let’s play with this. What would the target consumer see, smell, touch, taste or hear?
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Can you put a handle on it? Let’s give this idea a name or a theme.
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Assume we’re doing this today at 2; what would be happening?
Judging by the photo, apparently the horse really did walk into the bar. And the bartender asked, “Why the long face?”
Good news. My facilitator coaching is way better than my jokes!
Questions, comments, sarcastic remarks – or a little more coaching? Connect with Creative Resources!