3 reasons to think outside the box.

Some of you may or may not know that I’ve spent a fair portion of my working life inside the box.

Life inside the box has gone a long way to paying off my mortgage, it has given me incredible life experiences and the most valuable of all the box provided me the opportunity to connect with people all over the world. My role, as a journalist was to tell their stories on the box from within a kind of box.

Don’t get me wrong I love Television, I think it is incredibly powerful but I fear the future isn’t going to be a rosy one because they are too stuck in their ways.

Working life in a box allowed me to refine the art of engagement but it also taught me about human behaviour and the process of information sharing. I didn’t know it at the time but these skills are more valuable than ever in a creative, content hungry digital space.

The problem is In many businesses the only “out of the box” business that gets done is a token gesture or mantra encouraging you to think outside the box. But what I am noticing is all too often when it comes to execution or the approval stage all the unique and interesting bits get watered down and you end up with a piece of content that looks very familiar. (And if it looks familiar to you it is certainly going to look the same to your target market and they won’t engage.)

But there are moments when escaping the box is easier than any other times. The fastest way to think, act and execute outside the box is to embrace a mistake or a challenge. Take the opportunity to transform these negatives into creative opportunities.

As a reporter I would often arrive at the scene of a story and it would be nothing like I was expecting. All the tactical pre-planning and strategies were out the window but it was then that the best stories came out. I now find similar challenges working with brands.

Luckily, we all make mistakes and things often don’t go to plan because that means there are always plenty of opportunities to escape the box. When I first started to experience this “upset” scenario it used to really cut me up, I’d get grumpy and then sad and then a kind of grumpy / sad combination all under the pressure an extreme deadline…but what I have learnt is that when something occurs that is different, that’s the easiest time to remove yourself from the constraints of the “Box” and get away with being creative.

I now see these blips as my opportunities, a chance to do something different, something cooler and more unique. When I am being briefed by clients they always want to promote their success, just like all the other similar businesses in their vertical. Not me and from now on not you either, I’m listening for the weaknesses where mistakes emerge and the real opportunities for gain lie.

There is something that business, the media and probably everyday societal living all share. It’s this imaginary box brought about by simple expectations. The way we should behave, the way we should communicate and what’s expected of us as humans. I’m not talking about throwing out manners, I’m talking about the numbing of human senses.

I find the force of the box is strongest within big business where those higher up the chain fight very hard to keep you contained and may even disguise the box as “culture” or even “fabric”. The safe and harmonious robotic office job existence. The breaking down the contraints of the box concept plays a big part in why so many people are attracted to the start up life. Anyone who has ventured there knows it isn’t easy but at least you aren’t trapped in a box, right?

Brands have to start realising that content distributed to the fastest growing viewing audience in human history, populated by “Digital natives” can’t come from a box environment.

I even created a formula to remind you why.

Culture + Fabric + Box = Boring.

Not the most complicated algorithm in the world but trust me it stands true.

The restraint of living in this boxed environment was what annoyed me the most about my days as an employee.

Sure I had creative licence over the content I was making but with an audience of over a million viewers a night it always had to fit within the traditions of the box. They weren’t rules that dictated this they were expectations. “Produce your story just like the guy or girl before you did.” Lets face it he did his the same as the guy or girl before him and so on, for decades now. It was never clearly explained to me why there was no room for change or even something just slightly, radical or different.

For example: News for the past 30 years on TV has basically been told the same way.

Starting with the Intro, opening line, grab from victim or subject, grab from expert or authority, Piece to camera by the reporter, grab from victim, sign off, end.

Openly, I embrace the process of innovating. I’d prefer to have a go at something different and fail than to not have tried at all.

For brands there is a very important lesson in this. In a world where there is more content and information than ever before, there simply isn’t any room for boring vanilla story telling. Brands don’t have the luxury of Free to air TV licences and a captured audience trapped by habit, so they are left to capture their viewers on the merits of their content. To put that challenge into perspective there is 100 hours of video uploaded to Youtube every hour making the Internet channel the most congested media space that has ever existed.

So what is the key to getting noticed and more importantly shared?

For three years now I have been studying the patterns, behaviours and nuances of viral content. What makes it go and why?

The complete answer is complex and valuable but clearly the first step is to think outside the box.

The more a business or brand does outside the box, the less it will rely on the old one to gain exposure and make real connections.

3 Brands thinking outside the box this week. (links included below)

1. Arby’s apology to Pepsi: Basically the Steakhouse restaurant had a deal to include Pepsi in their marketing material throughout the year. Somehow the restaurant failed to do it and Pepsi let them know. Rather than have a CEO level dispute behind closed doors the two companies thought outside the box, seized their moment and created a great piece of video content. This piece is so refreshing that it’s already attracting attention well beyond the value of the original deal. As a result there is bound to be other brands who follow suit and copy. My advice — save yourself the embarrassment of being second to a great idea.

2) Westfield Miranda Opening: I’ve seen better skate videos but I certainly haven’t seen better Shopping centre opening advertisements. This video, if you haven’t seen it, deserves big chops for thinking outside the box. Often brands tell me “I just don’t think our business is exciting enough to make a viral video.” The truth is they’re scared to climb out of the box. And soon they maybe left in there for good, I find that proposition even scarier.

3) Abnormal Apples — Woolworths: Strictly speaking some may argue this example isn’t content but it is definitely communications.This campaign sticks and then triggers a want to share and that means it is doing the same job as content. Simply, not all Apples and Pears are created equal but what happens to those that fail to measure up? Usually they’d be binned now they find their way to my fridge. Thanks to some thinking outside the box these bags of genetically challenged fruit are the only Apples and Pears my seven year old will let me buy. Labelled Abnormal Apples and Peculiar Pears the supermarket giant has given the previous rejects of the barrel an identity and Miss 7 now has an emotional connection. Asked. Why we have to buy these? The answer. “I feel sorry for them”. That’s a powerful out of the box play. Well done Woolies.

.>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Arbys : We have Pepsi : http://youtu.be/Jv5StAv77Dg

Westfield Corbin Harris : http://youtu.be/TH9soW15JuQ

Abnormal Apples — Woolworths.