We’re all astronauts. But then we grow up.
At the turn of childhood into teenage years, there’s an event in our lives - in slightly different stages and ages - that marks the moment in which we cease to create our own worlds inside our minds and become fully aware (and connected) with society. Now, although this has been thoroughly studied by Psychology, Sociology and even Biology, the matter of fact is that, the mind is a universe of its own, with its own laws, and that fundamental shifting moment tends to stretch, bend and, in some cases become an infinite loop in between childhood and adulthood.
And what better expression of that very same loop than Creativity? Or, in other words, our own imagination running wild, generating settings and situations which we populate with stories, narratives, justifications and rules that do not obey anything other than our own mind.
Sure, particular personality traits, social-economical contexts or even peer relationships might help keep that pure spark of ‘young, naive appetite for creative recklessness’, but when we spot an adult creative mind, it’s most certain that that is a person that fostered certain behaviours in life to keep his or her A-Game (or in this case, the “i” game, for imagination). Behaviours such as an inquisitive mind and appeal for research, the ability to quiet the mind (as important as having an active one) and a variety of hobbies and extra activities are part of the recipe for creative success.
At Interweave, we know that as we grow up, responsibilities, chores and duties pile up. As we overload our minds with to-do’s and deadlines, we know that that purity of mind tends to be smothered. And that’s why we try to fight back with an action plan that’s both motivational and useful - as well as imaginative - to our work and to our personal lives.
The IW Adventures: It’s not just because one of our core sectors of expertise is the Tourism industry. We do believe that travelling is the healthiest, funniest and most immersive way to explore. And by exploration, we mean a full-range of activities and experiences to broaden the mind: food, sports, artistry, insightful conversations with locals, cultural visits. We believe that the more we put into our brains, the more tools we’ll have at some point at our disposal.
The “Create The Future” Sessions:
These are inspiration sessions that can last anything from 2 to 3h to full days and sometimes even a full weekend, if combined with the IW Adventures. We either have some of our most senior talent from all the Interweave international offices and partners leading these sessions or we bring industry experts to shed a light on what’s to come in any given topic. Furthermore, we weave in collaborative workshops to practice what’s being discussed and presented as a way to have our imaginations work as soon as new ideas land.
The “Create The Future” Sprints:
One task. One hour. One team. One solution. As a high-performance driven agency, we channel our energies to deliver highly efficient and impactful work. These cross-functional trainings are extremely important for the whole team to pinpoint needs and gaps in our processes. Funnily enough, these solutions are never the obvious or easy ones. But more often than not, they’re the right ones.
The Interweave Hackatons:
We tend to hear that many agencies and companies do hackathons to keep the creative (and tech) juices flowing. And we applaud. However, we do want to also bring a business layer to these hackathons to bring not only the knowledge but also impactful results either to our clients or to the way our agency evolves. Some of our most efficient and ground-breaking marketing products were developed during these intense sessions with a laser-focused entrepreneurial spirit, aimed at an MVP output.
Global Creative Community
Finally, we love to see and praise great work. It doesn’t really matter where it comes from; other industries and creative sectors, markets in which we haven’t delved that much deep and even direct competitors. The places where we get most exposed to these works are often festivals and conferences. And over the years, we’ve found out that none other than OFFF itself to be the one that best combines all these different variables that foster imagination and creativity. For the past few years we’ve been sending a team of 5 Interweavers to OFFF, our own astronauts, to soak up the most the event has to offer. And that has, in every instance, boosted our own imaginations into far away worlds.
