Our 3 Golden Rules for Developing Great New Ideas
At EatSleep Media, we have some cracking ideas.
No, honestly, we do. Not being boastful, just laying it out there.
And part of the reason we have some cracking ideas is that we’re not too fussy about where they come from.
The last 12 months have been very, very busy for a small company like ours. We’ve been fortunate enough to make a huge range of content from podcasts to documentary films.
We’ve produced programmes for BBC Radio Wales, made a radio show for Running Punks and Union Jack Radio, a daily TV show about the Euros with Paul Ince for Pitch Footy and shot a feature length documentary film about John Toshack.
We’ve also filmed at the British Touring Car Championships and made a video about 11 elves on a shelf on the banks of the River Thames in central London. No, really!
Each of these projects started with an idea. It may have been small, or it may have been big - but someone had an idea and we helped them bring it to life.
At ESM we work with clients to develop ideas that fit their strategic aims, their audience or their latest campaign. In-house, we constantly bounce around our own ideas and look at where we can pitch them or think on who would be the audience for them.
So, here are our three golden rules for developing cracking new ideas.
1) There are No Bad Ideas
There are some stupid ideas which turn out to be brilliant. Compare the Meerkats? Came from a jokey conversation in the pub.
Ideas start with something simple and maybe even something vague - they don’t have to be complete.
In our team we will bounce around those ideas, break them apart, put them back together in different ways, think about where in the world they may fit, find their home or gather pace.
So, no, there are no bad ideas, but there may be ideas which are aimed at the wrong people or come at the wrong time.
2) Keep an Open Door Policy
An open door policy in which every idea is considered and can be discussed is key for us. We know that the world is made up of billions of different people, and everyone sees things through their own lens.
Our entire team, from directors to office admins to freelancers, all have the opportunity to throw their ideas into the ring, and to throw in thoughts on other people’s ideas.
Some people can’t shut up. Some people will sit in silence. All people have a point of view and those views are valuable. So we make sure they are given equal importance.
If we can’t grasp any idea, we take the view that we simply can’t understand it. So we keep going until it starts to make sense.
Too many ideas are dismissed because people ‘just can’t get there’.
Don’t be lazy. Get there.
3) Listen to Different Perspectives
Different perspectives formed through race, religion, education, family-life, and just different ways of thinking can take one idea in a million different directions.
As a company founded by three white man of a certain age, we are painfully aware of our narrow view on the world. There are ideas and perspectives we simply have no knowledge or concept of.
That’s where expanding our mindset comes in. We deliberately look for those perspectives we are lacking. And where we find them, we empower and trust the people who brought them to us to take the lead and make sure whatever we are making is sympathetic, relevant, unpatronising and, above all, authentic.
This isn’t us being all ‘white saviour-like’, sweeping in on a helicopter to deliver some food and get a photo-op. This is us offering a voice to people who can sometimes struggle to be heard.
For example, we’ve made programmes with BBC Wales that platform the voices of people living with a disability and women in sport.
There is no real magic formula to developing new ideas, other than perhaps keep an open mind.
So that’s what we lead with - seeking to understand and not accepting that our view is the best one.
We’re always open to new ideas at EatSleep Media, and if you’re got one you’d like to discuss with us you can email hello@eatsleep.media to set up a chat, or contact us via our socials.