Folio Ideas was founded on a simple truth.
To thrive as a business you need to stand out.
To stand out you need to be different to your competition.
You need to Innovate.
But innovation is hard
Because it requires us to think differently.
So we created a creative agency that
revels in thinking differently
Innovation. Essential for growth. But difficult to do.
When we’re faced with a challenge most of us think, “What’s the sensible thing to do?” or “What did I do last time?”
But what if it didn’t work last time? What if there wasn’t a last time? What if you don’t want to copy everyone else?
If you want to solve a new problem, or stand out from the crowd, you need to think differently to everyone else.
That’s hard. We’ve evolved to use logic and memory to make decisions. But to innovate you need to get creative.
That’s where we come in. We specialise in helping organisations create new, innovative ideas to give them competitive advantage. To think differently.
So if you want to think differently, drop us a line.
Innovation doesn’t happen by chance.
We’ve created a bespoke process, inspired by creative techniques used across the worlds of engineering, advertising and elsewhere. Our GREAT IDEAS process can be used to rethink products, reimagine an organisation design or reinvent your strategy.
Typical innovation scenarios include:
- How can we stand out in a crowded marketplace?
- How can we rethink our costs to protect growth?
- How does our organisation need to evolve to continue to be effective?
- How can we rethink the way we engage with customers, colleagues or partners?
- How do we deal with an unexpected change of circumstances?
Innovation in practice
We work with organisations from a wide range of sectors. They have very different backgrounds and marketplaces. The only thing they have in common is an appetite for thinking differently.
How do you help patients with chronic lung disease to come to terms with their diagnosis?
Singing Lessons.
Our client, a leading pharmaceutical company, wanted to help patients with severe lung disease. The logical thing to do was provide lots of information on lung disease, but as a patient do you really want to see what the inside of your lungs look like?
Instead we hit on the idea of creating choirs. Singing is great for mental wellbeing, and the science says that breathing exercises for singers can also help improve the lung health of patients with chronic lung disease. The idea of teaching people who struggle to breath to sing isn’t a logical step, but it was a breath-taking creative leap.
How do you help procurement be more sustainable, without it costing the earth?
Go to the beach.
A leading food and beverage multinational asked us to help reduce their environmental impact. They feared the costs of going green would hurt the bottom line. Recognised that theirs was a business full of experts, the core of the challenge was really “how do we make doing the right thing for the planet a priority for everyone?”
The answer was to take them to the beach, quite literally. By dedicating time for everyone to work on environmental projects, like beach cleaning, they demonstrated the importance of thinking green without greenwashing, the experience stimulated ideas that have been put into production, and a green army was born.
How do you recruit lawyers and accountants?
Be the only one that listens, not talks.
How do your attract the best candidates if you are a professional services recruitment firm, operating in a very though market. Most recruiters will tell you about good they are at finding you a job. They show you photos of lovely premises, lists of impressive clients, and talk about their extensive experience. They shout about themselves. Which means if you want to compete, then the obvious thing to do is shout louder.
Together we decided to do the opposite. Don’t talk. Listen. If you want to attract the best candidates listen to what they want. Talk about them, not you. If it’s a good way to win friends, it’s probably a good way to win candidates too.
Get In Touch
If you want to find out more about what we do, or how we can help you be more innovative and creative, please drop us a line
