Strands of Genius: Weekly Contrarian Ideas or Rabbit Holes, Deck of Brilliance, You are probably wrong about…

Guest curated by George Webster, Founder of Big Ideas That Work

Jul 13, 2023

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, GEORGE WEBSTER ::

LOCATION: London, UK

Hi folks – I’m George.

I’m a former one hit wonder screenwriter turned content marketer turned founder of the greatest creative intelligence platform you’ve never heard of (yet). When I’m not deconstructing ads, I will either be chauffeuring the kids around London, walking around Old Brompton cemetery collecting my thoughts, or binge-watching TV. My tastes are unashamedly mainstream. And yes, Top Gun 2 should have won the Oscar for Best Film. Sorry, if that statement makes you choke on your cornflakes!

A short while ago, I reached out to Rosie & Faris to ask for their thoughts on the ads database I’ve been building. They were kind enough to offer me their time, feedback, and opportunity to curate this week’s newsletter which I've given a slightly creative and contrarian flavour.

Editor’s Note (Genius Steals): George reached out to us a while back, and though it took a few months for us to connect, we’re so glad we did. The work he’s doing with his site Big Ideas That Work plays right into the work that we’ve been doing on creative effectiveness. His database is truly remarkable, not just because it’s constantly being updated, but the way he’s tagging and organizing content makes it easy to make connections in what’s working. As in - you can filter not just by category, but by advanced wordplay: double entendre, flip the meaning, lyrics, and more. You can look up campaigns by key dates and events, by media type, but also by behavior and perspective (think tags like anti hero, deceiving or trickster, embarrassment, etc.) We were beyond impressed, and we can’t wait to see how the site continues to evolve. Thanks so much for being here today, George!!

:: THE LINKS ::

WEEKLY CONTRARIAN IDEAS OR RABBIT HOLES

I sign up to a lot of newsletters but (aside from Rosie and Faris’s obvs) the one I look forward to the most is George Mack’s 0.1% of ideas. In last week’s newsletter he covers Kanye's Thermometer, How Google Spots Products, Why People Vomit In Paris. It’s a delight of unusual trends explained with seemingly effortless brilliance. (George Mack)

DECK OF BRILLIANCE

Bit stuck? In need of some inspiration? The Deck of Brilliance is a free site run by two experienced Creative Directors that gives you 52 tools for working up ideas in short periods of time. It really is brilliant and, despite being well known, I include it just in case, by some unfortunate set of circumstances, you’ve never discovered it. But why would you need such tools at all? As the founders say, professionals in every industry—from neurosurgery to gardening—use tools. Creative people don’t have to be an exception. (Deck of Brilliance)

YOU ARE PROBABLY WRONG ABOUT…

What share of all plastic waste in the world ends up in the oceans? Less than 6%. Around 36%. More than 66%. To find out the surprising answers to questions like these and hundreds of others, head on over to the wonderful world of Gapminder; a fun educational tool to help people rid themselves of common misconceptions. Run by the family of Hans Rosling, the author of Factfulness; surely one of the most consequential books of the past decade. (Gap Minder)

Looking for more from George Webster? Coming Friday, look for an interview from him in your inbox!

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Perudo (aka Liar's Dice)

:: City :: London (It's a love/hate relationship).

:: Book :: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

:: Album :: The Infected by The The (pure nostalgia)

:: MY CONTRIBUTION ::

Big Ideas That Work (BITW) is my contribution to advertising creative intelligence. If you like Deck of Brilliance but want such creative thinking bolted into a larger ads database with more filters, BITW may appeal. Plus, my Idea Generator tool (a Quixotic quest to crack creativity) is now in beta! It’s a marmite proposition but if you like ‘What if’ questions, you’re in for a treat.

I’m not that active on social channels, but I’m always up for collaborations and coffee chats, virtual or otherwise. Hope you enjoy the links. Over and out.

George Webster

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius