• Viewpoints

My Creative Hack is a series of articles that introduces tips, practices, techniques and know-how that our experts use every day in their work to come up with new ideas, pinpoint the best ones, foster team work, etc. Here Torsak Chuenprapar, Chief Creative Officer of Wolf Bkk in Bangkok, Thailand, shares his Google + Penalty game for brainstorming fresh creative ideas.

As Chief Creative Officer at Wolf Bkk, a team of through-the-line communication specialists that aims to be the agency that the right talent wants to work for, I stress the importance of keeping creative fresh. In my efforts to make brands stand out, I like to play a game with my team in order to come up with truly fresh ideas.

The key to brainstorming creative ideas is to generate lots of new ideas quickly. It is always refreshing to listen to new ideas from my younger colleagues, so everyone, whether junior or senior, takes part in the game, which I call “Google + Penalty.”

We begin and end with the client’s brief. After extracting the key communication objective as a team, we decide on one word that will trigger the consumer.

Brainstorming with Google

Now for the fun part! I am not a fan of mind mapping because from my experience it invariably results in logical thinking; so, after 1 will come 2 and 3 will follow 2, then 4 and 5. To break free from this sort of thinking, I have my team Google images related to the communication objective-based consumer trigger word and see what comes up. A surprising element that can make the idea more interesting always emerges. For example, it could be 1, 2, 3, Elephant, 5, and we have to make Elephant fit into the rest of the objective.

Getting everyone involved with “penalties”

To ensure everyone gives their best, there is a penalty of 20 baht for anyone that doesn’t contribute. I encourage everyone to take turns sharing, with no right and wrong ideas. We never start from the senior or junior; but change it up each time.

Going back to the brief to ensure the idea wows

Once we have a slew of ideas, we go back to the client’s brief, using it as a funnel to see which ideas work well in what way and on which platforms. Together, we select the idea that is the most convincing, fun, engaging and the best fit for the brand.

Our task is to produce creative work that attracts consumers to do something: either to love the brand or to purchase the product. The only way is to WOW them, not bore them. I believe strongly that you’ll never create anything from a boring brainstorming session. So why not make it a game and have fun!

What about the penalties?

Oh, and those 20 baht penalties? We use them to celebrate together at the end of the job. We deserve it!

Torsak Chuenprapar

Chief Creative Officer
Wolf Bkk

Torsak Chuenprapar joined the Hakuhodo family in 2014 after stints at BBDO Bangkok where he won his first Cannes Lion, TBWA\Thailand where he won his second, and J. Walter Thompson Bangkok. In January 2018, he co-founded Wolf Bkk, a company that truly believes in “Brands that DO!” He is a firm believer that you get the best work when you have fun on the job.