Developing out from Analysis into 

Associations & Connections

It is important to explore further than just looking at the component parts of a thing because this will give you a greater pallet of material to work with and potentially interesting angles that other people may not have considered.

This is also known as Lateral Thinking. This term was coined by Edward De Bono who has written about and developed courses on creative and effective thinking. 

The definition of Lateral Thinking is:

'the solving of problems by an indirect and creative approach, typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light.'

This is talking about changing the position from which you usually/automatically view or explore something = taking a different perspective. To quote De Bono:

“You can’t dig a new hole, by digging the same hole deeper”.

Considering the associated aspects of a subject, can help to quickly give you those alternative perspectives. 

Let’s try it using a mind map.

For example, one of the aspects of Coca-Cola is that it is ‘fizzy’. 

What do I associate with ‘fizzy’?

This took a little less than a minute to generate but I already have material from which to explore a concept.

Coke-floats are a childhood treat (ice cream floating on top of a glass of coke).

All time is precious but that transition between being a child and becoming a teenager is very special (we often secretly still try to hold onto aspects of childhood at this time),

First love at this time in our lives – magical, embarrassing, secret, sweet and innocent (traditionally signified by cherubs) etc.

So, we could explore a scenario of first love between teenagers, centered around the 2 protagonists, out with friend groups, being brave enough to both ask for coke floats in a cafe, to the ridicule of their peers – a shared guilty secret… and the story also addresses peer pressure, bullying, individuality, the importance of growing at your own speed, especially in light of pressures caused by social media these days, etc. 

These themes would appeal to the company as it connects their product with special times in our lives, and gives a sense that as a company they have a current social awareness and responsibility.