There is so much clutter surrounding advertising. If you want to get your message across to the target market, you would do better to stand on the roof-top of your office in central London and shout it out to all who pass by. Such is the frustration that many firms now feel about advertising. People just ignore it, look the other way, switch it off (if it is on TV) or hum songs in the car if it is on the radio, yet firms still spend millions of pounds, dollars, euros and rupees to get messages about their products and services into the media. Advertising, on the face of it, is wasteful, and arguably much of the money spent on it could be put to better use.That,however is a rather negative way of looking at matters.Advertising messages have to be marketed in the same way that products and services are marketed. Successful products have unique selling features, and this is exactly what advertising messages should strive to have as well. An advertising agency was keen to put the above ideas into practice and was working on a particular campaign for a particular client.The agency decided to use synectics to come up with some insightful ideas.The problem was stated as: How can the product be advertised in a unique and different way? The keyword chosen was the word unique, and an analogy was sought in the world of Nature. The group sought first to think of things which were unique in the world of Nature. Ideas included:

■ patterns on butterflies 

■ snowflakes 

■ patterns on the bark of trees 

■ rain streaming down the window pane.

Using the idea of patterns on butterflies the group next sought to use a personal metaphor.They were asked what it would be like to be patterns on butterflies.The following ideas were generated: 

■ stationary 

■ vivid 

■ multi-coloured 

■ floating on air 

■ bright and distinctive

Question 

Illustrate how the session might continue and conclude?