There is a lot written about creativity. How to find it and why we lose it. There are too many theories to subscribe to, and I have no intent on going over them right now. However, I would like to highlight a very crafty example of creativity I experienced today.

Have you been watching the recent NBA Playoffs? You’ve probably seen one of the several commercials the NBA has released featuring two NBA stars on split screen, reading the same inspirational script at a synchronous rate. They look something like this:

There are several versions of the commercial featuring stars from nearly every NBA team in the post-season. However, when watching the game today I found very unique and entertaining surprise:

I give a lot of credit to whoever came up with the idea to spoof the ongoing commercial campaign and use it to promote another product. I’m not sure if this commercial, featuring Adam Sandler and Baron Davis, is in partnership with the NBA, though it would be much cooler if Sandler and crew made this commercial on their own. The enigmatic Davis is the perfect character to use for this spot.

Overall, this commercial for Zohan would not make sense outside of the context of having seen the other NBA “We are one” advertisements. But, borrowing from the idea and inserting it back into the same pool makes it creative, unique, humorous and refreshing.

So that has me thinking, and perhaps more time should be looked at existing and current things, and how they can be just tweaked that little bit, rather than trying to come up with something entirely new in its own right. It probably takes a lot less effort and, as illustrated above, can have a pretty cool impact.

Props goes out to you Baron and Sandler for demonstrating this unique approach to creatively capturing the audience’s mind and attention. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.