Growing up I was often accused of “being in a bubble”. Ever since school, I found the best way to learn or plan my approach to something would be to set a routine by running, walking, or somehow isolating myself so I could collect my ideas and have fewer distractions. By keeping my thoughts contained and allocated to their own space, ideas would then link together until finally everything became clear.
A couple of years ago, this bubble was slightly shaken. We worked on a customer conference centered around the idea of looking at things differently. All attendees were recommended the book “Messy” by Tim Harford, which outlined different examples of how disorder and disruption can often transform our lives.
This seemed like the antithesis of what I’d grown up learning and my core approach! One example that stayed with me was a study on interrupted commutes and how this caused people to change their route. After an episode of disruption, results showed that 1 in 20 people stuck with their new commute as they found it preferable to their original choice. Could it be that there is a better way if we are open to it?
We face ‘interruptions’ like this on a daily basis. Instead of reverting back to our bubble we can look to these as opportunities to help us become more flexible and responsive. In the creative communications world, it’s vitally important that we are open to the inspiration of new ideas and stimuli. As we observe and absorb, new cerebral connections can be made that we can store for later and use in ever-changing circumstances.
With recent social distancing measures, more and more people are finding themselves caught inside their own bubbles. At the same time, brands are continuing to find innovative ways to break through these barriers and create new, relevant and impactful content that aims to connect and inspire others (I particularly liked IKEA’s response to the pandemic for its simple, on-brand creative approach).
Personally, I find “the bubble” still useful sometimes, but while also allowing ourselves to step outside our own learnt patterns and letting this messiness create new opportunities which bring surprising and better results.
Georgia Walker, Senior Project Manager.
