Unwind the Mind.

Today’s Marketing Cookie is about using relaxation to clear mental clutter and spark brilliant, market-changing ideas.

We were hired to reposition a 25-year-old company that was the largest player in their market. After weeks of intense research—analyzing competitors, interviewing customers and prospects, and dissecting every nuance of the brand's historical positioning—our team was brimming with facts but starved for inspiration. 

The problem with having a head full of facts, stats, and information is that it can crowd out the creative space necessary for ideas to germinate and grow. As we attempted to craft a fresh positioning strategy, we found ourselves echoing the familiar tones of the marketplace. The new messaging concept sounded like mere echoes of what was already out there. Every attempt to innovate felt like trying to plant new seeds in an already overgrown garden and without a single breakthrough idea, our spirits withered

Feeling utterly defeated and convinced I was washed up, down and out, and completely out of ideas, I decided to escape the hopelessness of it all by sinking into my couch and watching a movie. Yet, even as I sought distraction from the disappointment, the project refused to be ignored. A line of dialogue kind of echoed a tiny factoid from the research. A walk to the cul-de-sac in our neighborhood resurfaced a comment someone made in the focus groups. Even taking the garbage bin down to the curb, somehow popped a different perspective on the market. In these mundane moments of depressed downtime, the excess information I had packed my brain with started to fall away, leaving light and space for something new to grow. 

Then, just like that, it happened!

Suddenly I saw the perfect answer so clearly. It was so simple. Although the unmet need that every customer and prospect was begging for, was clear to see, it had been completely ignored. Not one competitor in their entire marketplace had thought of it, and somehow it chose to reveal itself to me while I was doing nothing for two days. 

The next time your head is full of information and you desperately need a market-changing, brilliant idea, you should probably do as the fortune says, “Today is a good time to take some extra relaxation.”

PS: Reach out to me if you're interested in seeing what this idea was. I'll be happy to show you what can be created when doing nothing.