Post by David Nichols, Group Managing Partner and Head of Invention
Since I started doing musical theatre improvisation a year ago, things have stepped up a notch. I am now part of a group called The Instant Musical who have a regular slot at a London comedy club! We improvise, on the spot, not just a standalone scene or song but a whole one hour show! And this has some interesting learnings for how to approach solving marketing problems. In this post, I share 3 key learnings that can be applied to strategic problem solving.
Note from David T.: Instant Musical is very good! You can book tickets here!
Performing at the Museum of Comedy, London, Sept 2026
The power of a team
If you step on stage thinking you have to create a whole show all by yourself, you will be very unlikely to succeed. You have to learn to lean heavily on your team. Your job is just to put the next brick in place – it’s the team who will build the wall. This approach is key to releasing the burden of solving the whole problem alone and therefore unleashes creative leaps.
In marketing, the challenge is how to collaborate effectively with your agency, brand team, research suppliers, technical and even legal team. If you can get to a level of belief that “We will solve this together” you will allow each member to contribute more imaginatively and get to a better solution faster. If everyone is stressed by the fear of failing, the solutions are more likely to be cautious, conservative and focused on ass-covering.
Get comfortable with not knowing
How many times have you been in a marketing meeting from which the only action is ”We need to do more research”? There is a time and a place for research. But not having all the data can often be used as an excuse for lack of action. On stage, you will never have all the data, or in fact, any of it! You have to get comfortable with never knowing enough. You have to step forward with confidence that’s based on your ability, not an in depth understanding of the situation.
On brandgym projects, we encourage teams to solve marketing problems by doing. Create prototypes, try them out, get things wrong. This kind of work is harder than conventional concept research. But in my experience you learn a lot more about brand strategy by bringing it to life. Also when deadlines approach, learning about what sort of execution works in reality is incredibly valuable.
Practice tools & techniques
When you are an improvsisr, you can’t learn your lines, go over cues or study the script. Instead, we practise technique and develop skills, such as how to instantly accept another person’s ideas or find the right moment to start a song. These are the things that help us deliver on the night.
I believe marketers should do the same. Don’t abandon data, but work on your “craft” and practice the techniques that you need to deliver growth. This might be concept writing, structured agency feedback or workshop facilitation. Then, when the timeframes inevitably become short and you have to deliver under pressure without weeks of preparation, you can. Also, get in to the habit of always having a hypothesis on what will work or not before doing any research. Develop the judgement to know what a good promotion, sampling activity or ad campaign is, so in future you don’t always have to check with consumers first.
Conclusion
Solving marketing problems at speed can be just as daunting as improvising a theatre show. You have to think both long and short term at the same time and be comfortable with not having all (or any) of the relevant data or consumer insight. Hone your skills and harness your team. Then the magic is more likely to happen!
