{"id":270,"date":"2008-03-12T10:45:49","date_gmt":"2008-03-12T14:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.AchieveMax.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/12\/oreo-creativity\/"},"modified":"2013-07-02T11:15:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-02T15:15:38","slug":"oreo-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/achievemax.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/12\/oreo-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Cookie Crumbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is it about creativity that frightens some people? Maybe “frighten” isn’t the proper word. Could it be intimidate? Alienate? Unnerve? Stifle? There’s something about creativity that simply doesn’t sit well with a good number of people. I’ve observed a growing trend over the past year among those who have attended our “Creative Innovation” seminars<\/a>\u00a0and “Get Back in the Box” keynote presentations<\/a>. We’ve delivered these programs from coast to coast so location isn’t a factor. The audiences have represented a wide variety of industries so occupation plays no part in this trend. We’ve addressed both men and women, young and old, tall and short, executives and students, all religions, and all nationalities … the trend shows no preferences. Large numbers of the populace today truly believe they simply aren’t creative. They can’t think in, out, or anywhere in the vicinity of the box. Some even doubt the existence of the box. They can’t perceive themselves doing anything at all that might be considered creative. It’s been my experience that the majority of them are absolutely wrong. They ARE indeed creative. They simply aren’t comfortable or familiar with that reality.<\/p>\n

We inaugurated this “Out-of-the-Box Thinking” feature just a few weeks ago. We promised to share real-life examples from the business world\u00a0that will encourage you to join this inevitable revolution of creative thinking. Through daily observation alone, I’ve already stockpiled\u00a0more than\u00a0a dozen examples over the last week. If you’ll simply focus on the many instances\u00a0that appear in our daily routine, you’ll be amazed at the number of situations from which we can draw to enhance our own efforts. For instance …<\/p>\n

Visit your local grocery store. Pick an aisle \u2014 let’s say the cookie aisle. That’s a pretty mundane area. Now let’s focus on a company. How about Nabisco? They’ve been around for what seems forever. Now zero in on a brand. Let’s say the ever-popular Oreo. This very popular sandwich cookie, consisting of a sweet, white creme between two circular chocolate cookies, has been gracing our cookie jars since 1912. More than 490 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since they were first introduced, making them the best-selling cookie of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

Take a good look at this very basic, but scrumptious, snack delicacy as you ponder the following challenge. As the director of a creative team of associates, you have been charged with the task of developing a strategy to market this “classic” goody in such a way that it will dominate shelf space and entice additional sales in a very competitive market place. I’ve actually issued this challenge as a group activity in several seminars and was somewhat surprised at the lack of imagination, risk-taking, creativity, or resourcefulness I witnessed. I heard remarks such as “What can you do with a cookie?”\u00a0and\u00a0“There’s not much to work with!” along with “If it could be done, someone would have already done it!”<\/p>\n

Well, someone has. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it as yet but the creative folks at Kraft\/Nabisco have done a very impressive job of not only dominating grocery shelf space across the nation but also overshadowing their competition in most every aspect of the media. The simplistic little cookie pictured above has been altered and promoted in ways never considered by the average Oreo connoisseur. Take a look at some of what they now offer to accomplish their competitive challenge.<\/p>\n