A brochure is a tri-folded 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper.
Website logins are in the upper right hand corner.
Business cards are 3.5” x 2”.
A coffee mug is the perfect give-away.

Right? Wrong!

Once the “norm” has been planted in your head, it’s easy to forget that things can be done differently. And most importantly, doing things differently gets attention!

We use to think churches had to be used for worshiping. But more and more people are turning them into homes – beautiful homes that are featured on HGTV and in architecture magazines. Everywhere you look, ordinary things are being transformed into beautiful pieces: Old doors made into tables and headboards, magazines folded into baskets and flowers, old typewriter keys made into jewelry.

Do you remember the first time you saw something so original that you looked at it a little closer to make sure what you were seeing was actually what you thought?
You probably smiled a little and waved your friend over to look at it too.

One of my favorite examples of using the ordinary to create the extraordinary is the newest Sherwin Williams commercial. They took plain paint swatch strips and showed them in unique ways. Upon taking a closer look, the paint swatch strips were all created from nature: bees, flowers and grass--everything was made out of them! I watched the ad over and over (and even tweeted about it to all my friends).

The next time you’re working on promotional pieces, keep these clever examples in mind for inspiration. Make something ordinary, extraordinary! And always remember what Momma use to say… if everyone jumped off of a bridge, would you?