how to make the ordinary extraordinary
DESCRIPTION
Ordinary is defined as “not unusual, different, or special”—essentially, a synonym for boring. But why is it that we are so quick to put negative connotations around this word? The majority of our lives are made up of ordinary things that might seem small, but can be some of the most meaningful parts of our days. In this session Megan Averell teaches us how to strip back our fascination with the extraordinary, and get in touch with ordinariness, bringing it back from discredit, and with it, bring back some relevance.TRANSCRIPT
How to find the ordinary extraordinaryMegan Averell / @Meggatron
ordinary
ordinarynot unusual, different, or specialadj.
ȯr-də-ˌner-ē
extraordinaryvery unusual or remarkableadj.
ik-strawr-dn-er-ee
extraordinaryvery unusual or remarkableadj.
ik-strawr-dn-er-ee
ordinarynot unusual, different, or specialadj.
uninteresting
typical
offputting
forgettable
interesting
rare
engaging
stands out
ȯr-də-ˌner-ē
very unusual or remarkableadj.
ordinaryextraik-strawr-dn-er-ee
extraordinary
interesting!
engaging
extremeextra
excise
excise
people
planners
extreme
fantasyreality
>
extra
the greatesttroublewithextraordinary
interesting
engaging
interesting
engagingOR
engaging
relevance
minutes10.5Bper day
ordinary truths
there isn’t any such thing as an ordinary life
“ “-- L.M. Montgomery
that’s amazing!>that’s me!
extraordinaryvery unusual or remarkableadj.
ik-strawr-dn-er-ee
ordinarynot unusual, different, or specialadj.
uninteresting
typical
offputting
forgettable
interesting
rare
engaging
stands out
ȯr-də-ˌner-ē
ordinary
engaging
It’s an idea based on truth that will move consumers
“ “-- Omar Johnson, CEO, Beats
It’s all real; we don’t make this stuff up. We don’t do crazy metaphorical stuff to seduce, it’s real
““
-- Omar Johnson, CEO, Beats
marketing used to be about creating a myth and telling it, now it’s about finding a truth and sharing it
““
-- Marc Mathieu, Unilever
bring the ordinary back
how to
find the
1wonder andjoy in theordinary
21
representwhat is infront of you
I just happen to like ordinary things. When I paint them, I don’t try to make them extraordinary. I just try to paint them ordinary-ordinary
““
-- Andy Warhol
31
don’t be fancy andclever
The real art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinary simple words do extra-ordinary things. To use the language we all use and make extraordinary things occur
““
-- Graham Swift
41
stop beinglazy withshorthand
For when we succumb to this stylized, board-game view of the people whose actions we are trying to understand and report on, we cheat our readers and our viewers, offering them a version of reality forced to fit a formula that may have little to no bearing on what is actually going on
““
-- Meg Greenfield
I, along with my colleagues, had let myself get pretty smug and incurious in my approach to the people we were writing about… (if we) start trying to get to the story to justify our assumptions or conclude that we don’t need to ask or look or even wonder, because we’re smart and we already know, we have walked off the job
““
-- Meg Greenfield
truth. nothing’sfaster.
51
be abetter
“noticer”
WWDADOS?
61
keep youreyes onthe prize
You’re all smart, but you get too wrapped up in a cool idea and lose sight of the strategy
“ “-- Anonymous client to their agency
A
CB
what did we set out to do in the first place?
does this simply do it in a way people will recognize?
if not, why are we doing it?
*REMEMBER: “because it’s interesting” isn’t good enough
The job is hard enough.
There’s no need to make it harder by trying to do even more.
Little minds are interested in the extraordinary, great minds in the commonplace
““
-- Elbert Hubbard
truthrelevance
ordinary
engagement
find theordinary
how to
extraordinary Megan Averell, @Meggatronwww.theinsightinn.com
FIND theordinary
how to
extraordinary exercise:
• Social media
• Google search
• Focus groups
• Intercept interviews
• Demographic profiles
• Customer data
Each group works for 30 minute on one topic
Last 15 minutes, each group reports out to room
How could we potentially use these
input methods differently in order to
better discover and recognize the
ordinary?