Play It Again, Spam!

By Peter Lloyd

Smart inventors and innovators look for inspiration anywhere. And I've found some of the most inspiring invention models in the creative efforts of criminals. That's because, in general, people beyond the pale have to be more ingenious. For one thing, there are fewer instructions, recipes, and how-tos within easy reach or role models giving seminars.

All inventors work beyond the pale in a way. That is, they're usually working on things that don't exist, or making something better, and at best, introducing something new to the world. There are no blueprints for uninvented things.

To demonstrate this point and learn some general lessons, let's look methodically at one very creative group of bad actors—not exactly criminals but folks we could certainly do without—the bottom feeders who pump out spam.

Despite all the measures we've taken to stanch the flow of this blight on the internet, we have only been successful at reducing its flow. Remarkable ingenuity is required to get around all the obstacles we put between them and us. So why not imitate not what they do but how they do it?

1. Persistence Pays
Spammers never stop. If there's a quality that favors invention and innovation, one more powerful than creativity, it's persistence. I'll go so far as to say, unimaginative people who persist will always do better than wickedly creative people who dabble.

The fist creative lesson we can learn from spammers: Never give up, or framed positively, keep on trying.

2. Appeal to Your Target's Strongest Desires
Appeals to emotion are, always have been, and will always be stronger and more effective than appeals to reason. We occasionally use reason to justify our emotion-driven decisions. But most of the time we don't even bother to do that.

Here are a few spam headlines from my spam box followed by the emotion or Creative Juice the spammer went for:

Don't be a moron! (pride)
Why are they all so darned happy? (jealousy)
We blocked your account (anger)
Madonna hired buttscratcher (I have no idea!)

The lesson here: When looking for the thing that will connect your invention and the buyer or supporter of your creative efforts, keep digging until you find the deepest emotional hook.

3. Attack From All Sides
Spammers focus fiercely on their targets and design everything to get their attention. Not just headlines and messages but also the signatures and email addresses they have to constantly change in order to avoid being blocked. In my spam box I see PerfectNewJob@, FixPCProblems@, ~Drop-the-Weight~@, and some I choose not to post here.

It's not enough to invent something good for someone. To win buyers, users, or adopters, the inventor also has to design into the invention features, colors, shapes, textures, and other rewards that amplify its benefits.

Final lesson: When designing your invention, just as when selling it, appeal to your target in many dimensions.

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

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