Packaging of the World created a “…design concept that turns sexy cigarette packs into disgusting, fumbly, puke-brown boxes. The idea: to discourage smoking by turning the actual act of reaching for a cigarette into a visceral reminder of smoking’s effects.”

Contrarian components include:

“Instead of a sturdy flip-top, it has a soft lid that weakens quickly, virtually ensuring that cigarettes fall out in your handbag.

Instead of a sleek box, it’s shaped awkwardly like a triangle, so the once-simple act of pulling out a cigarette turns into a maddening ordeal.

And where a razzle-dazzle logo might’ve presided, it’s got huge warning photos that appeal not to people’s fear of death, but to an arguably more powerful trait, their vanity: It shows brown teeth, yellowing fingernails, and mouths puckered with wrinkles. “

How could flipping an aesthetic on its head help you send a stronger message?

Last year, Red Peak Branding conducted a unique urban experiment for Hudson Urban Bicycles. On January 1, 2011 we chained a fully loaded bike – bells, basket, lights and more – to a post along a busy Soho street. We took a picture of the bike everyday for 365 days, watching it slowly vanish before our eyes.”

This experiment gives you an opportunity to exercise the Fresh Ideas strategy ‘Create Distance’ – even if only as a mental exercise.

How?

Creativity thrives on diversity – of experiences, vantage points, mind sets, habits….  If someone took a picture of you every day for 365 days, what would it tell you about the amount of diversity incorporated into your lifestyle?

“Put on this suit and you feel increased fatigue, reduced flexibility in joints and muscles, spinal compression, and difficulty with vision and balance” … and gain critical insights into  “… how a product, service, or environment is used and navigated by an older adult.”

How could “walking a mile” in the shoes of those you work with and for help you do better work?

With an interesting twist on the Fresh Ideas strategy “Draw It Forward,” Chip Conley crafted simple formulas to illustrate universal truths, creating a “visual lexicon for mastering your life challenges.”

For example:

Regret         =  Disappointment + Responsibility

Jealousy     =   Mistrust – Self Esteem

Authenticity =   Self Awareness X Courage

Happiness   =   Wanting What You Have / Having What You Want

Wisdom       =   the square root of Experience

What formulas (+ – / X = ) could you play with to capture relationships between the forces at work within your challenge?

“… the one element that comes through loudest and clearest: the value of scarcity as a spur to creative problem-solving.”

“ By deliberately imposing scarcity of one kind or another on their problem-solving, inventors became demonstrably more creative, and the ideas generated under such conditions enjoyed greater success in the marketplace and society than ideas invented in more “blue sky” modes.”

The real world implication is “… by capitalizing on external constraints such as the economy, and by intentionally imposing scarcities of time, money, options, and other resources, you and other innovators stand to launch inventions that succeed better in the marketplace.”

Learn more here.

The new headquarters  “doesn’t have assigned desks, has enough desk space for just 60% to 70% of its employees, and houses a number of giant wall-mounted TV screens, which are intended to bring telecommuters into office conversations. The screens are virtually everywhere, including in the cafeteria…. We wanted to be more open to smarter working, anywhere anytime.”

Starting with something familiar can make a new approach easier to implement – how could you take an established practice and apply it in a bigger way?

Removing the water, plastic containers and emulsifying agents from liquid soaps provided a new approach that is more hygienic and ecological.

How could removing something “essential” open up new possibilities for you?

“… Asian shore crabs, an invasive species that first showed up in the Sound in the 1980s. It’s made itself right at home, attacking the limited supply of plankton and larvae that native fish and shellfish need to survive. So Lai did what any sustainability-minded seafood chef would do: He excavated the crab meat from its shell and turned it into a sushi roll.”

You can read about more dishes he’s created with this strategy here.

You can see a quick slide show with examples here.

The creative thinking opportunity lies in asking, “How could other customs from another culture help me solve my challenge?

Recognizing that even the driest air in the driest deserts contains water molecules, Ed created a low tech AirDrop Irrigation that rural farmers can install and maintain.

• A turbine intake collects and drives air underground
• through piping that cools the air until it becomes condensation;
• the water droplets are stored in an underground tank
• and pumped through to the roots of crops via underground drip-irrigation hosing.

In areas where yearly rainfall is only a couple of inches, this can be a literal life saver.