Blog titlecard with the text "Creative Prompt: Me and Who?" against a photo illustration of a black and while photo still from the Charlie Chaplin film City Lights, of the romantic lead characters, Chaplin's classic 'Tramp' in a bowler hat, shappy suit and walking cane, and the actor Virginia Cherrill as a blind girl, seated on a city streetside holding flowers for sale.

Catalyst Ranch is more than just a meeting space. It's the result of bringing together the myriad elements that make your meetings their most magical (Read: productive and satisfying). And one of the biggest of those elements is CREATIVITY.

Like our RanchHand-facilitated Energizers, and Pogo's Activity Arcade (our on-site collection of self-led games and icebreakers), this Creative Prompt is another tool for jump starting creative thinking.

Pose it to your team for a low-stakes exercise, and tailor it to your needs. Spend as little as 5 minutes on it, or flesh it out. Season to taste! Our suggestions follow…

CREATIVE PROMPT:

Me and Who? — What is your collab match-made-in-heaven?

Love is in the air. Or rather, a fruitful (if-not-forever) branding partnership!

Brand collabs are everywhere. They get our attention because of a unique synergy of two parties. They collide, each with their own aesthetic, purpose and audience, and the result is something special. And that 'special' can be any mix of groundbreaking, punny, insightful, unhinged and (not for nothing) perfect-for-right-now.

What is your dream collab?

MAKE IT YOUR OWN:  

Here are the levers you can play with to tailor this exercise to your group's needs.

Define the terms: What are the "Me" and the "Who"? Set the parameters to guide the brainstorming. "Me and Who" might be:

  • Me, personally & a celebrity or historical figure.
  • Our company/organization's brand & some other entity on a local or global scale.
  • My department's team & another team whose strengths we want to learn from.

Define the purpose: What should this collab accomplish? Options include:

  • What response do we want to elicit with this collab — i.e. Which emoji is the goal? Excitement, LOLz, Trust, Relief, Happy tears, etc.
  • Break the internet. What collab would go viral?
  • What brand collab does the world need now? Optional: Wrong answers only.
  • What collab would be the most advantageous for right now? For the long haul?

Define the deliverables: How will we share our ideas? This lever has the most influence on the duration of this exercise. Options include:

  • Quickfire: Popcorn shareout. Call out your ideas as they come.
  • Brainstorm for 90 seconds, then we'll share one at a time.
  • Draw a logo / design a print ad/ socia post for this collab.

…….

Naturally, this Creative Prompt is perfect for Valentine's Day, but, like the collabs in question, it's not necessarily strictly seasonal. Have fun with it, and use the energy it creates to fuel a more satisfying meeting.