Promo pros are tasked with being both creative and efficient. You must hit your KPIs while also churning out fresh ideas — often under pressure. It’s tempting to default to what’s worked before or let AI do the heavy lifting. But the secret to breakthrough work is something much simpler and far more human. It’s curiosity. Staying curious helps you challenge assumptions and uncover insights that can turn good campaigns into remarkable ones.

Mindy Sears, the VP, group creative director at RAPP says we’ve all been there, trying to conjure the next big idea. This is when you should explore the innate human trait of curiosity. It’s how you can unlock more resonant ideas and foster genuinely innovative thinking, she says. So, how do you tap into your curiosity? We share her guidance in this issue of PromoPro Daily.

  1. Search for insights in the unexpected. You may be working with preconceived notions about your audience. That’s why Sears recommends pausing to ask “why?” She recalls how curiosity helped her when developing a direct mail piece. As she was reviewing images, a particular destination photo caught her eye. It was a place she had visited many times, and she felt a personal connection to it. That moment of curiosity sparked an important conversation, she says, leading her team to realize how personal experiences change how we view things.

  2. Build curiosity-driven teams. Think of it like a hybrid creative system, Sears says. Involve people from different areas and encourage face-to-face problem-solving. Collaboration can fuel curiosity. Even when staff members don’t work in similar jobs, they may feel unified by shared objectives and a collaborative mindset.

  3. Let AI stretch your thinking. Just be sure you keep humanity at the core. Try approaching AI with curiosity. In other words, use it not as a shortcut but as a collaborative partner in the creative process. Sears says AI can be helpful to test assumptions, challenge your initial ideas and uncover unexpected paths you may not have noticed with traditional data.

  4. Reframe “doing more with less” as a curiosity challenge. People often groan when they’re required to do more with less, but Sears says if we apply a curiosity lens, perceived limitation transforms into a prompt for innovation. With a curious mindset, people may go from “Why can’t we …” to “How might we …?” It’s a subtle shift, she says, but one that encourages people to explore smarter workflows and more collaborative processes.

Curiosity is your biggest differentiator. It’s what leads you to ask better questions and see opportunities others may miss. Instead of relying solely on the data, think like an explorer. Tapping into your curiosity is how you can achieve the best, most creative results.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Mindy Sears is VP, group creative director at RAPP.