BOSTON—Numerous inspirational talks at the HOW Design Live conference this past weekend in Boston revolved around "monster" or "killer" idea generation. If you are coming up against a "no" brigade of middle managers, here are a few tips on pushing your ideas through.

Cartoonist, founder and CEO of Marketoonist Tom Fishburne, who has worked in marketing for such companies as Method Products, Nestle and General Mills, had this to say in his session entitled Overcoming idea killers to create killer ideas:

1. When thinking about a new product or service, don't forget to ask why this product should exist. He means not why for the manufacturer or provider, but why for the consumer.

2. Don't stop being creative after the brainstorming session. Fishburne explained: "Sometimes you lose the essence of ideas after brainstorming. But creativity comes all the time — you should allow creativity to come out during the process so that you can course correct on the fly."

3. Don't be afraid to try crazy ideas. "The problem with focus groups is that consumers don't always know what they want." He discussed the example of Betabrand, an online clothing company that is essentially always in beta-mode, testing out new product lines each week and seeing how they fly with customers. "Too often," said Fishburne, "we deprive our ideas of the oxygen of the real world."

4. Don't try to appeal to everyone.

5. Don't follow the rules of your product category too strictly. "If you do, it inherently blinds you to ideas outside the category."

6. Don't leave marketing just to the marketing professionals. "Everyone in the company are marketers for the company. Invite them into the process early on." Fishburne said everyone should be in on the idea stage from designers and account managers to the techies and even the legal department — so that from the get-go you know what will be possible technologically and legally. As well, if these departments feel ownership of an idea, they will want to see the idea to fruition and not kill it outright.

He left the packed house with these words: "Always think of the big idea."