Collaborative Creativity

Raw creation might be the loneliest act. Much of creative activity happens behind closed doors, in the moments when the rest of the world is out having fun. But what happens when creativity is brought out into the open, to be shared, edited, refined in real-time? Who owns the creativity that emerges from truly collaborative acts?

Who Owns Creativity?

This is not just a simple question of actual ownership of creative ideas or products. That question is beyond my ken. Leave it to the lawyers! What I am more interested in is who owns the responsibility of taking creative ideas that are generated in a public or semi-public setting and instituting them?

I find myself increasingly confident about sitting down with clients and free-associating ideas, products, opportunities. My clients too are in the creative fields and I’ve found that bouncing ideas off one another has become an important part of our planning together. But it brings up a question about the ownership of that responsibility.

When I work alone I know that the ideas generated are mine, that they belong to me, and anything that comes from those ideas is mine. That also means that the responsibility for seeing them through, for developing the ideas, for carrying them out, from delivering them is mine. Even the marketing and distribution of those ideas, those are responsibilities that only belong to me, and won’t get done unless I do them.

One thing I am slightly worried about is the number of quality ideas that are generated amongst a group that simply get lost in the mix. An idea that is not ours alone often is more powerful and more structured than ideas birthed on our own. And this isn’t as simple as somehow keeping track of the ideas and divvying them up amongst the various players. I actually prefer to be a bit more random than that.

The Random Nature of Creative Collaboration

Put 5 creative people in a room together and watch the magic happen. Particularly when everyone’s interests are aligned. One of the reasons that I have chosen to work with fewer clients than I can is that part of my services is getting so invested with a brand. I spend the time to understand the origins of the business, to get to know the people who work there, their ambitions, their fears, but also, just who they are. What do they enjoy? Where do they come from? What makes them laugh? How far can I push them? How uncomfortable can I make them?

It’s some kind of crazy algorithm but it is only through this kind on interaction that I am able to invest myself fully with a brand or a business.

And sitting down and just being creative without an agenda is a weekly must in my world. I have no problem with agendas, deliverables, the divvying up of responsibilities, metrics, goals and courtesies. These are all necessary in successful partnerships. But the true value working with multiple creative people is finding the randomness, the abstraction, the sheer serendipity of talking, listening, jostling, arguing and eventually settling on a course of action.

I have this experiences all the time with my clients and it is the most important thing we do. It far outweighs the metrics and goals we set aside.

I consider an essential part of my service to show them HOW to think about social media. How there are NO rules, and how for now, we can make our own world, without many limitations at all. That is perfect for creative collaboration. I bring a sense of the social media world and its successful practices; they bring their unique knowledge and talent. And what’s more, I like to show them how liberating and freeing this reality is. The fact is there is a land grab going on in the online space.

Brands and businesses can do and say basically whatever they want. You want to be the world’s greatest social media detective? Just declare yourself that person and start backing it up. The world is too chaotic and atomized to prove you wrong.

Tagged as: Collaborative Creativity, Social Media Creativity