Building

new boxes
We are going to discuss effective brainstorming.
Start by reviewing this article on the BCG website:

Building New Boxes: How to Run Br

ainstorming Sessions That Work
The article offers five suggestions to achieve real, valuable insights from brainstorming
We will focus on three of these in today’s task (as well as the brainstorming itself), highlighted in green

Brainstorm
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Frame the Create Reveal and Bring new Follow up
question creativity doubt your boxes
effectively conditions boxes
Your task
BCG has been brought in to help ClothingCo, a
luxury clothing brand, grow their top line (i.e.,
increase revenue) after a period of declining
sales.

The client is gearing up for the winter season.

Imagine that you are a strategy consultant
working on the project.

You will enter your responses in the green

boxes throughout the remaining slides.
Frame the question effectively
“If I were given one hour to save the
planet, I would spend fifty-nine minutes
defining the problem and one minute
resolving it.”
– Albert Einstein
Question to be reframed
How could we sell more outerwear this
winter season?
Revised, effective questions:
1. How can we ensure that everyone
starts to use our branded clothes?
2. Considering the sale, which age group
should we target to increase the sales
four times than previous?
3. What strategies should we follow to
boost the sale of winter clothes?
–
Remember: A good question for
brainstorming will be narrow and
concrete, so that people feel they know
how to begin answering it.
 In this fictional scenario, make
Reveal and doubt your boxes assumptions that seem reasonable

The first step in the creative process entails What boxes currently exist that are
still relevant?
identifying and doubting one’s current boxes and
determining which ones require re-evaluation or 1. What is the pricing?
2. What is the quality of products?
replacement.
–
Make a short list of the shared beliefs and What boxes currently exist that
assumptions that likely prevail in ClothingCo. need to be doubted?

Determine which are still relevant and which need to 3. What is the marketing strategy?
4. What is the production rate? Is
be redefined. that efficient to fulfill the demand?
5. What is the profit margin?
Bring new boxes
Prepare for brainstorming by creating
new boxes to bring to the session; new
boxes will nurture ideation and can
dramatically increase the odds of a
● Assuming the shop provides only
useful result.
Remember: Defining new boxes
requires a mixture of analysis and art.
Boxes need to be grounded in fact.
Different sectors will call for different
inputs.
New box #1
[Marketing]
offline purchases of clothes. So, it
has to digitalize its process and
start to sell online. Also, have to
give some discount so that the
customers get attracted to that.
New box #2
[Branding]
● To increase sell, one must have
good publicity and branding. So,
the company should start
showing its banners and increase
publicity. It can also generate its
site on social media platforms as
Ad which will increase the
company’s reach. Also, can
contact any renowned model to
promote their brand.
 Question Considering the sale, which age group should we
Brainstorm target to increase the sales four times than previous?
Choose one of the effective questions you created on slide 5, and a new box from slide
7, and brainstorm potential ideas to address the question

New box Marketing

● Targeting a particular age group, gain some ● Start making the clothes that are mostly worn by that
age group and make those clothes more unique in
insights about the preferences, fashion style,
terms of design and color
and popular trends of that group via surveys,
● Encourage the customers to upload their photos on
social media analytics
social media handles with some particular hashtags.
● Start to make customizable clothes and start Based on likes and comment on that post, you can
to give them for trails also give them a discount next time
● Continuously keep track of the performance of the
● Partner with famous influencers with a
marketing campaigns. Also, keep a look at the
significant following within that age group. conversion rates. Social media engagement and
They can endorse the brand, showcase the customer feedback. Based on that, keep changing your
products strategies