Will Burns

2 months ago | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

Great advertising ideas don’t come with a flashing neon sign that says, “Pick me, I’m the one!” No, they arrive wrapped in ambiguity, trapped in your gut in a haze of emotion that is impossible sometimes to describe. So how do you know when an idea is great? You just… feel it. But what is going on here? Let’s take a look. A gut feeling isn’t just some mystical sixth sense—it’s the unconscious mind rapidly processing vast amounts of accumulated experience and knowledge.

Jan 22, 2025 | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

Your internal agency team is brilliant—they know your brand, your products, your challenges, and your goals like no one else. But for certain idea projects, where fresh thinking is essential, hiring outside freelance talent is less an expense than a shortcut to a big, valuable idea. Outside freelancers bring unique superpowers. And they’re not here to replace your team but to amplify your team’s efforts with inspirational idea injections.

Jan 22, 2025 | caughtbytheriver.net | Will Burns

Will Burns meets his dream-self on four urethane wheels. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that about once a month all of my adult life I have been visited by dreams of it, dreams that consist, as all dreams do, I suppose, of half-feelings, images, powerfully felt physical sensation. These dreams would come uncoupled from any others, without narrative.

Jan 15, 2025 | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

Ask anyone to define creativity, and chances are they’ll point to the arts—painting, writing, music, theater. And sure, that’s one outcome of it. But I am convinced creativity is something much broader. It’s a life skill that can be developed, refined, and even taught. More importantly, creativity is not a talent, it’s problem-solving (source: below). It’s the ability to adapt to the unexpected, navigate complexity, and connect dots others didn’t even see.

Nov 26, 2024 | ideasiclex.com | Will Burns

I spoke recently at the In-house Agency Forum (IHAF) about the many ways virtual idea generation is better than in-person. Things like this thing called online disinhibition, it’s asynchronous, it allows creativity to happen in the wild, etc. Worth considering as agencies contemplate moving creative people back to the offices or go hybrid. We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Thanks to the IHAF for recording this.