1. Everyone is doing it (me included!)
Originality lies at the core of the creative effort. Everyone is doing it, hence, it's not original. Since "listicles" are a "thing", you feel like it's totally OK to write it. Yet, this is when the professional creative will find the opportunity to deconstruct it. Creative rule #1 - Try to Be Creative. If you're not going for originality, you're breaking the first rule.
Everyone is trying to write original content, of course. But since we live in the hay-day of the listicle, their creativity is stuck to that formula – which is totally OK. And OK is not what creativity is about. If we think a little broader, we'll realize we can brake the "rules" of the listicle to our advantage. Everyone already knows what a listicle looks like. It's time we do it different. I'm having a go at it right now.
