Modern B2B Marketing
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June 4, 2009
Forty Ways to Marketing Creativity from Hugh MacLeod (aka Gapingvoid)
Posted by Maria Pergolino
But creativity is sometimes hard to capture. And marketers must learn methods to think of new ideas that are going to continue to be the spark in their campaigns. For forty ways to help do this I would like to recommend Hugh MacLeod’s new book, Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity. You may not recognize Hugh by name, as he is better known for his blog GapingVoid.com, which features his quirky cartoons that are the size of business cards (like the one pictured below). In this quick read, he describes his path to cartoon success from his start in New York City’s intense world of advertising. His advice is sometimes harsh and cynical, but is based off of real examples, and can be implemented by anyone in any industry.
Hugh MacLeod- GapingVoid.com
Hugh is a great resource for marketers, as he has been very successful in use of social media and blogs to promote his cartoons and book.
My favorite part of the book, and one that applies so well to marketing, is about allowing your work to age with you. He points to an old adage that suggest, many people who claim to have 20 years of experience, may really only have one year’s experience, repeated twenty times. I know you can think of marketers that this applies to, as I know the marketing industry still has many that are resistant to online marketing or hesitant to move from advertising’s traditional ad based revenue model. To avoid being one of these people, Hugh suggests going with the flow, changing with the times, and most importantly, avoiding those who are worrying about change instead of making it.
For the other 39 ways, you’ll have to grab Hugh’s book, “Ignore everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity”, which can be ordered now for delivery on its release date of June 11th. Haven’t ordered the book yet? One lucky commenter to this post will be randomly selected to receive a free copy, so let me know what your key to creativity is, why you want the book, or just say hi.
Lisa at Moore said on June 5, 2009 at 6:12 am
How timely. I was just promoted to Marketing Manager and my charge is to think “outside the box” as we market our physical therapy, fitness and wellness center. It’s harder to think outside the box when your asked to! I love marketing because you can be creative and analytical, but as you said, the creative can be tougher to tap than the analytical. This book sounds like the perfect tool to make me successful!!
Derya said on June 5, 2009 at 12:33 pm
‘The market for something to believe in is infinite’ – how true! If we could give people something to believe in, we’d probably sell every time. I love Hugh’s work, it’s succint and incisive, and I’d love to read more!
Todd said on June 5, 2009 at 2:46 pm
The wall next to my desk is covered with print outs of Hugh’s cards. They are very inspiring, and great to point to when someone asks me why I went in a certain direction or why I push for something. I can go into a long winded explanation, or point to a 10 word phase and scribble!
The key for me is to not be so focused on my job role and industry. I follow so many different areas of interest and I’ll get inspired by something or someone not relevant to my immediate need, but I can learn from it and apply it with some tweaks, like Bob said. Too often we get stuck in the “can’t see the forest for the trees” and the “that’s not how it’s done” that we miss out on the bigger picture of what we are trying to accomplish.
ryan vong said on June 5, 2009 at 2:49 pm
“The rush of creating campaigns and watching them produce revenue for an organization is powerful, and is what often pushes us on.” Big campaigns are highly visible, but they don’t happen very often. My rush is winning small battles each day. For instance, our Marketing landing page is kicking butt on the optimization front moving to first page for any searches on “managing software costs and risks” and searches for “managing software costs” are improving. Key terms for us and out of 62M and 142M results respectively…not a bad day.
Key to creativity – As B2B marketers I keep in mind we are still marketing to people. Fundamentals still apply. The right message at the right time delivered through the right medium will do wonders.
Why I want the book – Choosing to ignore this question.
Peter Hodges said on June 5, 2009 at 3:27 pm
My key to creativity is to just sit down and do the work. If I wait for the mood to strike, I can end up waiting a while.
It’s almost like warming up at the gym. The first few minutes/sentences/ideas are stiff and awkward but then I normally find something that has a spark, things start to loosen up, and I go from there.
Julie said on June 5, 2009 at 3:58 pm
My key to creativity is to relax in a bath or take public transportation! I used to have very good ideas when taking the subway in Paris 
Richard said on June 8, 2009 at 7:43 am
‘..20 years of experience, may really only have one year’s experience, repeated twenty times.’
I particularly like this quote and I guess it is a trap that it is easy to fall into.
Anyway my key to creativity is simply to not try to force ideas. The best ideas always seem to come when you least expect them to!
vovikb50 said on June 14, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Since I firmly believe, that everything in this life is interconnected (especially within the human body), the only way to come up with something new (be creative) is to DO something new. By engaging in activities you have not experienced before, you stimulate parts of brain that were “asleep”, so that a wave of impulses rocks other parts of brain and makes you understand more/think differently/gain new perspectives. And these are preconditions for creativity. IMHO 
Bob said on June 5, 2009 at 6:07 am
My key to creativity – I take a shower. Don’t know why, but I have had many of my most impressive creative ideas while in the shower. As to why I would want Hugh’s book – I always get a little concerned when I disagree with someone who has been so successful (certainly more than I) – I make it a practice to never argue with success, fools, or liars — so I want to find out more about his advice to ignore everybody else. I always observe the creativity of others because often times, it is simply a matter of a tweak here and there to improve upon someone’s idea, sometimes exponentially. Also, if everyone took Hugh’s advice, no one would even consider buying his book.