Though largely free-form, the mansion exercises are anything but free-for-alls. They are, in fact, far more choreographed than most clients ever realize. Hall's model is Disneyland, "where things happen invisibly, where the characters just seem to show up." At the mansion, everything's designed to keep the client focused on new ideas. The food seems to be stealth-catered. Clients never see it arriving; their noses tell them it awaits.
While the 666 dice roll and the ideas fly, two artists (more of Hall's on-call virtual company) roam about, sketching on their own or on request. Maybe a package for an intriguing product, or perhaps a character to help pin down a concept, like the ginseng dragon taking shape on one sketch pad. "The sketches allow us to talk in a different dimension," says Hall. "Plus, they give incredible reinforcement to the group. People feel so good to be able to present an idea that way."
Meanwhile, Hall listens with one ear while he types at a computer to the right of the fireplace. Hosting about two dozen clients a year has taught him the importance of staying ahead of the creative avalanche; he's already winnowing through the day's ideas to get a running start on the evening's job of fleshing out the best ones into marketworthy concepts.
11:04 A.M.
Tactic: A picture's worth a thousand words
The next group task plays off visual stimuli. Sandie Glass, vice-president and creative director at the mansion, passes out sheets of poster board featuring a wide assortment of pictures cut from magazines. Below each is printed a ladder of blank lines. Members of the group are instructed to list the words and phrases that come to mind when they look at the pictures. One board shows a picture of a lemon peel. Another, a sports-utility vehicle on a mountain ridge with a waterfall in the background. A third, a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. Hall's instructions: "Think refreshment. And raise your hand when you want a new board." Hall's intention: employ the pictures as a visual thesaurus.
As adjectives and phrases (tangy, tingly, invigorating, summer, blend of fruit) accumulate on the poster boards, sample cups of herbal iced tea appear on trays. In the pursuit of wicked-good ideas, the Eureka! Mansion leaves no sense untouched. Up the back staircase at the mansion there's a storage room (called the "Stimulus Library") packed floor to ceiling with plastic bins of categorized baskets of stuff--hands-on stimuli for generating thoughts off the beaten track. The stackslike repository includes bins marked Ugly Products (for instance, brown-paper coffee filters), Ways to Close (Ziplock bags, buttons, magnets), and Weird Science (Edge shaving cream, Alka Seltzer, relighting birthday candles, candy necklaces).
In part two of the exercise, the various word ladders help launch product ideas and sometimes names, such as Tea Splashes, tiny bottles of fortified herbal essences that can be added drop by drop to various foods and beverages.
During the group reports, Siegel can't wait to hold up a just-sketched rendering of a distinctive package for a product he's eager to find a way to sell. "I really like this a lot," he says, explaining how the package works to overcome some marketing obstacles. The discussion leaps to names. From around the room, half a dozen suggestions ring out. Like a fashion photographer posing a model, Hall prompts, "Less descriptive, more heart and soul and feeling."
There's another burst of names. And more discussion of the would-be product, which Hall knows Celestial has been wrestling with for a long time. Even with the smell of a lunch buffet wafting from the back kitchen, minds remain focused, and the discussion is animated. A different creativity maven, fearful of derailing the advancing train of thought, might keep everyone on track a good while longer. Hall calls a break for lunch.
Another lesson he's learned: don't try to get the whole idea in one pass. Invention, he's found again and again, tends not to be linear. "People always talk about getting it right the first time," Hall explains. "That's great for manufacturing but lousy when it comes to inventing. These things require some iterations. Birth is a messy process." Often, a word, a phrase, or a concept born in one exercise will suddenly reappear again later, but then it will really soar with a slightly different spin. "In fact," stresses Hall, "it's by not trying to get the whole idea at first that you get more ideas."
12:04 P.M.
Lunch, and the ROI of a decent menu
The Dixieland band strikes up once again. Siegel, who's wearing a polo shirt, black jeans, and cowboy boots, changes into sneakers and heads to the back of the mansion to a small room with exercise equipment. Almost everybody else heads for the food, which is plentiful and hot (a piquant chicken dish, rice, a good tossed salad, plenty of gourmet brownies and cookies) and intentionally a notch or two above the typical cold meats and potato salad. A restaurant-style espresso machine awaits the java junkies. There's also wine ("Vintage bottles, not the just-in-time stuff") from the wine cellar. Hall uses good food and wine as rewards, tools for making everybody feel special.
"If corporations would double their food budget, they'd get more than double their return on investment," Hall says, and adds that he'll sometimes add an effervescent stimulus to a late-afternoon exercise, promising a bottle of champagne to the group that comes up with the best ideas. "In some corporations the people are competitive. If that's the spirit they've got, we'll work with that."
