IdeaFisher Morphs Into ThoughtOffice Brainstorming Software

Productivity suites like Microsoft Office have been around more than 20 years, but productivity without creativity is stagnation. IdeaFisher was the first successful creativity to productivity program. Brainchild of Marsh Fisher, Century 21 co-founder, it blazed the trail for much of the brainstorming, creativity, creative advertising, and mind mapping industry. Now, a powerful brainstorming program called ThoughtOffice Innovation Software has been introduced. Industry insiders have likened it to IdeaFisher on steroids.

(PressReleasePoint) Portland, OR July 9, 2008 -- First there was IdeaFisher (http://www.ideafisher.com). It made quite an impression when first introduced years ago, as a way to bring brainstorming to the Mac or PC. Now ThoughtOffice is the latest step in the evolution of business creativity solutions that began with IdeaFisher. Marsh Fisher's original vision has been augmented using a multimedia and web-centric approach to software-based brainstorming. Marsh may not have foreseen the impact of the Internet, but he saw how brainstorming software could liberate creative thinkers worldwide.

As early as the 1970s, Century 21 co-founder Fisher began searching for computer software that could solve the challenge of improving the brainstorming process and making it more efficient. When released to critical acclaim in 1988, Fisher's breakthrough software - IdeaFisher - quickly became the worldwide leader of its category.

ThoughtOffice, intellectual heir to IdeaFisher's brainstorming concept, took its present form through the efforts of Mark Alan Effinger, an innovative "multipreneur". Effinger adapted the IdeaFisher concept to the new realities of the Internet Age. He added new functions and features to Marsh Fisher's foundation and gave it access to the enormous online resources of the Web. ThoughtOffice also combines IdeaFisher's original strengths with other creativity tools such as visual outlines and mindmapping.

"ThoughtOffice will help you to take your creative problem-solving skills to the next level," says Chuck Frey, founder of www.InnovationTools.com.

Frey adds, "ThoughtOffice does a great job of leveraging the power of associative thinking. Using its rich, interconnected resources, you can follow a long trail of associations without running out of creative steam. Or you can follow a guided problem solving process to reveal fresh ideas and insights. In short, ThoughtOffice is like IdeaFisher on steroids."

ThoughtOffice is also designed to make it easy to understand ideas and share them with others -- co-workers, employees, or clients -- whether they are in the same building, or a continent away.

Like its predecessor, IdeaFisher, one of ThoughtOffice's key functions is its built-in creativity search engine, which uses words, phrases, images, and popular key phrases to help explore ideas quickly and easily. The IdeaBrowser search engine is integrated with ThoughtOffice, hybridizing mind mapping and outlining capabilities in a fast, flexible mini-browser that allows the user to expand their creative process.

According to Mr. Frey, "ThoughtOffice provides users with an unprecedented variety and volume of idea stimuli. It also succeeds in bringing together two different types of creative thinking into one well-designed program. Its question databases provide a solid foundation for left-brained, systematic problem definition, while its idea-generation tools serve as a catalyst to help the right half of your brain make new associations and connections, which should lead to more breakthrough ideas."

ThoughtOffice software, which ranges in price from $97 to $497, includes up to 16 discrete solution modules (http://www.thoughtoffice.com/?page_id=4). These 16 eXpertTopic Modules contain creative processes and productivity tools usually found only in separate programs. Developed with input from hundreds of creative experts, the plugin modules expand the core ThoughtOffice program and are targeted toward very specific issues, such as Product Development or Conflict Resolution. ThoughtOffice also offers software "bundles" providing pre-packaged solutions ranging from Advertising and Marketing techniques to Effective Communication for live or written presentations.

IdeaFisher's innovative successor works to leverage the power of the user's mind. The expansion modules are loaded with hundreds of questions that prompt the subconscious, revealing known and sometimes forgotten information -- and uncovering new associations through the kind of juxtaposition that lies at the heart of creativity.

ThoughtOffice provides immediate access to:

* 13,700 questions and prompts in 16 topical categories to expertly explore or "drill down" into issues or opportunities
* Definitions, Synonyms and Hypernyms of the complete English language
* Rhyming words and phrases
* Over 1,500,000 stock photo image thumbnails to increase visual idea generation
* A Dynamic, online Word Association resource, increasing by over 4,000 words per week
* Over 1,000,000 popular quotations
* Over 1,000,000 song lyrics
* An Internet search terms database, including keywords, for use in advertising, marketing, and research

Advertising & PR consultant Martin Grossman (http://marketingmatters.blogs.com/martin_grossman) was an early adopter of IdeaFisher, and later became a ThoughtOffice user. He is adamant that ThoughtOffice is an indispensable tool for his work. "If creative types need to get their minds around a big, complex project quickly, ThoughtOffice helps them to do so faster and better," says Grossman. "It's the breakthrough in creativity software that people who think for a living have been waiting many years to see."

About ThoughtOffice:
ThoughtOffice Corporation was founded in 2005, to provide solutions for individuals and corporations needing to generate effective, creative ideas & innovations quickly and efficiently. Founded by Mark Alan Effinger, one-time apprentice to & developer for Marsh Fisher, the company's solutions are used by most of the Global 5000, NASA, Homeland Security, hundreds of advertising agencies, Inc. 500 firms and consulting organizations. ThoughtOffice -- a team of creative professionals, experienced executive coaches, and software developers -- is based in Vancouver, Washington. The company can be reached at http://www.ThoughtOffice.com or by phone at 360-609-9272.

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