…are just two of our favourite things.
At the end of last year we were asked to write a piece for the IPA about what inspires us.
Which was very flattering. The only snag was that, work being work, we didn’t have very long to do it in. So mine (Lol) ended up about six pages too long. But as Pascale and every great rambler knows, it takes a lot longer to write short things than it does long things!
Not only that, for some unholy reason I have left out two of my favourite screenwriters…
1) Aaron Sorkin – the patron saint of razorsharp dialogue. Although he’s most known for The Social Network, his best work (in my humble opinion) is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Get the box set if you’ve not seen it!
2) Bruce Robinson, the brilliant brilliant writer of How to get a head in advertising and Withnail and I. I really recommend reading the screenplay – it’s astonishingly written, and there are even more hidden gems in his stage directions.
All disclaimers aside, for anyone that’s interested, here is our piece on what inspires us as a team.
Thank you and a belated happy new year one and all…
L & N x
LORELEI MATHIAS 
Some interesting sources.
It’s noticeable that you do not mention an insightful creative brief as a source of inspiration. Isn’t that pretty key to inspiring great work?
HNY tootoyoutwo
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Hey Paul, thanks for raising an interesting point. Yeah you’re right, a good brief is obviously a huge part of the process. Both at starting you off, and keeping you on the right track – kind of like a strategic satnav…But I guess we were coming at the question from a different angle.
We wrote about what inspires us outside work – how we use life to fill our heads with stuff which we then draw on at work. Like a mental store cupboard.
Then, another big part of the process comes from looking at the product in detail. ‘Interrogate the product’ and all that. Whether that’s covering our desk with every type of bread possible, like we did at BBH working on Warburtons a few years ago. Or trying on £10,000 dresses in Dolce and Gabanna for a Martini Gold brief. Or going up to the Yorkshire Tea factory to watch professional tea slurpers in action. That’s how we come up with the best ideas once we’ve been given the brief. It goes without saying, it’s always good to visit the factory…
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After 40 years of unsuccessfully trying to uncover the “Grand Unified Theory” unifying all 4 fundamental forces of nature, Einstein was asked if he thought the solution would ever be found. He said, “The answer to this problem, when found, will be simple.”
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