Noise

The art of the absurd

The more bonkers, the better

Einstein – famous wild haired egg-head and sausage eater – once said ‘If at first the idea is not absurd then there is no hope for it’. 

No Einstein’s to claim at bakehouse, but we are smart enough to have been turned onto the process of creative problem solving – the absurd way!

Synectics! Yep, Synectics, or in dunce language the customer centric collaborative process where the conventional glass ceilings of research are smashed asunder, the retaining walls of myopic viewpoints are bulldozed, lazy ‘can’t do’ thinking is given a sharp kick in the arse and the ‘it’s the way we do it around here’ chestnuts are well and truly roasted – alive!

Most importantly, the word ‘impossible’ is banned, considered Satan’s spawn, consigned to Outer Mongolia, where Yaks will eat it, excrete it and trample it unceremoniously into the frigid earth, where worms will… You get the idea.

The word ‘absurd’ is however lauded, slapped on the back, carried shoulder high by cheering masses, offered fat cigars and babies to kiss. Marketing Directors will clamber to be the first to name their firstborn Tabitha Absurd Fothrington-Smyth - in homage.

Why? Because there are two roads you can travel when tussling with a thorny brute of a business problem.

1. Think the way you and yours have always thought and come   up with the answers you always come up with. So if you wanna stand still, if you’re happy ‘in the pack’ - be our guest.

2.   Think in an entirely different and liberating way. 

How does Synectics work?

The who?

Invite, and for a few days live with a hugely diverse group of people.

Consumers – free from your organisational constipations, free to express those unpalatable truths, free to be smartarses, free to be ridiculous, free to be creative.

Yourself – to listen and contribute, free from the working day and the burdens of ‘can’t do – won’t happen here’ thinking.

bakehouse – used to working in all sorts of creative ways, used to thinking the unthinkable on behalf of clients, used to seeing the consumers point of view.

The why?

Because it pays to burst through conventional thinking. It’s invigorating to go beyond the simple ‘yes and no’ of traditional research. True creativity comes from working within a creative environment.

The how?

Facilitators guide combinations of groups through exercises designed specifically to free the imagination and draw out the creativity natural to us all – preposterous and sane.

Tapping into people’s insights in this way helps create meaningful – often unexpected, often extraordinary, often company changing ideas.

This expansive thinking is fed into an intellectual hopper that with careful channelling, development, refinement, inquisition, debate and evaluation, creates the stimulus required for innovation.

The what for?

Because the air is choked by me-too products. Clogged with personality free brands. Constipated by lack of innovation.

Move your brand into clean, crisp air. Make your products and services truly innovative. Change the way you and your company think about problem solving – possibly forever.

Einstein knew a thing or two. He understood the all important equation bs!>=L² (bog standard thinking = unhappiness squared) is no way to innovation heaven. Synectics aims to tap into a higher power, the creativity – often preposterous creativity – hardwired naturally into our species.

‘There are only two mental states, creative or dead! The process of creativity is connecting ideas in your head as synapses spark off one another. If you are alive you have the capacity to make these connections; Many of us have lost the capacity to listen to our head instead censuring new thinking into the day to day stuff we already know.

Most of us are creative problem solvers by accident! Synectics provides a map and the tools to make invention more than an accident. Craft your skills to tap into your innate creativity and use what you find to get results’

Jonne Ceserani – bakehouse Synectics Facilitator Partner