For all who have given up on ever generating a great idea, here’s a lifeline — A Technique For Producing Ideas, an informal, deceptively simple book on the process of arriving at an idea, penned by advertising guru James Webb Young back in the 1940s and undiminished in relevance over half a century later.

What does it take to produce an idea? According to Mr Young, the question is in no way naïve. He thinks that life experiences make for a storehouse of knowledge. All one needs to do is to join the dots — creatively.

He breaks down the idea process into five main steps: