A neurosurgeon, an architect, the man who made Studio54 famous and another who redefined the circus all took to the stage on day two at C2-MTL—a disparate group but each with important lessons to share about the value of creative thinking.
(Find out more about day one here.)
The morning began with a presentation from University of New Mexico neurosurgeon Dr. Rex Jung who explained how ideas take form. How could a conference dedicated to the creation of ideas not have a brain scientist who can explain the physiology of idea creation?
Jung was followed by Winy Maas, an Amsterdam architect at MVRDV (which competes against Sid Lee’s architecture unit) who spoke about how architecture and design can contribute to solving global  challenges. After Maas, it was Ariana Huffington who confirmed the launch of the  “GPS for the Soul” app.
A number of themes are emerging from C2-MTL and one is that any marketer hoping to connect with consumers has no hope if what they are selling isn’t worthy of consumer adoration.
In the afternoon, famed night-club king turned hotel impresario Ian Schrager spoke about his approach to producing a cool product that resonates with customers.
Schrager and his business partner Steve Rubell turned Studio 54 into the coolest club in New York in the ’70s before getting into the hotel business in 1984, reinventing the concept of boutique hotels so popular today.
First of all, don’t try to be cool, said Schrager. Try to be good and try to be different. Nor is it a good idea to fixate on short-term profitability. “It’s not about making money,” said Schrager. Stay focused on producing a great product and a great service. “The money takes care of itself.”
However, Schrager also confessed his adroit viral and guerrilla marketing skills were  instrumental in his successes—long before the terms became ubiquitous across the marketing industry. “You can’t do advertising,” he said. Coolness and credibility come from other people saying good things about you, not from you telling them that you are cool. “And stay out of mainstream media,” he added.
That theme reemerged in the panel discussion that followed Schrager.
Fast Company staff editor Teressa Iezzi moderated the panel which included three of the magazine’s 100 Most Creative People in Business: Rachel Shechtman, founder of New York store Story; Andrew Wilson, VP, EA Sports and Masashi Kawamura creative director/co-founder Party Inc.
The discussion revolved around the crucial importance of storytelling in modern marketing. “The [advertising] campaign isn’t dead,” said Kawamura. But communications have to be much more transparent than they once were. You can’t tell people your product is great because people will find out quickly if it’s not. If a product or service is strong enough it should stand on it’s own, he said, just make sure you can tell that story effectively.
Late in the afternoon, Cirque du Soleil’s business leaders took to the stage. Cirque is arguably Canada’s most famous creative product and a partner/client of Sid Lee, the agency behind C2-MTL.
Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre and VP of creation Jean-Francois Bouchard spoke about how they have redefined the circus experience—including how they, contrary to the advice of business leaders prone to cliche, reinvented the wheel for their shows.
The pair were followed by a surprise appearance by Cirque’s founder Guy LalibertĂ©. He seemed skeptical of a conference dedicated to formalizing creativity but also offered some advice to those in attendance. Don’t give up on your creative vision, he said. Bankers and corporate structure can impede creativity, he said. “But don’t compromise.”
