Here you’ll find relevant use cases for Ideasicle X. Articles on the art of generating ideas while working remotely. Insights and studies into creativity itself. All from the desk of our founder and CEO, Will Burns.
Artificial intelligence is shrinking that marathon into a tiny little sprint. It’s more like idea teleportation. AI can take an idea and turn it into a fully realized video ad at dizzying speeds. The gap between idea and execution isn’t just closing—it’s practically gone. And that changes everything for advertising agencies.
Read MoreThe advertising business hasn’t gotten any easier over the years, has it? Fewer AOR relationships, more unpredictable project work, and dead-end pitches make agencies feel less in control than ever. But one thing you can control is your agency’s ideas. It’s what you’re best at. And I think it’s your biggest weapon for growth. Here’s how you can leverage this superpower to grow your business.
Read MoreWhat follows are 11 of the campaign ideas this brilliant team came up with. Below that is how we did it, a video of the actual Idea Stream where the magic happened, and a link to see what the “client presentation” would have looked like. A real look under the hood of a typical Ideasicle “IX Concierge” project.
Read MoreThis interactive tool lets you slide through the five variables, tweaking each one to see how it impacts your pitch odds in real time. Think your strategy’s a 10 but your client relationship’s a 5? Well, that client may not see that strategy as a 10 (even if it is). Slide those dials and watch the odds adjust, with instant feedback on what to fix.
Read MoreWhether you love Trump or hate him, he's given American brands a trump card they need to start playing right away. It's in the interest of the American brands, but also in the interest of the American economy. And for some even patriotic, but that isn’t required. The “trump card” is the tariffs and I have three ways for American brands to take full advantage and to accelerate our economy through the tariff pain.
Read MoreI have been in advertising long enough now to see that “creative ideas” have had a hell of a ride. Depending on the decade, ideas have been the champion soaring to glory, they’ve been battered by industry upheavals, and nearly lost in a sea of endless channels. What follows is my interpretation of the “hero’s journey” of the creative idea through advertising’s chaotic past—its triumphs, trials, and a future where I believe it’s poised to reclaim its rightful throne.
Read MoreHere’s a jolt for all you advertising idea people: direct mail—that dusty relic you’ve been calling “junk” since the dawn of spam filters—is back.. Not as a quaint throwback, but as a channel with unexpected pull in our screen-saturated world. The irony? The digital deluge we’ve been navigating has cracked open a window for something physical to matter again.
Read MoreWhat if we handed the whole brand—every doc, every win, every faceplant—to an AI that never blinks, never misreads, and never clocks out? Picture an AI that keeps learning as your brand shifts, but locks down everything you’ve ever thrown at it. No more “I think the brand would do X.” No more drift. Just a flawless, evergreen brand brain that can talk to you.
Read MoreClients are bailing on Agencies of Record (AOR) faster than you can say “retainer,” trading predictable monthly fees for a chaotic buffet of unpredictable project work. Pitches, one-off campaigns, quick-turn concepts—agencies need to reframe how they look at these. These projects aren’t just odd jobs anymore, they’ve become critical Idea Events. High-stakes, short-fuse moments where concentrated brilliance is the only way to win the day.
Read MoreArtificial Intelligence cut our Hallmark production costs by about 70%—and it’s coming for the $500 billion ad industry next. For 15 years, Ideasicle stuck to ideation, leaving production to clients. It was principle: no 'production bias' to filter out ideas we don’t have the staff to produce. But when Matt Resteghini at Hallmark saw our AI-generated pitch images, he threw down the gauntlet—produce the campaign Hallmark approved with AI, on a tiny budget. The creative team, Rich Wallace and Ernie Schenck, and I said yes. Why? The campaign was too good, and AI was the only way to do it within budget. What we didn’t expect? This little pivot might just kill the 'time of staff' model for good.
Read MoreI had a thought about music we listen to in our 3D world of time and space, and wondered if music really originates from a higher dimension. And if so, what did music look and sound like in a higher dimension? Anyway, I took to an intelligence more artificial than mine, ChatGPT, but also more complete. We start with music, but somehow end up with God and an incredibly inspirational message.
Read MoreYour internal agency team knows your brand, your products, your challenges, and your goals like no one else. But for certain idea projects, where fresh thinking is essential, hiring outside freelance talent is less an expense than a shortcut to a big, valuable idea. Outside freelancers bring unique superpowers. Here are 7 of them.
Read MoreAsk anyone to define creativity, and chances are they’ll point to the arts—painting, writing, music, theater. And sure, that’s one outcome of it. But I am convinced creativity is something much broader. It’s a life skill that can be developed, refined, and even taught.
Read MoreI spoke recently at the In-house Agency Forum about the many ways virtual idea generation is better than in-person. Things like this thing called online disinhibition, it’s asynchronous, it allows creativity to happen in the wild, etc. Worth considering as agencies contemplate moving creative people back to the offices or go hybrid. We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Read MoreEverybody’s talking about Coca Cola’s new Christmas ad, which was made entirely with artificial intelligence. The issues people have with it are many. Everything from it being creepy to others saying Coca Cola cheaped out and didn’t want to pay real actors. I also found the ad to be creepy, particularly the scenes with people in them. And it was in the creepy feeling that I had a small spiritual epiphany.
Read MoreMany virtual brainstorming tools focus on one main function—creating a shared virtual space for ideas. Platforms like Miro and Google Docs provide simple online frameworks for brainstorming, offering a blank canvas or a shared document where teams can contribute ideas in realtime or over time. While effective for light collaboration, it doesn’t take long to realize these tools were not developed for the advertising business. Google Docs wasn’t even developed for idea generation. Here’s why that matters and what you can do about it.
Read MoreMany businesses think their logo is their brand. Spoiler alert: it’s not. A logo, like a brand name, is simply a symbol that represents a brand, but it doesn’t define the brand itself. What makes a brand truly powerful goes much deeper than visuals or words.
Read More2024 is moving by at a blinding pace. But 2025 is giving us clues as to what marketers could be doing now in order to get ready. We want you to be prepared, so we’ve been thinking about what the three most important “kinds” of ideas marketers can be thinking about now in preparation for what will likely be a wild 2025.
Read MoreIn much of the advertising world, the creative brief is treated like a static document—a checklist, a rulebook, a set of instructions. But at Ideasicle X, we see it differently. For us, the brief isn’t the final word—it’s the first spark. It ignites the creative process, and while the brief itself doesn’t change during the creative process, its influence on the creative team grows and evolves as the ideas take shape. When approached the right way, a brief doesn’t dictate creative solutions, it fuels them, turning into something dynamic and alive.
Read MoreI talk to agencies all the time, from the large global players to the nimble boutiques. I talk to clients all the time, too. And as I hear their stories, a few clear themes are emerging. Themes that will require a more energetic and potent way to for agencies to differentiate from other agencies.
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