Hot House

I'll be in the Windy City for most of next week. I'm participating in something called a Hot House.

Barb, my great friend and best partner, and I know this exercise as Creative Fusion. We were involved in something quite similar in the Netherlands a few years ago.

It actually doesn't matter where they hold them, since you rarely see the light of day for these things. It's actually kind of cruel to organize one somewhere you'd actually like to visit.

The idea behind the Hot House is this: you bring creative teams together from different cities, give them all the same Brief, and then watch them go to town.

They Brief. We power brainstorm. We present. They cull the best. Then we go away and develop, develop, develop until there's a winner.

It's pretty stressful. It's a breeding ground for neurosis. But it's also really interesting.

As a creative team, you rarely get a chance to see how other people interpret the same Brief. It's fascinating to watch everyone try to solve the same problem.

When we did it in the Netherlands, there were maybe 100 ideas from 5 teams and no two were the same. That's pretty incredible.

Sure there's the occasional, "Wow, that's dumb." But there are also dozens of, "Wow, wish I'd thought of that." Bastards.

I fully expect to leave Chicago on Friday night feeling like I've been put through one of those old ringer washers.

Maybe I'll just have to go hang out in front of Obama's house for a little inspiration.