In October a large white box was constructed, flat pack Ikea style, in the middle of Dundas Square, Toronto. Looking
more like a contemporary art installation than an advertising stunt, this box held 8 creative minds from fledgling agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, whose mission is to demonstrate that the world could use more creativity.
For nine hours these eight interdisciplinary thinkers dreamed up innovative, quirky, and brilliant answers to questions posed to them by passers-by. No problem was out of bounds, and a solution was pitched within twenty minutes. The aim of the day was to give an awesome demonstration of what can be achieved when you apply creativity to life’s little conundrums. It is pretty amazing what can be achieved when you think outside the box … whilst literally sitting in a box!
The variety of questions was wide ranging; from the personal, “How can I convince my husband to take a vacation despite the economy”, to the social, “How can we make smokers responsible smokers?” From the philanthropic “How can I hand out 300 tents to homeless people and have the city accept it?” to the zany, “How can I dress up my wheelchair to look like a rollercoaster for Halloween?” The answers and solutions that the Zulu Alpha Kilo team came up with were brilliant and all the questioners went away astounded.
‘Thinking inside the Box’ was cool on so many levels; the box was visually impressive, a stunning publicity stunt (I immediately checked out their website), it was attention-grabbing, memorable, innovative, quirky, and such a powerful way to open peoples eyes to the possibilities that can be achieved with a little creative thinking. The agency name, Zulu Alpha Kilo, was inspired by the phonetic alphabet, which is used to ensure universal clarity what ever language you speak. Their choice of name is indicative to their belief that “your message has to be simple and evocative to have the slightest chance of being decoded by today’s media-saturated consumer”. There is nothing much clearer than a big white box emblazoned “THINK” to bring a little creativity in to our lives …