In April we did half-day music thinking workshop for an international think tank that stands for ‘brands with a conscience’. The idea was to generate new ideas for the celebration of their 20th anniversary in 2020. The approach was ‘from serendipity lab to idea rap’. First, get inspired by the jam cards and the six triggers that are on each card. In the end, the participants made a rap version of their idea pitch.
The main materials we used were the Jam Cards and the overall music thinking framework.
First, they diverged using the Serendipity Lab approach. Here is a short explanation of how it works:
Serendipity Lab is played alone and with headphones and is about being open to the unexpected. You could do this by taking some quality time at home or the office. We also think that this might be a great exercise for the start of a workshop because in a workshop you often don’t have private time and have to immediately react to others. Also, we believe that doing the Serendipity Lab prior to doing Mix and Match or Strategy Jam might be beneficial. Because the Serendipity Lab helps you to open up and to get familiar with the Jam Cards.
Start a Serendipity Lab session by flipping through the Jam Cards and picking out a few cards that for example appeal to you – or are most interesting, exciting, disturbing, boring or resonating. Now take a closer look at the cards that you picked. Put on headphones and listen to the sonic triggers by scanning the Spotify codes.
Go on a sonic safari and be open to the unexpected. What do the things you find on the cards mean to you? Can you find patterns in the set of cards you picked? Make notes about your findings.
After that, they worked in duos and quartets to create a long list of ideas. Then, instead of just presenting the ideas, the members acted like a music group and wrote the lyrics in co-creation and then performed a short Rap to give the ideas more spontaneity and emotions.
Here is a short video that shows the whole process from serendipity lab to idea rap.
For more information on the Medine Group and Brands with a Conscience: http://medinge.org/