Brain Food

From Silliness to Spells: BBH's CSO Shares His Stimulations

Will Lion outlines three of his regular sources of inspiration as a strategist

By Creative Salon

07 October 2025

Silliness

I think too much seriousness in strategy often ruins advertising. We frequently brute-force academic, strategic ideas into work instead of letting them inspire it. The real world isn't strategic. TikTok isn't fizzing with academic, strategic ideas - it's a baby drinking a bottle of milk at a party while everyone shouts "CHUG CHUG CHUG," an orangutan cooling off in someone's pool, shaving foam expanding with divine satisfaction through a grater, alligators twerking to the iPhone alarm, or a piece of cheese being grated with blissed-out eyes and a mouth drawn on to make it look like the cheese is really into it. We're in the entertainment business - and we shouldn't let the business side dry out the entertainment. So my TikTok is a big old bag of bookmarked vibes and life at its silliest, and I wing the best of that into the creative department whenever possible.

Seriousness

The Lex Fridman podcast is one of the ultimate long-form conversations, featuring the calm, thoughtful Lex engaging with some of the most fascinating minds of our time. It's unhurried, deep, and grounded in genuine curiosity about topics like philosophy, science, AI, history, civilization, creativity, engineering, human nature, and the universe. Try the Paul Rosolie episodes for thrilling, raw, immersive stories about adventures in the rainforest, uncontacted tribes, apex predators, and the pulse of the jungle. Or listen to Demis Hassabis for the most thoughtful recent discussion on superintelligence, the ethical weight of AI, hidden patterns and mysteries of existence, and a call to dream bigger about our future. Or try the latest, Keyu Jin, for a nuanced take on China.

Spells

I've been experimenting with custom reusable AI prompts for some time, which I call Spells - powerful, spooky potions. These can span many pages and dramatically improve AI outputs. One, 'Reference Exploder' takes a topic or idea and generates a bunch of references - quotes, memes, scenes, pieces of art, tracks, and posts -that spark inspiration. It automates what used to take me ages trawling the internet, delivering a rich, varied world of references to fuel creatives' minds. Another, 'Topic Juicer' uncovers the vital 20 per cent of knowledge about any topic that unlocks understanding of the other 80 per cent - the grand, non-obvious insight. It then provides a mental model, a meme, and a joke to illustrate it. This is incredibly useful for walking into new client meetings and quickly grasping the truths of their category.