by Rea Gierran
MANILA – Kentaro Kimura, Co-CEO and Executive Creative Director of Hakuhodo Kettle, revealed the formula for Creative Alchemy at the adobo Maincourse held last Friday at the Mind Museum. Kimura who has been invited to judge in 18 international awards, is a seasoned communication lecturer.
He discussed his excellent theory on City and Forest thinking. According to him, the world consists of cities and forests. The City represents the mind’s conscious thinking. City thinking is safe and logical, while Forest thinking, stands for the unconscious. It’s an unchartered territory becoming a perfect place to come up with crazy ideas.
Advertising is the result of the combination of Science and Art, and to be able to come up with innovative ideas, logic and inspiration must be equally bound. “It’s important that you explore the forest, but always go back to the city when you’re done. Make sure your ideas are still realistic enough for your clients to buy,” he says.
Combine, Mimic, Upside Down, What If and The Truth Behind are the five techniques creatives can use to come up with effective and innovative ideas born from the outset of growing social difficulties and demands, making idea generation, a challenge.
Combine alchemy happens when a new and old idea is joined together. Kettle’s work for Suntory’s ‘Hibiki Glass’ was a perfect example. “Suntory has the perfect brand story. The whiskey was blended while listening to the harmony of the Brahm’s music. We fused the old idea, which was the experience in drinking whiskey, with a new one, which was modern technology.”
The second technique is Mimic. He made it clear, that to mimic, is not to copy. Mimicking is finding the underlying fundamentals of a project and adapting to the idea. Mimicking was used in Kettle’s Wall Sale campaign for Sony. Within a month, they were able to sold the target number of jeans. They got $500,000 worth of publicity without spending for an advertising medium.
The third method is Upside Down, “Question the standards, because most of the time, the standards aren’t really the standards,” he says. The What If is Kimura’s personal favorite. What If alchemy is achieved by putting yourself in an impossible situation, “Anything you can imagine, you can make it real,” he says.
If all else fails, Kimura suggests the Truth Behind technique. The Truth Behind is achieved by finding out facts and using it to your advantage. Kimura admits his team faced difficulty in coming up with a project for Google that aimed to help the victims of the Japan earthquake. But Kimura’s the type of person that gets more motivated when faced with challenges, “Great ideas come from difficulties. No matter how hard the situation is, remember that there’s always a solution. Welcome the difficulties because it’s the father of innovative ideas that wins.”
adobo Maincourse is presented by Discovery Primea, Business Mirror, Philstar and Executive Decisions.
