The first idea in a brief is almost always the one everyone already has in mind. It is useful, but it is rarely the one that makes a client stop and look twice.

So we treat it as a warm-up. We sketch it, name it and set it aside, then spend the real time on the second and third directions, where the odd and specific ideas live.

The discipline is simple: nobody falls in love with anything until at least three routes are on the wall.