Spring is fired up about the Olympic torch heading to Southwold on 5th July as part of the celebrations for this year’s Olympic Games.

We’re eagerly waiting to hear who will have the honour of running with the torch to the Southwold beach huts on day 48 of the relay.

Olympic Committee Chairman Seb Coe wants people across the country to get involved, and Spring client Saint Felix School has joined the Get Set network – a special community of schools and colleges inspiring learners of all ages to get involved with the Olympic values.

And imagine our joy finding this picture with another one of our clients in the background! That clock you see  is by Dent, the luxury heritage watch and clock brand for which Spring created the brand, website and international marketing programme in 2006.

In other Springer news, Glen’s cousin has been invited to appear at the opening ceremony. We hope she takes her camera phone…

Blog Post written by Erika Clegg

Turn off the TV. Put down the paper. Take a walk. Wake in time for the dawn, and watch it with your dog (here in East Anglia we are in the perfect place). Remember the mobile’s off switch? Use it. Be quiet. Now you’re ready to be really creative.

Not for you? Whilst some of you reading this will work for agencies, where creativity is the bread on your shelves, most of you are engaged in quite different occupations.

But whatever your work, targeted creative thinking is at the heart of a transformative company that can fight off bad times.

In ‘The Case for Creativity’, James Hurman cites a number of studies into the impact of creativity; one of which is Peter Field’s finding that, on a low media spend, award winningly creative advertising has 27% more market impact than campaigns that don’t push creative boundaries.

And this can apply to new product development too. I’m a huge fan of Nursey, an 18th century sheepskin clothing maker. A decade ago, they started to make posturepedic saddles – using their existing skills and adapting in a way that enhances the core brand.

Skinners, the petfood manufacturer, came out of a family mill that produced farm animal feeds.

Current head of the company, Roger Skinner, saw a market opportunity that fitted his company’s skills in the 1970’s, and they haven’t looked back. These are both great examples of progressive creative thinking.

How do you – hairdresser, farmer, brewer, business coach – liberate your own team and yourself to think creatively in a way that will help your business grow?

To summarise my last article, first establish your brand position. What do you do, for whom, how, and why are you the experts? This must underpin any thoughts you have. No point setting up a sideline in cupcakes if you are an accountant, nor indeed publicising your latest activities on twitter if you’re an undertaker. Sounds mad – but it’s happened.

So: how to set about some really brain-expanding creativity? Two things to know. First, everyone has the potential to be creative. Everyone. They just need the right circumstances. Second. Creativity needs time and space, and, whilst in the thinking phase there are no wrong answers, targeted creativity demands a decisive and critical editor.

To prepare your mind, first clear it. Remove distractions, diversions and demands on your grey matter. You don’t need to meditate to empty your mind – simply removing the chaos of distraction for a while will do the job.

Now fill it again. Learn about the problem you are trying to solve, consider the impact you hope to make. Fill your meeting room, study or loo walls with images that define the audience you hope to reach and the company as you forsee it. Read about the actions of people you admire and companies you emulate. Search your market on twitter, google and pinterest and see what comes up. Read your industry press.

I guarantee that by now you’ll have had at least four really exciting ideas.

Scrawl them on the wall or tell them to the Dragon Dictate app and email them to yourself. Meet your family, friends or colleagues for an hour and discuss these ideas. See where they take them – and be prepared to let your wonderful ideas morph and change. One of the great joys of creativity is watching other people catch the thought and run with it. Having said that, if your creative idea is born of logic and has serious possibilities, please stand up for it in the face of a committee intent on homogeneity.

NB – it’s at this point I introduce, in an addition to the Archant original, the thoughts of my fab neighbour, Gary Walker, board creative director at AMV BBDO. He reminded me of a very important stage which happens now. “Do nothing. Well, read a book, go to the cinema, have a bath, watch telly, go to gallery, anything but DON’T think about the problem. Your mind’s an amazing thing. It sorts things out. It will disregard the unimportant. When you return to your problem you’ll have clarity of thought and quite possibly a solution.”

I agree wholeheartedly. The ability to churn round a lot of ideas, chew them over with people, love them, plump for one and then walk away from it for a while invariably produces a better version, or a brilliant new idea that’s the right one. It’s worth taking this step, which feels like a gamble but works.

Now comes the hard part. Bring it back to practicality – review your objectives, your brand position, your budgets and your available time, and chuck out ideas which don’t fit around them. You’ll be left with the golden thoughts, the ones that can really take your business places.

I’ll leave you with a thought on one thing you can do every day of your life that will open your mind. I started, bored of the same fields and streets, on the school bus. Make the effort every day to see something you have never seen before in a familiar place. I guarantee that you will, and that it will always surprise you, delight you and set you up for the day.

(Featured in the EDP/EADT March 2012)

Blog Post written by Erika Clegg

Our friend and client Gary Matthews, owner of Gem Fitness, is encouraging people to join him for Suffolk Sunrise. Sounds nice? A little jog at dawn followed by bacon butties and a mug of tea?

Think again. This is a grueling 100 mile (or 100 km) bike ride across Suffolk in aid of Action Medical Research.

Now, at Spring we reckon that everyone should really, REALLY push their limits at least once in a lifetime. If Everest, a marathon or sailing round the world aren’t for you, why not have a go at this?

Gary’s a great man to help people meet their fitness goals, and a good advisor if you’re thinking about accepting the challenge.

Blog Post written by Erika Clegg

I’d like to let you know about the new group which is being set up to support the development of the Digital Creative Industries in Norfolk and Suffolk. I am a member of this group, both as the LEP board champion for our industry but also as founder of Spring, the creative marketing agency.

My experience, in common with many other East Anglian agency heads, is that – despite the proliferation of well-applied talent – lamentable infrastructure and lack of area reputation can hold back growth. Many successful agencies end up with larger offices in London than here, taking great employment opportunities and success stories away from the very place that nurtured them.

It’s of fundamental importance to address these issues, through a process of targeted and intensive lobbying, innovation and celebration.

Those of us who are lucky enough to fulfill our ambitions in this beautiful part of England are, in many ways, pioneers. I believe that we can now take those first, big steps towards a mainstream perception of East Anglia as a hotspot for digital creative excellence.

Blog Post written by Erika Clegg

Does a rise in temperatures mean spring has arrived in Southwold? Whatever the weather, we’re already seeing a rise in bookings for the next Southwold Concert, which is taking place at St Edmund’s Church on Saturday 7th April.

Pianist and Artistic Director Nathan Williamson will be delighting concert-goers with the following programme:

Franz Liszt – Variations on a theme by Bach (Weinen, klagen, sorgen, zagen)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Fantasy and Fugue in C major, K. 394

Harrison Birtwistle – Harrison’s Clocks (exerpts)

Franz Liszt – Four Transcendental Etudes: Eroica, Wilde Jagd, Harmonies du Soir, Chasse-Neige

Ludwig van Beethoven – Sonata in A Flat, op.11

The concert starts at the traditional time of 7.30pm.

‘An effective twin of technical display and interpretive insight’ Classical Source

Tickets are £12, to include an interval drink courtesy of our co-sponsors, Adnams. All attendees are invited to become Friends of the Concert Series for a fiver a year – this largely goes to support the work of the Concert Series, but also ensures you are kept up to date with news and receive the beautiful season brochure each year.

The Box Office is at Spring, 4 Church Street (open 9-5.30, Monday to Friday) or by calling Lucy Aldous at Spring on 01502 726161.

Blog Post written by Erika Clegg