Inside the Box

A creative team is coming up with ideas for Pizza Dungeon. They don’t know where their thinking will lead, but they know this: They want to be “different.” They want to think “outside the box.”

What do they mean by “different” and “outside the box”? Well, they want to do something just like those ads in last year’s One Show Annual.

Of course, you can’t really be different if you’re imitating something else. But is imitation really so bad? Or, put another way, is originality all it’s cracked up to be?

My answer is that new ideas are vital and invigorating, but we make a mistake if we think every job calls for something brand-new.