Have you ever seen the movie The Waterboy? All it takes is a little motivation and Adam Sandler’s character goes from the “Aquatic Engineer” to the star player for the South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs.  While we hardly consider ourselves the watergirls of the INNOVATiON team, we can still take away an important lesson from Bobby Boucher.  As Coach Klein recognized potential in Bobby, so did the INNOVATiON team in us.

Even as interns, we’ve had the opportunity to work with some great clients.  We’ve dabbled in everything from scripting for a commercial to developing a creative branding strategy.  We’ve worked with all kinds of clients; some manage a well-established funeral home while others are just starting an organizational software platform.  We’ve learned that the business is so diverse, so our ideas need to be as well.  Our supervisors, Laura Leskoven and Megan Gilmore, have been great coaches, working with us to cultivate our potential for this all-star team.

Our greatest challenge so far has been brainstorming.  Laura and Megan have shown us that all we need is a good offense and a little motivation to overcome the struggles of a creative block.  They’ve shown us their best plays–from extensive research to knowing the competitors in the industry–and that not all great ideas can be developed while sitting in an empty office.  We’ve learned to push past our first idea and the INNOVATiON walls, and keep thinking until creativity strikes.  We’ve learned that ideas often come in rain drops and not floods, but to have our umbrellas ready anyway.

“Now that’s what I call high-quality H20.”

I like to consider the locker room to be where the magic happens. What happens on the field or the court might seem like magic, but really its the result of the magic that’s already happened. Those hours spent pouring over the plays and watching film make the win possible. You don’t just decide on the court to all of the sudden run Pacer (you know, the game-winning play for Valpo in ’98) when its not something you’ve ever practiced. Knowing that the defense will run a blitz and being able to block it doesn’t miraculously happen on the field.

And its not only about the strategy. The motivation of the players and the hype of the fans come from the locker room. Players don’t just walk onto the field and automatically know their purpose. They don’t just get a burning passion to play to the best of their ability from the smell of the grass.  That passion translates to the fans. As the players run onto the field and begin to execute the plan beautifully, the fans get a little taller and a little louder.

It’s the same way in advertising. You don’t just walk into a store and by magic choose one loaf of bread over the other. Brilliant minds have sat around figuring out how to get you to buy their bread and not the other guy’s loaf. Maybe its the look of the package. Maybe its because you saw an ad while watching The Office last Tuesday and you were hungry. Maybe you read an article about why the whole grains in one loaf were better for you than the other and then there just happened to be an ad for the good guy’s loaf of bread. Or maybe your mom buys that kind of bread. Or maybe, just maybe, those brilliant minds worked a little magic and made all of those happen.

This blog will take you behind the scenes of those brilliant advertising plays. We’ll let you in on the little magic secrets that get the consumer to buy the goods.

So welcome to our blog. Or what you might consider your VIP pass to where the magic happens.