Dave Trott used to say,
The brain is like a muscle.
The more you use it the bigger it gets.
And he was right.
Developments in brain scanning equipment have recently proved Dave's maxim correct.
Here is one such example.
Gus Halwani, co-founder of the Neurophysiology Department at Harvard University, conducted a study which looked at the pathways between the left and right side of the brain.
The pathways, or tracts as they are called, send electrical signals across the brain between the left and right hemispheres.
Halwani and his team looked at the main tract: the Arcuate Fasciculus. (A.F)
They measured the size of the A.F. tube in three different groups of people. Non-musicians, musicians and vocalists.
They found that the non-musicians had the smallest A.F.
They also found the musicians had a bigger A.F. tract.
There is more activity between the left and right side of the brain when you learn to play an instrument.
It's like sending your brain to a gym.
That's really not surprising.
What did surprise the team, however, was the group with the largest A.F. tract and bigger density of fibres in the tract were the singers.
Singing, it seems, is the like sending your brain to a gym with a hard-assed personal trainer.
The team found the act of singing worked the A.F. the hardest.
There was more activity between the two sides of the brain.
Apparently, the left hand side of the brain (words) works harder with the right side (sound) when you sing.
Unfortunately the study didn't look at front men who sing and play an instrument. (I guess Prince probably had the biggest A.F. tract on the planet.)
What does this all mean to creatives working in advertising?
We know that art school trained creatives pre-dominantly use their right hemisphere for images, intuition and visual stimulus.
Copywriters pre-dominantly use their left hemisphere for logic, rationale and words.
The brainstorming that happens between a creative team is primarily an interaction between the left hemisphere of the writer and the right hemisphere of the art director.
Neither creative are growing their A.F. tract as much as if they could be if they brainstormed alone.
Their own individual tracts are under used in the conceptualising process.
They are bouncing off each other's different hemispheres rather than engaging their own individual brain.
So, creatives should work solo in the first instance.
If you are a writer you should conceptualise more around the visual possibilities of your thoughts.
You should draw, doodle and paint your thoughts.
Visualise your headlines and your strap lines.
Draw images that replace the dialogue in radio and T.V. scripts.
If you are an art director you should do the opposite.
Try to write your ideas.
And while you are doing this take off your headphones and sing.
When you come together with your creative partner and your respective ideas you shouldn't discuss them.
Oh, no.
You should sing them.
Sing to your partner.
And get your partner to sing their ideas to you.
Why not sing them to the Creative Director?
And then sing them to the client.
In fact, all client presentations should be in the form of a musical.
Any creative-led agency could do one simple thing to help the brain power of their creatives.
They should set up a lunchtime choir.
Whether it results in better ads, however, is open to question.
Try it and see.
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| Lucky Generals creatives present their new idea for Pot Noodles. |
