> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.unbore.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to brainstorm endless ideas with Osborn’s Checklist - URL: https://www.unbore.com/how-to-brainstorm-endless-ideas-with-osborns-checklist/ - Published: 2026-03-04T01:14:16.000Z - Updated: 2026-03-10T17:32:59.000Z - Description: Creative ads helped turn Snickers into the world's best-selling candy bar. I watched every single ad and noticed something: they all use an old but powerful technique. - Author: Shlomo Genchin - Tags: Brainstorming Creative ads helped turn Snickers into the world’s best-selling candy bar. I watched every single ad and noticed something: they all use an old but powerful technique. In fact, it’s the first creative technique ever. Let’s rewind. It’s 1928\. NYC. Alex Osborn co-founds a new agency, BBDO. Then, the Great Depression begins. To survive, they need good ideas. A lot of them. So, Osborn creates a list of eight prompts to help his team generate ideas fast. He calls this new process: “brainstorming.” Today, the BBDO creatives are still using Osborn’s checklist (maybe without even realizing it). Snickers, one of the agency’s coolest clients, is no exception: ## 1\. Adapt ![snickers ad, latte of lies](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks1.jpg) ![adapt. snickers ad, margins of error](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks2.jpg) 💡 **How?** **​**Ask: What could I adapt, copy, or borrow from someone else? Whom could I emulate? What other idea does this suggest? What else is like this? Does the past offer a parallel? ## 2\. Modify ![snickers ads replaced the inside with Bounty](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks3.jpg) [PR stunt:](https://adsspot.me/media/case-study/snickers-snickersgate-fca5aafcfe85?ref=unbore.com) Snickers replaced their regular filling with Bounty’s. People online went nuts. The explanation? “Sorry, our factory workers were hungry.” 💡 **How?**​ Ask: Change the meaning, color, motion, sound, odor, form, shape? Other changes? New twist? ## ​3\. Magnify ![snickers ad, magnified snickers](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks4.jpg) In 2020, the world went crazy. Snickers had an explanation – maybe the world is just hungry. [So, they fed it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVPkIifBPoA&ab%5Fchannel=millchannel&ref=unbore.com) 💡 **How?** **​**Ask: What is there to add? What can I magnify or make larger? More time? Greater frequency? Thicker? Stronger? Higher? Longer? Extra value? Another ingredient? Duplicate? Multiply? Exaggerate? ## 4\. Minify ![Snickers Bites ad showing a tiny gazelle standing on a giant cheetah paw with the tagline When you're in the mood for just a little something](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks5.jpg) ​ 💡 **How?**​ Ask: What is there to subtract? What can I tone down or delete? Smaller? Condensed? Miniature? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Omit? Streamline? Split up? Understate? ## 5\. Substitute ![snickers ad, substitute in the snickers](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks6-727x1024.jpg) ![Snickers ad featuring a stern man in a suit and bow tie with the tagline You're not you when you're hungry](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks7-724x1024.webp) 💡 **How?**​ Ask: Who else, instead? What else, instead? Other ingredients? Other material? Other processes? Other power? Other places? Other approaches? Other tones of voice? Can I change the rules? ## 6\. Rearrange ![Snickers banner ad on ESPN website reading Get one for the price of two as a humorous reverse offer](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks8-1024x631.webp) When people are hungry, they make dumb mistakes online. When people clicked on these ads, Snickers offered them [a real discount](https://vimeo.com/333597243?embedded=true&source=video%5Ftitle&owner=4084472) so they can get back to themselves. ​ 💡 **How?**​ Ask: Interchange the components? Transpose cause and effect? Other patterns? Other layouts? Other sequences? Change pace? Change schedule? ## 7\. Reverse ![Snickers ad showing a zebra chasing a lion across the savanna with the tagline You're not you when you're hungry](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks9.jpg) ​ 💡 **How?**​ Ask: Interchange the components? Transpose cause and effect? Other patterns? Other layouts? Other sequences? Change pace? Change schedule? ## 8\. Combine ![snickers ad, combining the angry internet with hungry people](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks10-1024x580.webp) The internet is an angry place. Why? People are hungry. So, Snickers created the [Hungerithm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m07peztHv3s&ab%5Fchannel=adsoftheworldvideos&ref=unbore.com), an algorithm that monitors the mood of the internet. When anger levels rise, Snickers prices at 7-Eleven go down. 💡 **How?** **​**Ask: How about a blend, an alloy, an assortment, an ensemble? Combine units? Combine purposes? Combine appeals? Combine ideas? ## Osborn's Checklist: ![Osborn's Checklist infographic showing all 8 brainstorming categories — Adapt, Modify, Magnify, Minify, Substitute, Rearrange, Reverse, and Combine — with prompt questions for each](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/snicks11-1024x791.jpg)