Marketing expert Ravid Kuperberg: How structuring your thinking can boost your creativity

The 20th Advertising, Marketing & Communication Conference will be taking place at K-Cineplex Nicosia Prime (Strovolos), Nicosia on Friday, 30 June, encompassing an exciting series of events including expert presentations at what is anticipated to be the largest congregation of professionals in the advertising, marketing, media, and communications sector in Cyprus.

One of the experts is Ravid Kuperberg, Partner, Mindscapes. Speaking to CBN ahead of the event, Kuperberg shared his know-how and revealed more about what he will be talking about on the day.

The topic of your talk at the upcoming 20th Advertising, Marketing & Communication Conference will be ‘Feed the Need for Creative Thinking Speed.’ Without giving away all your secrets before the event, can you tell us more about what you will be talking about?

Exactly that. In today’s hectic communications reality, where time to market for ideas is constantly declining, and the level of pressure is constantly rising, every minute counts. Any action which helps generate smart creative ideas in less time with less frustration, can become extremely valuable. Any tactic which helps override different cognitive biases that block your ability to imagine unconventional outcomes, can become extremely useful. Any method which helps structure the way you think and operate your mind, can become extremely helpful. And that’s what we try to do at Mindscapes. We suggest a unique structured way of thinking about creative ideas, based on decoding recurring thinking patterns found in awarded ideas which have proven themselves in the past.

As technology advances, the advertising, marketing, and communications sector is also one that appears to be constantly evolving. What do you consider to be some of the most exciting recent changes?

I imagine the predictable answer is AI. And it’s probably true, because we are only starting to scratch the surface of its full potential in our daily life. Which is also rather scary…

However, I am a firm believer that the human mind will always be the most valuable asset at our disposal. I see AI as a very powerful resource which can serve humans and their creativity. No matter what technologies and platforms become available, you still need people to come up with disruptive ideas that break the rules in ways which don’t make sense at first. History has shown us time and again that no matter what new platforms and technologies become common, they mostly accommodate the “telling” part in storytelling. Whereas the “story” part in storytelling still mostly remains a human trait and responsibility.

You work with advertising agencies and brands around the world. Has the sector become globalised or are there still particular sensibilities to consider when dealing with clients and their potential customers in different places around the globe?

This immediately reminds me of HSBC’s famous “The World’s Local Bank” tagline. Eventually universal stories, which anyone can identify with, based on a local insight or sensibility tend to make the most impact.

I think the issue here is how specific is your story or value. From my experience insights which are more specific and deliver a more specific story or value tend to be more impactful. Local dramas addressing a specific need can help attain that. And I see brands and agencies all over the world realizing and appreciating that. One of the things we explore in our trainings about revealing powerful insights is the ‘hunt’ for an observation about an unspoken common specific unique or unusual thing that people think, feel or do. These tend to be valuable ingredients of great insightful ideas.

Your company, Mindscapes, specialises in unlocking creativity in peoples’ minds but artificial intelligence is a hot topic and something the sector has begun to explore. Do you believe that there will ever come a time when the human element is completely eclipsed by machines?

Building on what I mentioned earlier, AI is amazing. But… if at the end of the day people will credit AI and not your brand for the value which was delivered, something went wrong. Not to mention that people get bored easily and quickly move on to the next exciting thing they can experience or share. So, the challenge will always be how to use AI in new creative ways. And who do you need for that…?

Further to the above, where do you see the industry heading over the coming years? Do you predict any particular trends taking precedence?

It’s insane to predict anything a few years forward these days… Look at the rapid explosion of ChatGPT. Look at the world in general. The only thing which I would mention is that our mind is an amazing instrument which will constantly learn, adopt and adapt. And that we will constantly need to improve our ability to learn, adopt and adapt because we will constantly have less time to do so… But we will also have more and more resources to help us do so. Any help brands can get in this regard will be valuable. Any help brands can offer their audiences in this regard will be appreciated.

Click here to learn more about the 20th Advertising, Marketing & Communication Conference, organised by IMH, and sponsored by ImarComms, NetU, Red Wolf, and Webarts.