How to Break Through Creative Blocks Using AI for Marketing Ideation

It's 4:37 PM. Your campaign brief is due tomorrow morning. The Slack channel is eerily quiet. Nobody has ideas.

You've been staring at a blank Figma board for 90 minutes. The whiteboard markers are dry. Someone suggested "maybe we could do something with AI?" and everyone nodded without conviction because nobody knows what that actually means.

Welcome to every marketer's personal hell: creative block.

Here's what makes it worse: You know you're creative. You've shipped brilliant campaigns before. But right now? Nothing. The well is dry. The muse is on vacation. Your brain is serving up the same tired ideas you've already rejected three times.

And the clock is ticking.

The traditional solution: Push through. Order more coffee. Schedule another brainstorm session. Hope someone has a breakthrough. Maybe pull an all-nighter and pray something decent emerges from the exhaustion-induced delirium.

The problem with that solution: It doesn't actually work. Research shows that creative performance drops by 50% after 50 hours of work per week. You can't force creativity through brute force and sleep deprivation.

But here's what changed: 82% of marketers using AI report it helps them overcome creative blocks by generating options they wouldn't have considered. Not because AI is more creative than humans—it's not—but because it can instantly explore thousands of conceptual combinations that would take humans hours or days to generate.

The teams breaking through creative blocks fastest aren't the ones with the most talented creatives. They're the ones who've figured out how to use AI as an ideation accelerator—not a replacement for human creativity, but a tool that unlocks it.

Let's break down exactly how to do this.

Why Creative Block Happens (And Why It's Getting Worse)

First, let's be honest about what's actually happening when you're stuck:

The Paradox of Too Many Options

You have access to every campaign that's ever been created. Pinterest, Instagram, Behance, TikTok, every ad archive, every case study.

The result? Analysis paralysis. When presented with too many options, decision quality drops by 26%.

You're not stuck because you lack inspiration. You're stuck because you've seen too much, and nothing feels fresh anymore.

The Pressure to Be "Original"

Every brief demands "breakthrough creative" and "fresh thinking" and "campaigns that stand out."

The problem: Truly original ideas represent less than 5% of all creative output. Most great creative is actually smart remixing of existing patterns in new contexts.

But you can't admit you're remixing, so you're paralyzed trying to invent something that's never been done before—which is an impossible standard.

Decision Fatigue From Everything Else

By the time you sit down to "be creative," you've already made 200 decisions today:

• Which emails to respond to

• Which Slack messages need immediate attention

• Which fires to put out first

• Which meetings actually require your presence

People make an average of 35,000 decisions per day. Your decision-making capacity is depleted before you even start ideating.

The Blank Canvas Problem

You're supposed to come up with ideas, but the brief is vague. "We need something for Q2. Make it engaging. Target millennials. Stay on brand."

Translation: Figure out literally everything yourself with minimal constraints or direction.

The research: Creativity actually improves with constraints. Too much freedom is paralyzing.

Team Dynamics That Kill Ideas

Someone suggests an idea. Someone else immediately points out why it won't work. The room goes quiet. Nobody wants to suggest the "bad idea" that gets shot down.

Result: Brainstorming sessions generate 20% fewer ideas than individuals working alone, because social dynamics suppress divergent thinking.

All of this compounds into creative block—not because you're not creative, but because the conditions for creativity don't exist.

How AI Changes the Creative Ideation Game

AI doesn't fix team dynamics or decision fatigue. But it fundamentally changes three things about creative ideation:

1. Infinite Divergent Thinking, Zero Judgment

AI can generate 100 campaign concepts in 30 seconds without:

• Getting tired

• Running out of ideas

• Judging you for "bad" suggestions

• Being offended when you reject its ideas

• Dominating the conversation

• Playing office politics

This solves the brainstorming problem: You get volume and variety without group dynamics killing divergent thinking.

2. Combinatorial Creativity at Scale

Human creativity often comes from combining existing ideas in novel ways. AI can test thousands of combinations instantly:

• "What if we combined influencer marketing with user-generated content?"

• "How could we merge our product launch with trending topics?"

• "What if we applied this successful B2C campaign approach to our B2B audience?"

Research from MIT shows that AI-assisted ideation increases the number of viable concepts generated by 40%.

3. Starting Point, Not End Point

The hardest part of creative work isn't finishing—it's starting. The blank page is paralyzing.

AI eliminates the blank page problem by giving you something to react to, refine, and improve. It's easier to edit than to create from nothing.

This is why 88% of marketers say AI helps them generate ideas faster—not because AI has better ideas, but because it provides the starting momentum.

The AI-Powered Creative Ideation Framework

The teams using AI most effectively for creative ideation aren't just asking "give me ideas." They're following a structured process that combines AI generation with human curation.

Here's the exact framework:

Phase 1: Define the Creative Problem (Humans Lead)

The mistake: Asking AI "give me campaign ideas" with no context.

The right approach: Clearly defining what you're trying to solve before asking AI for help.

The framework:

What you need to define:

1. The business goal: What are we trying to achieve? (Awareness? Conversion? Retention?)

2. The target audience: Who specifically? (Not "millennials"—be more specific)

3. The core message: What's the one thing we need to communicate?

4. The constraint: What are we working with? (Budget, timeline, channels, brand guidelines)

5. The inspiration: What campaigns or approaches do we admire? (Provide 2-3 examples)

Example brief:

GOAL: Generate awareness for new product feature among existing users

AUDIENCE: B2B marketing managers at 50-200 person companies who are 
overwhelmed by tool chaos and context-switching between platforms

MESSAGE: [Product]

Why this matters: Specific creative briefs increase idea quality by 60% compared to vague direction.

Time investment: 15-20 minutes to write a clear brief saves hours of unfocused ideation.

Phase 2: Divergent Generation (AI Leads, Humans Observe)

Now that you have a clear brief, use AI to generate volume and variety.

The process:

Step 1: Generate campaign concepts

Prompt structure:

Based on this brief [paste brief]

What you'll get: 15 concepts ranging from obvious to interesting to "that's crazy but..."

Step 2: Explore specific angles

Pick the 3-5 most interesting concepts and ask AI to go deeper:

Take concept #7 [describe it]

Step 3: Generate variations on themes

If you're seeing promising patterns, ask AI to generate more in that direction:

I like the concepts that focused on [specific theme]

Time investment: 30-45 minutes to generate 20-30 concepts with multiple variations each.

Compare to traditional brainstorming: Would take 2-3 hours of whiteboard sessions to generate the same volume, and you'd likely have less variety because of group dynamics.

Platforms like Averi accelerate this further by understanding your brand context, past campaign performance, and audience insights—so generated concepts are strategically aligned from the start, not just generically creative.

Phase 3: Human Curation (Humans Lead, AI Assists)

Now you have too many ideas. That's a good problem. Time to apply human judgment.

The curation process:

Step 1: Quick filter (5 minutes)

Go through all concepts and categorize:

• ⭐ Strong contenders - Conceptually solid, worth developing

• 💡 Interesting elements - Not quite right but has pieces worth stealing

• ❌ Reject - Doesn't work for our situation

Don't overthink this. Trust your gut reaction.

Step 2: Test against criteria (10 minutes)

For strong contenders, score each against your brief criteria:

• Does it achieve the business goal? (1-5)

• Will it resonate with target audience? (1-5)

• Can we execute within constraints? (1-5)

• Is it differentiated/memorable? (1-5)

• Does it align with brand? (1-5)

Step 3: Mashup and refine (15 minutes)

Often the best idea is a combination of elements from multiple concepts:

• Concept A's hook + Concept B's execution approach

• Concept C's visual idea + Concept D's messaging angle

Use AI to help mashup:

I like these elements from different concepts:
- The "[specific hook]" from concept #3
- The "[execution approach]" from concept #7  
- The "[visual style]

Step 4: Pressure test (10 minutes)

For your top 2-3 finalists, ask:

• What could go wrong with this approach?

• What assumptions are we making?

• What would make this even stronger?

• How would competitors execute this vs. us?

Use AI as devil's advocate:

Here's our leading campaign concept: [describe]

Total curation time: 40-50 minutes to go from 30 concepts to 1-2 finalists.

Phase 4: Concept Development (AI + Human Collaboration)

You've selected your concept. Now develop it into something executable.

The development process:

Step 1: AI generates execution details

Take this campaign concept: [describe winning concept]

Step 2: Human adds strategic layer

Review AI's execution plan and add:

• Specific brand voice and tone guidance

• Real examples and stories to include

• Internal stakeholders to involve

• Potential obstacles and mitigation

• Budget allocation recommendations

Step 3: AI visualizes concepts

Use AI image generation to create rough visual concepts:

• Campaign key art directions

• Social media post mockups

• Email header concepts

• Landing page layout ideas

Not for final creative—for alignment and iteration. It's easier to discuss concepts when you can see them.

Step 4: Generate first-draft assets

Have AI create first drafts of actual campaign assets:

• Email subject lines and body copy

• Social media posts for each platform

• Landing page headlines and copy

• Ad headline and creative brief

Remember: These are starting points for human refinement, not final assets.

Time investment: 60-90 minutes to go from concept to complete campaign plan with draft assets.

Compare to traditional: Would take 1-2 full days of work across multiple people to reach the same point.

Phase 5: Iteration and Refinement (Human-Driven)

The final step: Take everything AI helped generate and make it unmistakably yours.

The refinement checklist:

Brand voice alignment:

• Does it sound like us, or like everyone else?

• Are we using our specific language and frameworks?

• Would our audience recognize this as our campaign?

Strategic alignment:

• Does every element connect back to the core message?

• Are we solving the right problem for the right audience?

• Does the execution match the strategy?

Feasibility check:

• Can we actually execute this with our resources?

• Is the timeline realistic?

• Do we have the right skills/people?

Competitive differentiation:

• Is this different enough from what competitors do?

• Are we leveraging unique strengths?

• Will this cut through the noise?

Time investment: 30-60 minutes of final strategic review and refinement.

Total ideation-to-plan time: 3-4 hours (vs. 2-3 days traditional approach).

Advanced AI Ideation Techniques

Once you've mastered the basic framework, here are advanced moves:

Technique 1: Role-Playing Different Perspectives

Ask AI to generate ideas from specific viewpoints:

Why this works: Forces consideration of angles you'd naturally overlook.

Technique 2: Temporal Exploration

Have AI explore how the concept might evolve:

Why this works: Helps identify timeless elements vs. trendy components.

Technique 3: Constraint Remixing

Change one constraint and see how concepts adapt:

Why this works: Often budget or timeline constraints lead to better, more creative solutions.

Technique 4: Failure Pre-Mortem

Ask AI to imagine the campaign failed and explain why:

Why this works: Identifies blind spots before you commit resources.

Technique 5: Audience Reaction Simulation

Have AI role-play as your target audience:

Pretend you're [specific target persona]

Why this works: Catches tone-deaf messaging before real audiences see it.

Common Creative Block Patterns (And AI Solutions)

Block Pattern 1: "Everything's Been Done Before"

The feeling: Every idea you have seems derivative or unoriginal.

The AI solution:

I'm stuck feeling like everything's been done. Help me find fresh angles by:

1. Taking this overdone concept [describe] and showing me 5 ways to 
   execute it that I've never seen
2. Identifying 3 emerging trends in [industry]

Why this works: AI can surface combinations and connections you wouldn't naturally make.

Block Pattern 2: "It's All Too Safe/Boring"

The feeling: Your ideas work but lack excitement or edge.

The AI solution:

I have a solid but safe campaign concept: [describe]

Why this works: Lets you explore boldness without committing to being reckless.

Block Pattern 3: "I'm Too Close to See Clearly"

The feeling: You've been staring at this problem so long you can't see it objectively anymore.

The AI solution:

Why this works: AI has no context or bias, so it sees things you're blind to.

Block Pattern 4: "I Have One Good Idea But Need More Options"

The feeling: You found something promising but the team wants alternatives before committing.

The AI solution:

I have one concept I like: [describe]

Why this works: Gives leadership real alternatives to compare, not just one option vs. nothing.

Block Pattern 5: "The Brief is Too Vague"

The feeling: You can't generate ideas because you don't really know what you're solving for.

The AI solution:

I have a vague brief: [paste vague brief]

Why this works: AI helps you realize what's missing so you can get better input before spinning wheels.

The Creative Block Prevention System

The best approach to creative block isn't breaking through it—it's not getting blocked in the first place.

How to build creative momentum:

1. Create an Idea Bank

Use AI to continuously generate and stockpile concepts:

Weekly habit (15 minutes):

Store in a shared doc. When you need ideas, you already have 50+ starting points.

Research shows that quantity leads to quality—the more ideas you generate, the higher the probability of breakthrough concepts.

2. Run Regular Creative Sprints

Monthly exercise (30 minutes):

Pick a random constraint and generate concepts:

• "Design a campaign with $500 budget"

• "Create buzz using only email"

• "Launch something in 48 hours"

• "Go viral without paid spend"

Why this works: Practicing ideation in low-stakes situations makes it easier when stakes are high.

3. Cross-Pollinate Industries

Quarterly inspiration (1 hour):

Ask AI to analyze what's working in completely different industries:

Show me the most creative campaigns from:
- Consumer packaged goods
- Financial services
- Healthcare
- Entertainment
- Nonprofits

For each, explain:
- What made it effective
- What strategic approach they used
- How I could adapt this to [our industry]

Why this works: Best ideas come from applying proven concepts in new contexts.

4. Build a Swipe File on Steroids

Traditional swipe files require manual collection. AI can automate and enhance:

Monthly AI-powered swipe file:

Find and analyze:
- Top 10 performing campaigns in [our category] this month
- 5 campaigns that went viral across any industry
- 3 campaigns that won creative awards
- Emerging creative trends on [platform]

Store in Averi or your knowledge base so future AI requests can reference what's worked before.

5. Create Creative Rituals

Pre-ideation warm-up (10 minutes):

Before any creative session, use AI for warm-up exercises:

Give me 5 creative warm-up challenges:
- Connect two unrelated concepts
- Describe our product in 5 words without using [category name]
- What's the opposite of our campaign strategy? How could that work?
- Pitch our product as if it was [completely different product category]
- What would our campaign look like if designed by [unexpected creator]

Why this works: Gets your brain out of analytical mode and into creative mode before you need ideas.

Tools and Platform Selection

Not all AI tools are equally good for creative ideation:

Tier 1: General AI (Good for Text-Based Ideation)

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini

• Best for: Campaign concepts, messaging, verbal ideation

• Pros: Flexible, powerful, cheap ($20/month)

• Cons: No brand context, no visual generation, no integration with workflow

Use when: You need text-based ideation and have time to provide context every session

Tier 2: Specialized Creative AI (Better for Visual Concepts)

Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion

• Best for: Visual concept generation, mood boards, style exploration

• Pros: High-quality image generation, inspiring visuals

• Cons: Requires specific prompting skills, separate from other workflows

Adobe Firefly, Canva AI

• Best for: Quick visual mockups within design workflow

• Pros: Integrated with design tools you already use

• Cons: Less powerful than dedicated image generators

Use when: You need to visualize concepts quickly or generate mood boards

Tier 3: Integrated Marketing Platforms (Best for Strategic Ideation)

Averi

• Best for: End-to-end creative ideation within strategic context

• Pros:

  • Knows your brand, audience, and past campaign performance

  • Connects ideation directly to execution planning

  • Suggests concepts aligned with business goals

  • Learns what kinds of ideas you approve/reject

  • Combines concept generation with campaign development

• Cons: Higher cost than point solutions, requires initial brand training

Use when: You want creative ideation connected to strategy and execution, not just isolated brainstorming

The integration advantage: When ideation, planning, and execution happen in one platform, concepts actually ship instead of dying in Google Docs.

Real Examples: Creative Blocks Broken With AI

Example 1: Campaign Concept in 90 Minutes

Company: B2B SaaS platform Challenge: Stuck on Q4 campaign concept for 2 weeks Traditional time investment: 2 weeks of brainstorms, still no winner AI-assisted time: 90 minutes start to finish

The process:

Minutes 1-20: Brief definition

• Clarified actual goal (not "awareness"—specifically targeting users of competitor product)

• Defined specific audience pain points

• Set clear constraints

Minutes 20-50: AI generation

• Generated 20 campaign concepts

• Explored 5 most promising in depth

• Created mashup of best elements

Minutes 50-75: Human curation

• Scored against criteria

• Pressure-tested assumptions

• Selected winner

Minutes 75-90: Concept development

• AI generated execution plan

• Team added brand-specific elements

Result: Campaign launched 3 weeks later, generated 40% more pipeline than previous quarter's campaign.

Key insight: They weren't lacking creativity—they were lacking a process to quickly generate and evaluate options.

Example 2: Visual Direction Breakthrough

Company: Consumer brand Challenge: Needed fresh visual direction for Instagram campaign, kept returning to same aesthetic Traditional approach: Hired agency for $15K creative exploration, took 3 weeks AI approach: 4 hours internal creative session with AI image generation

The process:

Hour 1: Verbal concept exploration

• Used AI to generate 30 visual concept descriptions

• Identified 10 promising directions

Hour 2: Visual generation

• Generated 50+ images across different styles using Midjourney

• Created mood boards for top 5 directions

Hour 3: Refinement

• Selected best visual direction

• Generated variations on theme

• Created brand-specific interpretations

Hour 4: Creative briefing

• Used AI visuals to brief human designer

• Designer executed final polished creative

Result: Campaign performed 2.5x better than previous Instagram campaigns on engagement. Cost $0 in agency fees.

Key insight: AI visuals weren't final creative—they were precise communication tools that helped designer understand the direction instantly.

Example 3: Messaging Pivot

Company: Healthcare tech startup Challenge: Product messaging felt too technical, boring—but how to make healthcare tech exciting? Block: Team couldn't see past technical features to find emotional hook

AI solution:

Approach:

Our product does [technical thing]

Result: AI surfaced emotional angles team was too close to see. Selected "Finally, confidence in your data" as core message vs. technical "Real-time data validation platform."

Campaign performance: 3x higher click-through rate on ads, 40% improvement in demo conversion.

Key insight: Sometimes you're not blocked on ideas—you're blocked on perspective. AI provides fresh viewpoint.

The Human Skills That Matter More With AI

AI doesn't reduce the need for creative talent… it changes which creative skills matter most:

Skills That Become More Important

1. Curation and judgment

• Distinguishing great ideas from good ideas from garbage

• Understanding what will resonate with your specific audience

• Recognizing which AI suggestions align with brand strategy

2. Strategic thinking

• Defining the right creative problem to solve

• Connecting creative concepts to business objectives

• Understanding market context and competitive positioning

3. Refinement and polish

• Taking AI's rough concepts and adding soul

• Ensuring brand voice consistency

• Adding specific examples and authentic storytelling

4. Prompt engineering

• Asking AI the right questions to get useful answers

• Providing proper context and constraints

• Iterating on prompts to get better outputs

5. Cross-disciplinary synthesis

• Combining AI's suggestions with human insights

• Connecting ideas across different domains

• Seeing patterns AI misses

Skills That Become Less Critical

1. Raw idea generation volume

• AI can generate hundreds of concepts instantly

• Humans don't need to brainstorm 50 options manually

2. Research and reference gathering

• AI can surface examples and inspiration faster

• Less time spent collecting swipe files manually

3. First-draft creation

• AI handles initial structure and content

• Humans focus on refinement not blank-page starting

The shift: From generator to curator, from creator to director.

Research from MIT shows that AI assistance increases creative worker productivity by 40% while maintaining or improving quality—but only when workers focus on high-judgment tasks and delegate routine generation to AI.

The Bottom Line

Creative block isn't a creativity problem—it's a process problem.

The traditional approach:

• Stare at blank page hoping for inspiration

• Schedule more brainstorm meetings

• Push through with willpower and caffeine

• Hope someone has a breakthrough

Time to resolution: Days or weeks Success rate: Inconsistent Team stress: High

The AI-powered approach:

1. Define the creative problem clearly (20 minutes)

2. Use AI to generate volume and variety (30-45 minutes)

3. Apply human curation and judgment (40-50 minutes)

4. Develop winning concept with AI assistance (60-90 minutes)

5. Refine with human insight and brand voice (30-60 minutes)

Time to resolution: 3-4 hours Success rate: Consistently produces viable options Team stress: Low (process, not hope)

The reality:

• AI won't come up with your best idea

• You will—but AI will help you get there 10x faster

• By generating options you wouldn't have considered

• By eliminating blank-page paralysis

• By letting you focus on curation instead of generation

The teams winning in 2025 aren't the most naturally creative—they're the ones who've built systems that reliably generate great creative, even when inspiration isn't striking.

Ready to break through your next creative block in hours instead of days?
See how Averi combines AI-powered ideation with strategic context and brand intelligence →

FAQs

Won't using AI for ideation make my creative work generic and samey?

Only if you're using it wrong. AI that makes work generic is AI being used as a replacement instead of a starting point.

The framework in this article has you using AI for divergent generation (volume and variety) while you apply human curation (taste and judgment). AI generates 30 concepts in 30 minutes. You pick the interesting ones, mashup the best elements, and refine with your brand voice and strategic context.

Think of it like photography: Everyone has access to the same camera, but great photographers still create distinct work because they have taste, perspective, and vision. AI is the camera. You're the photographer.

Research backs this up: Teams using AI for ideation report 40% more creative output and higher quality scores—because they spend less time generating volume and more time refining the best ideas.

Does this replace the need for creative talent on my team?

No—it changes what creative talent focuses on.

Before AI: Creative teams spent 60% of their time generating volume (brainstorms, first drafts, variations) and 40% refining quality.

With AI: Creative teams spend 20% on generation (directing AI) and 80% on the high-value work—curation, strategic refinement, brand voice, storytelling, making ideas unmistakably yours.

The skills that matter more: Judgment, taste, strategic thinking, refinement, cross-disciplinary synthesis.

The skills that matter less: Raw volume generation, blank-page starting, manual research gathering.

Best creative teams are using AI to eliminate the grunt work so they can focus on the work that requires human creativity, intuition, and taste. They're more creative, not less—because they're not exhausted from generating 50 mediocre brainstorm ideas before getting to the good ones.

How long does this framework actually take compared to traditional brainstorming?

Traditional approach timeline:

• Day 1: Schedule brainstorm meeting (30-60 min)

• Day 2: Brainstorm session with team (2-3 hours)

• Day 3-4: Everyone "thinks on it" (downtime)

• Day 5: Follow-up meeting to narrow options (1-2 hours)

• Day 6-7: Concept development (4-6 hours)

• Total: 1-2 weeks, 8-12 hours of active work

AI-powered framework timeline:

• Phase 1: Define problem (20 minutes)

• Phase 2: AI generation (30-45 minutes)

• Phase 3: Human curation (40-50 minutes)

• Phase 4: Concept development (60-90 minutes)

• Phase 5: Refinement (30-60 minutes)

• Total: 3-4 hours, same day

You're not just saving time—you're maintaining momentum. Traditional brainstorming has long gaps where ideas go cold. AI framework keeps you in flow from problem to solution.

What if my team doesn't know how to write good AI prompts?

That's why this article gives you exact prompt templates for each phase.

You don't need to be a "prompt engineer." You need:

1. A clear creative brief (the article shows you exactly what to include)

2. Copy-paste prompt templates (provided throughout the framework)

3. Willingness to iterate (if first result isn't great, refine your ask)

Most "bad" AI results come from vague inputs. "Give me campaign ideas" produces garbage. "Based on this brief [specific details], generate 15 concepts that solve [specific problem] for [specific audience] with [specific constraints]" produces gold.

The framework in this article front-loads the strategic thinking (Phase 1: Define the Problem) so your prompts are specific by default. That's 80% of effective AI use right there.

Plus: Platforms like Averi are designed for marketers, not engineers—you're having a conversation, not writing code. If you can explain what you need to a human, you can explain it to Averi.

Does this work for visual creative or just copy/campaigns?

Both, but the approach differs:

For concept/copy/campaigns (what this article focuses on): AI excels at generating written concepts, messaging frameworks, campaign structures, and copy variations. Use the 5-phase framework as written.

For visual creative: AI is best for direction and exploration, not final execution:

• Generate mood boards and style directions (Midjourney, DALL-E)

• Create rough visual concepts for alignment discussions

• Explore "what if" directions quickly before committing to one

• Brief human designers with precise visual references

Example: Instead of telling a designer "make it modern and clean" (vague), generate 10 AI images showing different interpretations of "modern and clean" and say "like this one, but for our brand."

The visual workflow: AI generates options → You curate direction → Human designer executes with craft and polish.

Won't this eliminate the spontaneous magic of brainstorming sessions?

Research shows brainstorming sessions actually generate 20% fewer ideas than individuals working alone, because social dynamics suppress divergent thinking.

What feels like "magic" in brainstorming is usually:

1. One extrovert dominating and getting credit

2. Groupthink converging on safe ideas

3. The best idea coming from one person who could have had it alone

What this framework preserves: Individual creative thinking (you + AI, no judgment) + collaborative refinement (team curates together).

What it eliminates: Performative brainstorming where people pretend to have ideas on demand while secretly checking their phones.

You can still do brainstorm sessions if your team loves them—but use AI to come prepared with 20 concepts to react to, not starting from "anyone have ideas?"

Starting with options to discuss beats starting with a blank whiteboard 100% of the time.

How do I choose between ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, and Averi for this?

Depends on your workflow and what matters most:

Use ChatGPT/Claude if:

• You need text-based ideation only

• You're comfortable providing context every session

• You want the cheapest option ($20/month)

• You don't mind copy-pasting between tools

Use Midjourney/DALL-E if:

• You need visual concept exploration

• You're willing to learn prompt syntax

• Visual direction is your creative block

• You're okay with standalone image generation

Use Averi if:

• You want ideation connected to strategy + execution

• You need AI that remembers your brand context

• You want concepts aligned with business goals automatically

• You're running the full framework (not just one phase)

• You want ideation → planning → execution in one workspace

The integrated advantage: Concepts generated in Averi can flow directly into campaign planning, content creation, and expert briefing without leaving the platform. No context loss, no tool-switching.

What if the AI suggestions are all bad?

Then your inputs were probably too vague, or you're asking the wrong question.

The 5-phase framework starts with Phase 1 (Define the Problem) specifically to prevent this. When you have:

• Clear business goal

• Specific target audience

• Defined constraints

• Reference examples

• Core message

...AI suggestions are at minimum strategically aligned starting points, even if not creatively inspiring yet.

If everything AI generates feels off:

1. Refine your brief - Add more specificity about audience, tone, what you're NOT trying to do

2. Provide examples - "Like campaign X but for audience Y" gives AI pattern to match

3. Try different angles - Ask for bold ideas vs. safe ideas vs. unexpected ideas separately

4. Use advanced techniques - Role-play perspectives, temporal exploration, constraint remixing (all covered in the article)

Remember: Phase 3 (Human Curation) assumes most AI suggestions won't be winners. You're looking for interesting elements to mashup, not expecting perfect campaigns. If you find 3 interesting hooks across 30 concepts, you're doing great.