Driving the concept over the cliff.
“Don’t drive the concept over the cliff.”
That’s what my good friend, and ever-wise colleague, @Don Pettit would caution whenever we started pushing an idea too far.
And in many instances, he was right.
But today, given all the noise, all the clutter, all the choices out there competing for attention, getting your audience to notice and choose you is more challenging than ever before.
So how do you go from blandini to bold?
By defying Don!
And pushing your idea beyond what seems practical. Or plausible.
Stretching it to the furthest possible and oft-times outrageous extreme.
Going beyond the conventional wisdom of your category.
Showing no fear. Finding the edge. And doing some serious Star Trekking: Going boldly where no man has gone before.
“…If you really want your target audience to pick up a difference or change, it needs to be signaled perhaps more clearly than we might naturally be comfortable with” writes Adam Morgan in The Pirate Within.
Josh Linkner calls it Edgestorming — brainstorming’s rebellious cousin.
Seth Godin calls it EdgeCrafting — the X-games of creative thinking.
By pushing your idea to its absolute extreme — as far from the center as it can go — you’ll begin to see more exciting possibilities.
You don’t create a more exciting circus by out Barnum & Bailey-ing the big top with more clowns and bigger elephants. You create Cirque du Soleil.
Now Adam, Josh and Seth aren’t suggesting that you break every rule in the book.
Akin to Thelma and Louise-ing it.
But they do suggest testing boundaries.
Start by identifying your brand’s numero uno trait — most interesting thing about your product or service — then exaggerate it as far as it can go.
Think weird. Think shock and awe.
Don’t ask is this too far. Instead ask, “Does the idea go far enough?” Then keep asking until you scare the bejesus out of yourself.
Don’t ask “Can this be done?” Or “How in the hell will I sell this to my superiors?”
You can always step back from the precipice later.
Obviously not every idea is a good one. Eventually, any extreme can go too far. And pushing a bad idea doesn’t turn it into a good one.
But, finding the edge has been shown to make a product or service not only remarkable — but unforgettable.
And the view? Well, that can be pretty amazing.
