Great Sign for Bikers.In his book, A Kick In The Seat of The Pants, Roger Von Oech explores the creative problem-solving technique of playing "what-if". It's simple. You merely say, "What if" and fill in the blank. It's a great exercise when your mind feels sluggish from focusing too much on a problem. It's sort of like recess for your mind. If possible, try and get a child involved. They don't know the rules of the adult world. That means as an adult, you can learn a lot from them.
Recently my crack research and development team (me and my 9 and 11 year olds) decided to play "what if" with waterless tattoos. I wanted to see if we could come up with some new ways to use waterless tattoos in promotional marketing campaigns promotional marketingto market events, programs or brands. The results we amazingly fun.
"Daddy, what if we put a waterless tattoo on an egg?" my daughter asked.
"Yeah", my son agreed. "And then what if we put them on my t-shirt, and the window and a cup and ..."
So off we went. We spent the next 3 hours trying all sorts of things and here are some of the best!
Yes, waterless tattoos really do adhere to eggs. Right out of the refrigerator. What a great idea for decorating Easter eggs. Because waterless tattoos are produced in 4 color process, you can have them custom-made with a rainbow of color on each tattoo.
We also found out that with a slightly warm iron, waterless tattoos adhere just fine to a t-shirt. And here's the cool part. About an hour after we applied the waterless tattoos to the t-shirt, we threw the shirt into the washing machine. The result? There was absolutely NO TRACE of the tattoos on the shirt. They washed right out. So, waterless tattoos could make for some fairly inexpensive, temporary logo'd t-shirts, especially if you want to re-use the t-shirt for something else later.
Waterless Tattoos also affix well to regular paper making them a great choice for kids to use when decorating cards and letters. Nice little indoor, rainy day project. We use them around the office by affixing them to envelopes.
We also found out that waterless tattoos affix to plastic. The 2" x 2" waterless tattoo works real well on the little frosted/white plastic canisters your 35mm film comes in.
Other uses for waterless tattoos include using them to keep track of who's plastic cup is who's in a group setting. And we found that they also work on glass.
Mind you, that unlike stickers, waterless tattoos are a lot easier to wash off a mirror or window. But when all I said and done the biggest advantage of a waterless tattoo over the type that requires water is, well, there's no water involved.
By letting our creative side wander a bit, we've been able to take a product that was intended for the skin and apply it, literally, to a whole host of new uses.
Next time you're faced with a problem to solve, play "what if" and see what you come up with. And again, if you have trouble, go find a child and you'll have all the help you need.
Michael Merrick Crooks, Death Defying Copywriter. As many times as I've said, "I'll get it done if it kills me," I've cheated death aplenty.
Founder of Crooks Advertising Alliance, his firm, based near Lansing, MI (USA) is a creative strike-force specializing in creative problem-solving. He's maintained the insight of a 7 year old. Always questioning. ... asking "why?". From brochure and direct mail writing to promotional concepts, you'll benefit from his ability to look at the same thing everyone else does and see something different.
Get a better look at an attitude that can do wonders for your marketing & advertising. Sign up for CrooksView Creative Digest at http://www.CrooksAdvertising.com For more information on waterless tattoos visit http://WaterlessTattoos.com
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