13 Jun 2014  •  Marketing and Design  •  4min read By  • Martin Cartwright

A Wig, a Scooter and a Lap of the Office

The year was 2001 and I was working at one the most respected design agencies in the North West, if not the UK at the time, Tucker Clarke Williams (TCW), and I loved every minute of it! Sadly, the company is no longer with us, but some of the remaining people took on the challenge of setting up again and started LOVE Creative, a huge powerhouse in advertising.

On one particular day I had a brief come in from one of our regular clients, AOL. They wanted us to think of a concept that would attract travel agents to book online advertising space with them (oh, the early days of the internet!) but I struggled to come up with an idea.

After a few hours of brainstorming and coffee-making I finally gave in and started to concentrate on other work. As the day wore on, my eyes started to wander around our office space, something that we all did from time to time. It was for a good reason ─ the space was full of various ‘objects’ that creatives from TCW had collated over time, either brought back from holiday or that were seen whilst they were out and about. Most raised a smile and giggle or two, but ultimately it generated an environment of creative thinking and a break from normal office life.

On this particular occasion, a certain wig caught my eye, quickly followed by a stunt scooter, and no sooner had I spotted them, I put on the wig, hopped on the scooter with thoughts of completing a lap of the office in record time. Off I flew.

Whilst whizzing past reception, through the window, I spotted someone drop a towel from their sports bag, strange that I happened to spot this, but BOOM! An idea flashed into my mind. Why don’t AOL send a towel to the travel agents encouraging them to book their online space? After all, the people they’d want to reach would use a towel to reserve their sun lounger on holiday.

towel

The point to my story is not the idea I came up with (which, by the way, they loved), or the record time of my lap, but the fact that ideas can come from the strangest of places and most peculiar times.

If you need an idea on how to promote your practice but have been staring into space trying to think of a unique way of doing it, don’t worry if the idea doesn’t come when you want it to; it might come when you’re filling up your car or taking a long bath.

My advice would be to lift your head, get out and about, and listen to your patients and everyday conversations. Or simply ask us. The Practice Marketing team at Practice Plan are super friendly and actually here to help you promote your brand. But most important of all, remember this ─ milk before the hot water when making me a coffee.

 

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