Your Ideas Aren't Dumb Enough
Ever worried about sharing an idea in case it's stupid? I'd argue, you're not being stupid enough. So let's get thick by petting rocks, rewinding VHS tapes, and talking to inanimate objects.
Dumbgood’s Nostalgia Bomb: How a T-Shirt Brand Hijacks Your Youth
Ever heard of Dumbgood? They’re a merch brand that masterfully taps into the good old days. A few years back they did a collab with Blockbuster.
They turned a dead rental chain into a hypemonster must-have with tees, hoodies, even a faux membership card you’d flash ironically at mates. It’s not just clothes, it’s a time machine to the dial-up days.
Why’d it work so well? They nailed nostalgia with a twist. Blockbuster’s withered corpse got a stylish makeover for Gen Z and elder millennials who’d rather forget the pain of slowly rewinding VHS tapes. It’s less “sad rewind” and more “smirk at the past,” hitting scrollers who crave quirky authenticity. Limited drops and a cheeky “late fees not included” tone of voice sealed the deal and the launch was a huge success.
How to Reverse-Engineer This Kinda Thing:
Resurrect something knackered and make it cool again (do we still say cool?). Grab a dusty relic from your client’s world. Say, an old slogan or a retro product and give it a bit of modern swagger. “The Fax Machine 2.0” when you want to send someone a link to a video but you also want them to have an incredibly frustrating day.
Ask yourself: “What’s the most naff thing I can make sexy?”.
The Creative Rundown
1. Something to intrigue you:
A phone charging toaster and a jacket covered in solar panels. Just a couple of the slightly unhinged tech inventions unveiled at this year’s CES show. Flick through it here for a bit of ‘what even is this?’
2. Useful Tool:
Obsidian. No, not the shiny volcanic rock (that I DEFINITELY didn’t have to Google) but the note-taking app that’s like Trello’s nerdy cousin. The best thing about this is the visual graph it creates to show you how you’re linking ideas together.
3. Website to Visit:
AdFreak. The weird and interesting underbelly of advertising lives in here. It’s a goldmine of off-the-wall campaigns and branding stunts that’ll either inspire you or make you question your own existence. Perfect for when you’re procrastinating on that client brief and need a creative kick up the arse.
4. Game to Play:
Sheep in Disguise. Any card game accompanied by illustrations that make my eyeballs salivate, generally has my vote. And this one is no exception. Flocking wonderful.
Here’s Why Your Ideas Aren’t Dumb Enough
In 1975, adman Gary Dahl sold rocks in a box, framing them as pets and calling them “Pet Rocks”. He included a training manual (sample command: “Stay”) and he made millions. The secret? Commit to the bit like a demented cult leader.
Takeaways for us:
Package absurdity as “Luxury”.
Details are Easter eggs. The manual’s deadpan humour made it very shareable. Even in the 70’s.
Sell the experience, not the thing. People didn’t buy a rock, they bought a joke to tell their friends.
When you think you’ve come up with a stupid idea, challenge yourself to keep making it even more stupid. Then even more. Essentially, keep getting dumber until you find yourself drooling into a bowl of soup. You might come up with something so daft, it’s brilliant.
The Pet Rock was discontinued one year later when sales fell off a cliff but I’ll conveniently ignore that part.
Creative Tricks to Pinch
1.The “Wrong Room” Technique:
Pretend your project’s for a totally different audience. Like pitching a car ad to toddlers. Brainstorm from that angle, then cherry-pick the weirdest bits to spice up your real gig.
2. The Anti-Mood Board:
Stop looking for the perfect images to inspire your own vision. Collect images that violently clash with your project’s intended vibe. Designing a meditation app? Add heavy metal album covers to your mood board. The visual friction can often take you in some new and interesting directions.
3. Schrödinger’s Brief:
Write two opposite briefs for the same project (e.g., “Make it hyper-modern” and “Make it medieval”). Merge the best bits from each one.
Handy Things to Flick Through
Podcast: Everything is Alive – Interviews with inanimate objects. Just as delightfully bonkers as it sounds.
Article: The Art of Absurdity - Why Gen Z thrives on nonsense (and you should too).
Video: How Boredom Can Lead to Brilliance - PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN AND GO LOOK AT A CHAIR OR SOMETHING!
Who likes a freebie?
I’ve started offering creative consulting sessions. 3,600 seconds of creative brain storming, mind bashing, neuron humping loveliness. Here are a few things people have used this time for so far:
• Coming up with content ideas
• Developing new company names
• Quick lessons in Adobe software
• Creative idea generating tricks
• Building the foundations of a new visual identity or logo idea
• How to be purposefully different in your industry
• Freelancing advice
I want these calls to be as useful as possible so I’m honing the format to make sure people get the most from my time. In order to help me do more of the aforementioned honing, I’d like to offer 10 of you fine folks one of these sessions completely free of charge, if it’s the kind of thing you’d find useful.
This offer is also quite far down the email so you have to be a hardcore Creative Snug fan to even see this. This is how I know you’re worth it 😜
If you’d like to grab one of the 10 slots, fire me over a reply to this email simply saying “Dave, let’s chat!”. First 10 replies win and I’ll chuck you back an email so we can set it up.
A Wee Challenge (if you’re up for it)
The “Product From Hell” Game
Go to this Random Object Generator. Click “Generate Object” and that will be the product you’re about to create.
Now grab a random book. Open to page 42. Find the 7th word. That will be the name of your new product.
Create a tagline, design concept, or ad (whatever you fancy).
Post it online with #creativesnug. Bonus points if it haunts someone’s dreams.
And one last thing…
“You are under no obligation to make sense. That’s the government’s job.”
— A fortune cookie I once got
Phew, this writing lark really does take it out of you. I’m off for a lie down. But before I go, remember to live your creative life on “dumb” mode more then you do on “try to appear smart” mode.
Love you, BYE!