Where Do Event Planning Creative Ideas Come From?

Planning an event and coming up with a completely original idea with no reference points is something only extremely talented people can do. Geniuses are always in the minority. For ordinary people, the best source of creativity is integration and processing. To put it bluntly, it's about borrowing, but not copying verbatim.

For example, there's a mineral water ad online where a girl waits for a bicycle to generate power, and then a light-painted muscular man appears doing a striptease. I adapted this into an event's launch ceremony: leaders pedaled a stationary bike to light up the event's theme logo. This fit because one of the client's products was green and eco-friendly, aligning with the brand's tone. Another example is the Jaguar climbing the Ferris wheel on the Bund, or the Chevrolet Equinox launch event—these are creative ideas we can learn from but are hard to replicate.

How to Improve Your Creative Ability

First, we need to know where creativity is needed to shine; the answer can be found above. Second, maintain a mindset of continuous learning. For myself, whenever I go shopping and see an event with distinctive features, I stop and take photos for reference. I also enjoy watching online videos in my spare time. This answer might be a bit general, so let me use myself as an example to explain how I accumulate creative ideas.

1. Learn from industry peers' events

2. Pay attention to outdoor events in malls or commercial streets. Some companies do product roadshows, usually in popular malls and commercial areas. In most cases, the stage design and activity setup of national roadshows are quite good. For a second-tier city like Shenyang, copying them directly is fine.

3. Follow WeChat and Weibo accounts of clients or peers. For beginners, I recommend focusing on the official accounts of your industry. In the real estate sector, there's a strongly recommended brand: Wanda.

Wanda has a lot of offline events. Although their creativity is average, they cover almost all real estate event cases, which can serve as initial knowledge reserves. For the automotive industry, I suggest following Junwei and Che Tuteng, among other major accounts.

4. Follow hot topics

This is easier to understand. Topics with buzz tend to win clients' favor. For example, when "Little Apple" became popular, I quickly recommended a Little Apple dance; when "The Avengers" was released, I recommended an Avengers cosplay parade; when "Eternal Love" (Three Lives Three Worlds) was trending, I organized a themed exhibition. Of course, there are also many hot IPs like Whale Island, Little Yellow Duck, GG Bond, and Wo Huang.

5. Watch more videos

What helped me the most were the videos shared on Renren's video sharing section. The majority of users are college students, and the content they share is very trendy, especially some foreign videos. Bringing them back to China to borrow still feels fresh. Flash mob symphonies, the mineral water ad with pedal-powered bicycles, and fresh acts from foreign talent shows—these all inspired my creativity.

Additionally, some of the creative ideas I mentioned earlier reference movies like Terminator and Michael Jackson's music videos. These videos may not directly relate to events, so you need to have some imagination to integrate them into your activities. Of course, many more videos and images require climbing over the wall (using VPN) to see, so only those who are determined will find them.

6. Communicate more with industry insiders

This doesn't just mean communicating with peers, but also with clients and suppliers. Everyone is impressed by new things, and through communication, you can learn many new ideas and creative concepts. Join more industry communities and professional circles.