Dave Trott - Creative Blindness (And How To Cure It): Real-life stories of remarkable creative vision

18 College Street Petersfield Hampshire GU31 4AD GREAT BRITAIN Tel: +44 (0)1730 233870 Email: enquiries@harriman-house.com Website: www.harriman-house.com First published in Great Britain in 2019 Copyright Dave Trott The right of Dave Trott to be identified as the Author has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. Paperback ISBN: 978-0-85719-730-6 eBook ISBN: 978-0-85719-731-3 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library. All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publisher. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without the prior written consent of the Publisher. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that information in this book is accurate, no liability can be accepted for any loss incurred in any way whatsoever by any person relying solely on the information contained herein. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person or corporate body acting or refraining to act as a result of reading material in this book can be accepted by the Publisher, by the Author, or by the employers of the Author.

Cover design by Jade Trott.

ALSO BY DAVE TROTT Creative Mischief Predatory Thinking One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking Dave Trott is a creative director, copywriter and author. He studied at the Pratt Institute in New York City, majoring in advertising before going on to found the advertising agencies Gold Greenlees Trott, Bainsfair Sharkey Trott and Walsh Trott Chick Smith. In 2004 he was given the D&AD Presidents Award for lifetime achievement in advertising. He has also received lifetime achievement in advertising awards from The Creative Circle, The Marketing Society, and The Scottish Advertising Assocication. Dave is married with two children and lives in London.

Creative Blindness is his fourth book.

At the lowest point of the war, Winston Churchill said the only thing that would save us was corkscrew thinkers. People who thought differently. We had less soldiers, less tanks, less planes, less of everything than the enemy. If we carried on thinking in the conventional, straight-line way we must lose. So we needed people who didnt think in the conventional straight-line way.

We needed corkscrew thinkers. People who could approach a problem inside-out. People who could look at a problem and see it as an opportunity. What we would now call creative thinkers. Churchills corkscrew thinkers gave us Bletchley Park, which cracked the unbreakable Enigma code and won the Battle of the Atlantic. They gave us the Sten gun, made from bicycle pumps by a childrens toy manufacturer.

They gave us anti-shipping mines made from gobstoppers, which sank Japanese warships. They gave us a bomber without guns, made of wood, which the enemy couldnt catch. They gave us an inflatable army made of balloons, which fooled the Germans about where the D-Day invasion would happen. They gave us a dead body washed ashore with secret information, which caused the enemy to move its forces to a harmless location. Luckily for us the enemy didnt seem to have any corkscrew thinkers. They didnt think they needed them.

So that was our secret weapon: corkscrew thinking, aka creativity. But where do you find corkscrew thinkers? Can you hire them, or is it possible to learn it? Well. Like everything, the answer is yes if you want to. Creativity is all around us. We can choose to see it or ignore it. We can exercise our creative muscle just as we can exercise any other muscle.

If we dont exercise it, it atrophies and dies. But if we do exercise it, it grows stronger and stronger. So what we need to do is learn to spot the creativity around us, everywhere. At work, on the train, at breakfast, in the street, at dinner, in the shops. As we begin to spot it, we see it everywhere. We can learn to discuss it, to argue about it, to disagree, to reinterpret.

And pretty soon creativity comes into our conversations with others. Pretty soon we can influence them into spotting it, too. We have a working creative muscle. Thats where this book should help you get started. On all the different ways you can experience it, all the different places you can find it. And none of it is in art galleries.

Real creativity doesnt live in specialist museums for dead art. Real creativity is alive, happening everywhere, every day. Thats why Churchill said corkscrew thinkers were his secret weapon. Thats why Bill Bernbach said, It may well be that creativity is the last unfair advantage were legally allowed to take over the competition. Creativity, once youve learned to spot it, is your legal unfair advantage. PART 1: CREATIVITY IN UNUSUAL PLACES

In 1985, what everyone in Washington DC wanted more than anything was tickets to see the Washington Redskins football team.

Thats why the waiting list for a season ticket was 25 years. But one cable TV company used the ticket shortage to its advantage. They sent out invitations to a random list of lucky people, to come to a Washington Redskins game for free. The recipients couldnt believe their luck, it was too good to be true. The invitation was from Flagship International Sports Television, and it was personally signed by the owner, I. Detnaw. Detnaw.

It was a luxury event: brunch at the Washington Convention Centre, then a bus to the stadium and the game. Naturally the lucky winners had to bring ID to prove who they were. When they arrived it was a party atmosphere: cheering, whooping, high-fives. They were greeted by skimpily dressed cheerleaders who hugged them. They were led into the hall by ushers in tuxedos, and team mascots: Chickens and Redskins. Finally, they were addressed from the stage by the Head of Marketing.

He said, Ladies and Gentlemen, weve got a special surprise for you today. Youre all under arrest. Get down on the floor, now. Then the doors burst open and dozens of armed police rushed in with shotguns. They handcuffed every one of the winners while they were lying on the floor. The entire event had been a sting operation.

Unknown to each other, all the people who had been invited were fugitives from the law. All the staff were either police officers or US Marshals. From the smiling ushers in tuxedos, to the team mascots, to the cheerleaders. In fact, the cheerleaders who hugged them were actually female US Marshals patting them down for weapons. It was amazing no one suspected anything, it was amazing the fugitives turned up. But the lure of free tickets to the Washington Redskins overrode caution.

The head detective said it was apparent when the fugitives phoned beforehand. The operators told them You have to come along and bring ID, otherwise we give your ticket to the next person in line. And all the fugitives said, You aint giving my ticket away. Ill be there. The head of the operation told his men that maintaining the pretence was everything: We dont normally smile at bad guys, but today we have to kill them with smiles. That day, the police made 119 arrests, and got 101 convictions: murderers, robbers, violent criminals, rapists.