Mad Genius gets around the verticals. We work with brands in food and beverage, the arts, video games, financing, healthcare, the government, and retail and ecommerce. We’ve even dabbled in space travel and chartered tuna boats. Mad Genius doesn’t have a one thing. Our geniuses pride themselves on their ability to research, understand, and adapt to the needs of our clients—all of our clients.

Having said that, we do a lot of education. Oodles. If you’re looking for a creative agency to take your educational institution to the next level, hey there. You found us. We do it all.

Here are just a few examples of the junior colleges, universities, and honor societies Mad Genius has had the privilege to work with (presented in alphabetical order).

College Recruitment

Delta State University (DSU), “Fear the Okra” Series, Parts One and Two

The most common request we get from higher education establishments is this, “How do we increase recruitment?” Usually, it’s coupled with, “How do we get potential students to know that we’re here?” There are a great many answers to this question, all of which depend on the institution itself, its ideal student persona(s), and the best method to reach said potential students.

When DSU came to Mad Genius, we created the “Fear the Okra” series of videos. In the series, the unofficial mascot of DSU, a furious okra pod, spread the good word about the many offerings of the university, leveraging his rage as a method of inspiration. Almost a decade after the first batch of videos, we were at it again, with a sequel series in the same vein as the first.

Campus Culture

Jackson State University (JSU), 2021 Image Spot

Day to day life on campus is a big deal to those considering enrollment. JSU asked Mad Genius to create an image spot that highlighted the momentum, drive, and power of their campus life. The result was a beat-driven dance-inspiring collection of moments that focus on both education and athletics.

Website

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC), Website

All the advertising in the world means little if prospective students get lost, confused, or grow disinterested while on your school’s website. MGCCC asked Mad Genius to build them an informative, easy-to-use website that showed off the school’s resources for their student body. And so, we did.

Academics

Mississippi State University (MSU), “Mississippi’s Research University” Image Spot

Believe it or not, many students are influenced by a campus’s ability to actually teach stuff. Academics matter. It’s not always easy to share a college’s academic prowess in a fun or exciting way. MSU holds Mississippi’s top research laboratory, affording student-led research teams the opportunity to advance scientific progress in any number of disciplines. All we had to do was turn that truth into a video—a fun and exciting video.

Production

Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU), “What Moves You” TV Spot

We’ve had plenty of clients come to Mad Genius with one request: a video. They don’t always know what they need it, or what they want it to do, but they know that they’ve got to put something out there. Maybe it should be an informative piece that relays data or information to a certain audience. Perhaps the video is just to keep the brand alive in the minds of potential students. Or, as was the case with MVSU and their “What Moves You” spot, it could just be a way to start a much longer conversation. No matter what you require your video to do for you, we can make it work.

Workforce Development

Northwest Mississippi Community College (NWCC), “Close to Home” TV Spots

Not all students are starry-eyed high school graduates setting up the framework for the rest of their lives. For many colleges, career-minded students currently in the workforce and looking for the skills they need to move up are the priority. When NWCC came to Mad Genius asking for a campaign that would target exactly the latter demographic, we were happy to create the “Close to Home” campaign that focused on workforce development without isolating other potential students.

Print Collateral

Northwest Mississippi Community College (NWCC), Viewbook

Not every problem is solved with a video or campaign. Sometimes, colleges require collateral that sings of their brand, and piques the curiosity of anyone lucky enough to hold it. Such was the case with NWCC’s viewbook. Mad Genius was happy to take up the challenge of laying out copious amounts of information in a way that was easy on the eyes and the mind, making thousands of words easy to digest.

Honor Societies

Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), Website

Mad Genius loves working in education, but we’re not just for educators. If you’re an education adjacent brand searching for help, we’ve got you covered. The honor society, Phi Theta Kappa, approached us with a whole host of needs—branding, a website, production, and more. Our years as a creative agency gave us the know-how to create what they required, but our ample experience in education helped us understand how everything would work.

Capital Campaigns

University of Southern Mississippi (USM), “Give Wing” Capital Campaign Launch Video

Nobody likes asking other people for money. If you’re an institute of learning, it’s part of the gig. How you approach possible donors—the method, tenor, and phrasing—has a direct impact on the success of the request. Mad Genius was fortunate enough to work with USM on the “Give Wing” capital campaign that inspired giving. To kick it off, we produced a video that encouraged viewers not only to give, but to share the video itself, turning a plea for generosity into a self-fulfilling marketing engine.

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Experience isn’t everything. Creativity, intelligence, and a craving for the new are critical to any successful marketing campaign, collateral generation, or production. Lucky for you, we’ve got those as well.

Ready to get started? Have questions? Just want to vent about a hard day at work? Hit us up. We’re ready when you are.

Setting up Your Body to Help Your Mind Flourish

It’s been said that creatives who wait for inspiration are often unemployed. While it’s true that deadlines don’t always allow for a slow build toward that eureka moment, there are ways for creatives to set themselves up for success when the work must flow on time. We’ve got a few of them listed below.

Will these work for you every single time? Unlikely. Are there more tips than just the ones here? Undoubtedly. Should you modify these to discover what works for you? Indubitably. 

Define Your Goal

There’s an important question to ask yourself before you start nesting: What are you trying to accomplish? The throwaway answers are “write something,” or “design something,” or “draw something.” Those but scratch the surface of your intent. 

What is the nature of your creation, and how will your surroundings influence that nature? Are you writing a short blurb about your favorite beer, or a novella about an alien invasion? Is this a logo design for a famous sports team, or is it some web design for a fish supplier in the Pacific Northwest? Are you penciling art for a superhero comic book pitch, or sketches for a client’s custom wedding invitations?

Understanding the specifics of your intentions can directly influence all the recommendations below. Moodier work may call for moodier lighting. You may need to blast rock music to complete one project, while the score to your favorite film may be better for others. Recognize the way your surroundings influence you, and thus your work, so that you can ideally prepare your space. Nobody knows you better than you do.

Find Your Space

When considering the location of your workspace, ponder it as a job-specific opportunity instead of a permanent choice. Maybe you have an office at work, but is that the best place to produce this specific endeavor? Have a desk and chair you use when you work from home? That’s wonderful, but is it the ideal space for what is on today’s agenda?

Since you understand your creative goal, you can, as well as is possible, manifest the location best-suited to that end. Writing dialogue? Perhaps a trip to the coffee shop is in order, where you will be surrounded by caffeinated folk having conversations worthy of the occasional eavesdrop. Designing something modern? Plop yourself in front of the monitor while your favorite designer streams before you. Drawing some landscapes? Head to the beach, or the mountains, or the desert, or the lake… Surrounding yourself, literally, with things tangential to your work is a great way to keep your head in the game.

If you’re unable to submerge yourself in the type of content you’re developing, fake it and make it. Find a place that allows you to artificially reproduce the mood your content demands. If you’re in an office, this can be the difference of working in a closed space or a high-traffic area. If you work from home, this may help you determine if you should be at your desk or on the outside patio. And, if you’re a freelancer able to go wherever you want, well, see the previous paragraph.

Fill Your Space

For numerous creatives, this is easy: their laptop. That’s it. That’s all they require to keep focused, inspired, and motivated, but others require a bit of decoration. Once you know what you’re doing and where you’re doing it, it’s time to turn a space into your space.

Stay Focused

Distraction is the death of productivity. Do what you have to do to insulate yourself as much as possible from disturbances (there’s a whole section on one specific type of distraction at the end of this blog). Whether that means turning off your computer’s internet access to avoid social media, cranking up the tunes in your office, at home, or in some earbuds to keep your brain distracted, or locking a door to keep unwanted visitors at bay, set yourself up to avoid interference before it becomes an issue. 

Keep your distraction proofing as proactive as possible. It’s much easier to stay in the groove than it is to rediscover it.

Stay Inspired

It seems safe to say that most creative professionals have contemporaries who they respect and/or are heartily jealous of. These people either are changing, or have changed, the game. Maybe it’s not people you covet, but specific work. Either way, if you’re a writer, there are authors, books, or sentences you love. The same thing goes for musicians, artists, designers, and all other fields in the creative arts. 

All of humanity finds inspiration in some sort of art… See if you can’t find a way to bring that joy into your space. This could be a quote, a print, a musical composition, or some collateral piece you admire. Whatever it is, invite it into your work area to remain inspired.

Stay Motivated

Why do you do what you do? Why are you a creative professional? Is it because you love the work? Is it because you have bills to pay? Perhaps it’s because you’re working toward some other career goal? All of these are valid motivations, but they can be difficult to remember.

See if you can’t find a way to bring a reminder of your motivation into your space. This may be a photo or keepsake—anything that pulls you back into the work when you start to feel creatively dehydrated. Ambition may keep your motor running when fuel feels low.

Set the Mood: Lights and Sounds

Some creatives want the same setup every time they work, but it’s rare to find two people with exact tastes. At Mad Genius, we’ve got developers who want all the lights off and music blaring, and we’ve got project managers who demand bright lights and absolute silence. The balance you seek is up to you, though your goal may play a role…

Lights are, likely, the aspect less likely influenced by your intent. Those who tend to enjoy the lights down low, seem to appreciate them that way whenever they’re working, and it’s the same with those who prefer natural light, or any other illumination configuration. Still, it may be worth adjusting your go-to lighting if you’re struggling to make headway on a particular creative endeavor. There is science behind the idea that light and color can directly impact our moods. Perhaps a change in lux disposition is precisely the change you need to get your creative juices flowing.

Sounds are a far more obvious variable in the creative process. It has been proven time and time again that noise pollution destroys productivity, so most creatives have already developed a path around this. Headphones and spaces devoid of noise pollution, where the air between speakers and ears can be filled with a specific decibel, are the norm. Some enjoy white noise while they work, others gravitate toward podcasts. There are creatives who enjoy music, while others enjoy listening to movies, television shows, and video game walkthroughs.

Most productive people work for under an hour, then take a break.

Often, the flavor of content we aurally consume varies by our mood at any given time. We consider what we’d be interested in hearing and throw on a playlist. Next time you’re struggling to find your creative groove, consider the destination instead of the journey. Don’t think about the mood you’re in while you’re working, but instead, let your goal drive you. Writing some fantasy stories? Consider some heavier, epic-sounding film scores. Working on a website for a community-focused nonprofit? Try some feel-good jams or films. Coloring a horror comic? Listen to the old television show “Caillou,” or some other terrifying content.

Keep Taking Breaks

You came here for some ideas to increase your productivity, so this is going to sound counterproductive, but you need to step away. Take a break, a real break, and let your brain relax a bit. Rest allows your mind to defrag itself, sometimes making connections that you didn’t realize you were looking for. Ever had a brilliant idea in the bathtub (yes, some of us take baths—don’t judge)? Same idea. This is a scientific fact: taking breaks will boost your productivity, and likely by proxy, your creativity.

How you break is as important as the fact that you take one. Stepping away from work to scroll through Facebook is a not-so-great idea, as social media tends to increase stress, which is the antonym to rest. Instead, take a nap (even a short one), or grab some coffee and a snack, or go for a walk. Do something that allows your brain to rest and your body to get the blood flowing. Don’t spend your ten minutes off thinking about what you’re going to do as soon as you get back to work. Nobody likes an overachiever.

And how often should you take these glorious moments to yourself? Probably every hour or so. Some studies show that the most productive people work for under an hour, then take a break. Now, don’t abuse this to skip out on work, but be sure to take some time to yourself, so you can reach your creative endgame with the best product possible.

Lose Your Phone

Remember earlier when we said that “there’s a whole section on one specific type of distraction at the end of this blog?” Congrats. You made it.

If distraction is, as we said, the death of productivity, then smartphones are the black carriage it rides in on. There is science that shows smartphones directly contribute to lower productivity at work and at home. Some studies indicate that employees waste more than one day a week on activities that have nothing to do with work. Heck, even the presence of your phone can reduce your cognitive capacity.

So, after you’ve figured out what you need to do, found your space, filled your space, and set your mood, do yourself a favor: turn off and hide your phone.

One Other Solution…

Inspiration is curated. Even ideas that “just come to you,” demand a mind open to receiving them. Prepare yourself as best you can with whatever allows you to remain open. However, inspiration isn’t passive, so not only do creatives need to be receptive, but they must actively connect dots as well. To achieve this, they’ll need a space that facilitates focus. What a workstation that sustains receptiveness and instigates solutions looks like, depends on the creative—that’s you. Thankfully, we’re all very different. Find your happy place.

Make your space work for you.

Contact Mad Genius For Your Creative

The easiest way to find your glorious creative? Hire Mad Genius. We know how hard it can be, and we still love it. Take advantage of us before we come to our senses. Let’s talk today.