The Atlanta Falcons developed an incredible marketing campaign by integrating the award-winning television show, Game of Thrones, with the release of their new football schedule:
To reveal their schedule in a fresh, memorable way, they recreated the Game of Thrones opening sequence — except instead of medieval kingdoms, the camera zoomed into every stadium they’ll play in this season. Brilliant. Unexpected. And impossible not to watch.
This is one of the examples I use in my keynote when I teach something called the Opposite Object Method, a technique where you combine two things that have absolutely nothing to do with each other to spark new ideas.
Some classic examples:
- Bracelet + Clock = Watch
- Telephone + Camera = iPhone
- Lizard + Car Insurance = Geico (seriously, whoever pitched that deserves a raise)
The next time you’re stuck brainstorming, try this:
Look around the room, grab two random objects, and force yourself to merge them into a new product, service, or campaign. Don’t overthink it. Just see where the collision takes you.
Or kick it up a notch: have everyone on your team bring in one item from home and toss everything in the middle of the table. The only rule? Your new idea has to incorporate at least one of those objects.
It makes brainstorming fun, unpredictable, and surprisingly effective.
Go play. Creativity loves chaos.