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No army in the world is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.
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THECATALYTICIDEA
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 1
By 1917, the German army had been fighting the Russiansfor three long years.
They had tried artillery, infantry attacks and cavalry charges.
A million of their soldiers had died.
But the war remained a stalemate.
The German leadership was in despair.
A new weaponThen one of their number made a suggestion.
He told his superiors of a weapon more powerful thananything they had used before.
A weapon which would strike well beyond the Russian frontlines – and even impact the cities beyond.
Indeed, he believed the weapon to be so powerful, it mighteven break up Russian society and destroy its will to fight.
By Simon SilvesterExecutive Planning Director, Y&R [email protected]
For new business enquiries, please contact:Marcus [email protected] tel:+44 20 7611 6890
For press enquiries, please contact:Bernard [email protected] tel:+44 20 7611 6425
The emailable version of this document is at www.emea.yr.com/catalytic.pdf
THE CATALYTIC IDEA
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 2
By 1917, the German army had been fighting the Russiansfor three long years.
They had tried artillery, infantry attacks and cavalry charges.
A million of their soldiers had died.
But the war remained a stalemate.
The German leadership was in despair.
A new weaponThen one of their number made a suggestion.
He told his superiors of a weapon more powerful thananything they had used before.
A weapon which would strike well beyond the Russian frontlines – and even impact the cities beyond.
Indeed, he believed the weapon to be so powerful, it mighteven break up Russian society and destroy its will to fight.
By Simon SilvesterExecutive Planning Director, Y&R [email protected]
For new business enquiries, please contact:Marcus [email protected] tel:+44 20 7611 6890
For press enquiries, please contact:Bernard [email protected] tel:+44 20 7611 6425
The emailable version of this document is at www.emea.yr.com/catalytic.pdf
THE CATALYTIC IDEA
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 2
Within months two million Russian soldiers had desertedtheir trenches.
And the Tsar’s war machine had ground to a halt.
Meanwhile, the idea spread in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Itsparked civil disruption and riots.
By November Russian society was in chaos. And then thegovernment fell.
Within weeks a new revolutionary government formed in St.Petersburg and asked Germany for peace.
The war between Germany and Russia ended.
And the idea – communism – and the man on the train -Vladimir Illych Lenin – entered history.
Catalytic ideas in marketingThe power of catalytic ideas - ideas that provoke actionrather than just thought - goes beyond politics and war.
Indeed catalytic ideas lie at the heart of most of the changesin consumer habits of our recent past.
Few people bothered with deodorants until theirmanufacturers introduced the catalytic idea that not usingthem was why many consumers couldn’t get a date.
What was its nature?The weapon was not a tank, nor a missile, nor a bomb.
It was an idea.
An idea that would cause people to think new things and actin new ways.
A catalytic idea.
Launching the catalytic ideaThe idea was held within the mind of a Russian exile livingin Germany.
So they invited the exile to Berlin and met with him.
Then they put him on a train and sent the train toRussia*.
Upon his arrival, the man started to spread the idea.
People listened to it, thought about it and became agitated.
And then they started to spread the idea themselves.
A few months laterIn the summer, the idea reached the Russian front lines.
The greatestmilitarysecrets ofhistory werenot bombs, norrockets, butideas.
* In his ‘History of the First World War’, Winston Churchill was later to describe theGerman plot involving the man on the train as ‘the most grisly of all weapons.’
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 2
Within months two million Russian soldiers had desertedtheir trenches.
And the Tsar’s war machine had ground to a halt.
Meanwhile, the idea spread in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Itsparked civil disruption and riots.
By November Russian society was in chaos. And then thegovernment fell.
Within weeks a new revolutionary government formed in St.Petersburg and asked Germany for peace.
The war between Germany and Russia ended.
And the idea – communism – and the man on the train -Vladimir Illych Lenin – entered history.
Catalytic ideas in marketingThe power of catalytic ideas - ideas that provoke actionrather than just thought - goes beyond politics and war.
Indeed catalytic ideas lie at the heart of most of the changesin consumer habits of our recent past.
Few people bothered with deodorants until theirmanufacturers introduced the catalytic idea that not usingthem was why many consumers couldn’t get a date.
What was its nature?The weapon was not a tank, nor a missile, nor a bomb.
It was an idea.
An idea that would cause people to think new things and actin new ways.
A catalytic idea.
Launching the catalytic ideaThe idea was held within the mind of a Russian exile livingin Germany.
So they invited the exile to Berlin and met with him.
Then they put him on a train and sent the train toRussia*.
Upon his arrival, the man started to spread the idea.
People listened to it, thought about it and became agitated.
And then they started to spread the idea themselves.
A few months laterIn the summer, the idea reached the Russian front lines.
The greatestmilitarysecrets ofhistory werenot bombs, norrockets, butideas.
* In his ‘History of the First World War’, Winston Churchill was later to describe theGerman plot involving the man on the train as ‘the most grisly of all weapons.’
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 2
And few people did anything about the smells that came outof their mouth, until Listerine introduced the idea of badbreath.
Brushing your teethMore recently, the rise of the electric toothbrush has beendriven by a catalytic idea:
The electric toothbrush has been available inmost countries since the 1950s. It has however,always been a niche product.
“It may be convenient, but I’m not that lazy”, wasmost people’s response to them.
“And this is the ultimate lazy man appliance.”
Then manufacturers introduced a catalytic idea –that whilst brushing would remove food, only an electrictoothbrush would remove plaque.
They put the idea into their marketing communications.
They put it on their packaging.
And they got the medical profession on their side.
The result? Consumers stopped thinking about electrictoothbrushes as labor-saving devices.
What, if not ideas, causes twenty-first century mankind topay more for water than for gasoline?
“We inventedplaque.”
MARKETING DIRECTOR,MULTINATIONAL
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 4
And few people did anything about the smells that came outof their mouth, until Listerine introduced the idea of badbreath.
Brushing your teethMore recently, the rise of the electric toothbrush has beendriven by a catalytic idea:
The electric toothbrush has been available inmost countries since the 1950s. It has however,always been a niche product.
“It may be convenient, but I’m not that lazy”, wasmost people’s response to them.
“And this is the ultimate lazy man appliance.”
Then manufacturers introduced a catalytic idea –that whilst brushing would remove food, only an electrictoothbrush would remove plaque.
They put the idea into their marketing communications.
They put it on their packaging.
And they got the medical profession on their side.
The result? Consumers stopped thinking about electrictoothbrushes as labor-saving devices.
What, if not ideas, causes twenty-first century mankind topay more for water than for gasoline?
“We inventedplaque.”
MARKETING DIRECTOR,MULTINATIONAL
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 4
Catalytic ideasneeded: Cell
phone networkservice providers
today face aproblem of
declining revenuesper user. They
hoped that cameraphones would
change things.But they forgot
that cameraphones are just a
technology. Andthey need catalytic
ideas to makethem work.
And started to think of their healthcare benefits.
And as they did so, electric toothbrushes became theeveryday household items they are today.
Similarly with cell phonesMost people in the cell phone industry think it was technologythat built their companies.
But it wasn’t.
It was a catalytic idea.
Before the launch of cell phones, there was little evidencethat they would be useful for anyone other than businesspeople. 94% of phone calls were made from the home oroffice. Call boxes were only used frequently by the small partof the population in most countries who didn’t have a landline
at home.
Ask ordinary consumers atthe time what they thoughtof cell phones and theywould tell you that they werejust “posing devices forbusinessmen”.
Why cell phones weren’treally necessaryPhone call volume by origin of call,1986/7:
Home 48%Office 46%Payphone 5%
Base: OECD average Source: IMIU
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 6
Catalytic ideasneeded: Cell
phone networkservice providers
today face aproblem of
declining revenuesper user. They
hoped that cameraphones would
change things.But they forgot
that cameraphones are just a
technology. Andthey need catalytic
ideas to makethem work.
And started to think of their healthcare benefits.
And as they did so, electric toothbrushes became theeveryday household items they are today.
Similarly with cell phonesMost people in the cell phone industry think it was technologythat built their companies.
But it wasn’t.
It was a catalytic idea.
Before the launch of cell phones, there was little evidencethat they would be useful for anyone other than businesspeople. 94% of phone calls were made from the home oroffice. Call boxes were only used frequently by the small partof the population in most countries who didn’t have a landline
at home.
Ask ordinary consumers atthe time what they thoughtof cell phones and theywould tell you that they werejust “posing devices forbusinessmen”.
Why cell phones weren’treally necessaryPhone call volume by origin of call,1986/7:
Home 48%Office 46%Payphone 5%
Base: OECD average Source: IMIU
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 6
It’s this idea that drives people to use their phonesfrequently.
And it’s this idea that makes cell phone network serviceproviders profitable.
Do catalytic ideas happen of their own accord?You may think that catalytic ideas follow inevitably fromsocial change and the introduction of new technology.
But the reality is more complex than that.
Talk to any mobile service provider in the world and they willtell you that only a proportion of their customers are infectedwith the idea of ‘constant contact’.
And what separates the successful network service providerof today from the rest is not their technology, nor their areacoverage.
It is their skill in recruiting and infecting their customers withthe ‘constant contact’ idea.
Are catalytic ideas new?“We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but thepotentiality of growing rich, beyond the dreams of avarice”,
To the ordinary consumer, cell phones simply weren’tnecessary.
Today though, things have changed.
A catalytic idea of constant contact has spread:
• Today, young adults maintain constant contact with theirsocial circle via their cell phone.
• Contact between young couples is especially intense: menwho don’t return their girlfriend’s hourly texts don’t
get to stay over.
• Firm arrangements are no longer madedays in advance. Young adults plan their sociallives by phone and text as their day and eveningprogresses.
• Indeed, use of the cell phone has becomeso automatic to young people that even when at
home, many no longer bother to use landlines anymore.
So many Brits use cell phones all the timenowadays that British Telecom is trying to
encourage Brits back to their payphoneswith an onscreen video game aboutsheep herding.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 8
It’s this idea that drives people to use their phonesfrequently.
And it’s this idea that makes cell phone network serviceproviders profitable.
Do catalytic ideas happen of their own accord?You may think that catalytic ideas follow inevitably fromsocial change and the introduction of new technology.
But the reality is more complex than that.
Talk to any mobile service provider in the world and they willtell you that only a proportion of their customers are infectedwith the idea of ‘constant contact’.
And what separates the successful network service providerof today from the rest is not their technology, nor their areacoverage.
It is their skill in recruiting and infecting their customers withthe ‘constant contact’ idea.
Are catalytic ideas new?“We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but thepotentiality of growing rich, beyond the dreams of avarice”,
To the ordinary consumer, cell phones simply weren’tnecessary.
Today though, things have changed.
A catalytic idea of constant contact has spread:
• Today, young adults maintain constant contact with theirsocial circle via their cell phone.
• Contact between young couples is especially intense: menwho don’t return their girlfriend’s hourly texts don’t
get to stay over.
• Firm arrangements are no longer madedays in advance. Young adults plan their sociallives by phone and text as their day and eveningprogresses.
• Indeed, use of the cell phone has becomeso automatic to young people that even when at
home, many no longer bother to use landlines anymore.
So many Brits use cell phones all the timenowadays that British Telecom is trying to
encourage Brits back to their payphoneswith an onscreen video game aboutsheep herding.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 8
A long time ago, California’s orange growers were in financial trouble - untilthey introduced a catalytic idea: that instead of eating oranges, Americanscould squeeze juice out of them and drink what they named ‘orange juice’ forbreakfast. The campaign line: ‘Drink An Orange.’
said Samuel Johnston when tasked with selling the contentsof a London brewery in 1781.
Catalytic ideas have been the driving force behind enterprisesince the dawn of civilization.
Do they have limits?Estée Lauder set out in 1948 to build a cosmetics empirebased not on pots of cream, but on a catalytic idea of ‘eternalyouth.’
Her path took her to over 45% of the US cosmetics market.
Are they advertising ideas?No.
Catalytic ideas live in the consumer mind and in theconsciousness of society, not just in the words of a TVcommercial or press ad.
They can be spread by any and all marketing activity - via PR,via direct marketing, via advertising or indeed via word ofmouth.
They are thus ideas before advertising.
And ideas beyond advertising.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 10
A long time ago, California’s orange growers were in financial trouble - untilthey introduced a catalytic idea: that instead of eating oranges, Americanscould squeeze juice out of them and drink what they named ‘orange juice’ forbreakfast. The campaign line: ‘Drink An Orange.’
said Samuel Johnston when tasked with selling the contentsof a London brewery in 1781.
Catalytic ideas have been the driving force behind enterprisesince the dawn of civilization.
Do they have limits?Estée Lauder set out in 1948 to build a cosmetics empirebased not on pots of cream, but on a catalytic idea of ‘eternalyouth.’
Her path took her to over 45% of the US cosmetics market.
Are they advertising ideas?No.
Catalytic ideas live in the consumer mind and in theconsciousness of society, not just in the words of a TVcommercial or press ad.
They can be spread by any and all marketing activity - via PR,via direct marketing, via advertising or indeed via word ofmouth.
They are thus ideas before advertising.
And ideas beyond advertising.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 10
People used to kiss with their eyes open until they saw Hollywood starsclose theirs in the 1930s. Today, most of our intimate habits are the resultof catalytic ideas from mankind’s recent past.
Can they work in mature markets?In 1920, Wall Street regarded cola as a mature market, andtreated Coca-Cola stock as unattractive. Then Cokeintroduced two catalytic ideas:
• “Thirst Knows No Season” – with which they persuaded1920s America that Coke wasn’t just a refreshing summerdrink, it tasted good all year round.
• “The pause that refreshes” with which they persuaded anew generation of 1930s office workers that Coke wasn’tjust for leisure time and that they should take a break fromtyping and refresh themselves with a Coke in their officetoo.*
Each campaign caused Americans to drink substantially moreCoke.
Each campaign impacted the Coca-Cola stock pricedramatically.
And each campaign proved that there are no mature markets.There are just companies that have run out of catalytic ideas.
* Don’t think these are ideas? That’s because once a catalytic idea’s time haspassed, it looks blindingly obvious.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 12
People used to kiss with their eyes open until they saw Hollywood starsclose theirs in the 1930s. Today, most of our intimate habits are the resultof catalytic ideas from mankind’s recent past.
Can they work in mature markets?In 1920, Wall Street regarded cola as a mature market, andtreated Coca-Cola stock as unattractive. Then Cokeintroduced two catalytic ideas:
• “Thirst Knows No Season” – with which they persuaded1920s America that Coke wasn’t just a refreshing summerdrink, it tasted good all year round.
• “The pause that refreshes” with which they persuaded anew generation of 1930s office workers that Coke wasn’tjust for leisure time and that they should take a break fromtyping and refresh themselves with a Coke in their officetoo.*
Each campaign caused Americans to drink substantially moreCoke.
Each campaign impacted the Coca-Cola stock pricedramatically.
And each campaign proved that there are no mature markets.There are just companies that have run out of catalytic ideas.
* Don’t think these are ideas? That’s because once a catalytic idea’s time haspassed, it looks blindingly obvious.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 12
You too need a catalytic idea Catalytic ideas have been the quarry of politicians, generalsand leaders for centuries.
They are what Victor Hugo was speaking of when he said,“No army in the world is as strong as an idea whose time hascome.”
Catalytic ideas can build business empires, reinvigoratemarkets and stun stockholders.
They are the holy grail of marketing.When Monsieur Hugo spoke ofideas defeating armies, he wasn’ttalking about all ideas
The scene is an advertising agency.
The agency is being briefed by a financial services companyabout a campaign for their credit card.
“Our card,” says the client “allows consumers to pay for theirpurchases now or later; it offers a range of interest rateoptions and repayment schemes. It can be used online and byphone as well as in shops. In a nutshell, our card is aboutflexibility.”
“Flexibility” thinks the agency’s planner. “That’s a nice, single-minded concept. That can be our selling proposition.”
UNFORTUNATELY NOT ALL IDEAS ARECATALYTIC
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 14
You too need a catalytic idea Catalytic ideas have been the quarry of politicians, generalsand leaders for centuries.
They are what Victor Hugo was speaking of when he said,“No army in the world is as strong as an idea whose time hascome.”
Catalytic ideas can build business empires, reinvigoratemarkets and stun stockholders.
They are the holy grail of marketing.When Monsieur Hugo spoke ofideas defeating armies, he wasn’ttalking about all ideas
The scene is an advertising agency.
The agency is being briefed by a financial services companyabout a campaign for their credit card.
“Our card,” says the client “allows consumers to pay for theirpurchases now or later; it offers a range of interest rateoptions and repayment schemes. It can be used online and byphone as well as in shops. In a nutshell, our card is aboutflexibility.”
“Flexibility” thinks the agency’s planner. “That’s a nice, single-minded concept. That can be our selling proposition.”
UNFORTUNATELY NOT ALL IDEAS ARECATALYTIC
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 14
That afternoon he briefs a creative team.
* * *
A few weeks later the agency presents the campaign. It’s aseries of TV commercials where people bend and curve usingstate-of-the-art computer graphics.
“The flexible way to pay” says a male voice over at the end.
“That certainly seems to express our flexibility strategy” saysthe client. “Let’s put it into research.”
* * *
A week later, the focus groups confirm that the ‘flexible’message is clearly communicated. These results are thenbacked up by quantitative pre-testing research.
The campaign runs.
* * *
Six months later, the tracking comes in. In the results, ‘flexible’keeps on coming up.
The campaign is judged a success.
* * *
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF IDEA
THE ISOLIC IDEA
Response:“What a great idea!”
THE CATALYTIC IDEA
Response:“I must act!”
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 16
That afternoon he briefs a creative team.
* * *
A few weeks later the agency presents the campaign. It’s aseries of TV commercials where people bend and curve usingstate-of-the-art computer graphics.
“The flexible way to pay” says a male voice over at the end.
“That certainly seems to express our flexibility strategy” saysthe client. “Let’s put it into research.”
* * *
A week later, the focus groups confirm that the ‘flexible’message is clearly communicated. These results are thenbacked up by quantitative pre-testing research.
The campaign runs.
* * *
Six months later, the tracking comes in. In the results, ‘flexible’keeps on coming up.
The campaign is judged a success.
* * *
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF IDEA
THE ISOLIC IDEA
Response:“What a great idea!”
THE CATALYTIC IDEA
Response:“I must act!”
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 16
Ads like this are produced by advertising agencies all thetime.
The reaction to them, if the computer graphics are really,really good, is “What a great idea!”
But they result in precious little action.
They are what are called isolic ideas.
Isolic ideasIsolic ideas raise a laugh; they get day-after recall;perhaps they raise top-of-mind brand awareness fora while.
But they do nothing more than that.
Specifically, they do not affect the two qualities of a thing thatmake consumers think new thoughts and then act in newways:
• They do not affect the ability of a thing to stand out and getconsumers to notice it and think about it. In marketingtextbooks this quality is called differentiation.
• They do not affect the ability of a thing to connect into theconsumer’s everyday life and make it feel useful to them.Marketing textbooks call this quality relevance.
Buy yourself apair ofintellectuallooking specs,and you too canbe a planner
Y&R’s advertising for Danone’s Actimel shows a protective bubble aroundpeople who drink an Actimel first thing every morning. The result: highdifferentiation, growing relevance and over 32,000,000 users in Europe.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 18
Ads like this are produced by advertising agencies all thetime.
The reaction to them, if the computer graphics are really,really good, is “What a great idea!”
But they result in precious little action.
They are what are called isolic ideas.
Isolic ideasIsolic ideas raise a laugh; they get day-after recall;perhaps they raise top-of-mind brand awareness fora while.
But they do nothing more than that.
Specifically, they do not affect the two qualities of a thing thatmake consumers think new thoughts and then act in newways:
• They do not affect the ability of a thing to stand out and getconsumers to notice it and think about it. In marketingtextbooks this quality is called differentiation.
• They do not affect the ability of a thing to connect into theconsumer’s everyday life and make it feel useful to them.Marketing textbooks call this quality relevance.
Buy yourself apair ofintellectuallooking specs,and you too canbe a planner
Y&R’s advertising for Danone’s Actimel shows a protective bubble aroundpeople who drink an Actimel first thing every morning. The result: highdifferentiation, growing relevance and over 32,000,000 users in Europe.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 18
Catalytic ideas drive differentiation and relevance.
Isolic ideas do not.
When Lord Leverhulme said in the nineteenth century that“half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don’t knowwhich half”, the part he was complaining about was the partwhich his advertising agencies had put behind isolic ideas.
And incidentally, for most advertisers today the proportion is alot more than half.
Telecom Italia wanted to catalyze use of their powerful newcommunications technologies. So Y&R asked their customers to imaginethe consequences if, back in the 1930s, Gandhi had used them to spread hismessage of peace across the entire world.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 20
Catalytic ideas drive differentiation and relevance.
Isolic ideas do not.
When Lord Leverhulme said in the nineteenth century that“half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don’t knowwhich half”, the part he was complaining about was the partwhich his advertising agencies had put behind isolic ideas.
And incidentally, for most advertisers today the proportion is alot more than half.
Telecom Italia wanted to catalyze use of their powerful newcommunications technologies. So Y&R asked their customers to imaginethe consequences if, back in the 1930s, Gandhi had used them to spread hismessage of peace across the entire world.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 20
THE CATALYTIC IDEA
MARKETPLACE
Isolic ideas have few real roots – as a copywriter put it to us,they ‘just sort of come into your head’.
Catalytic ideas on the other hand, are rooted in the threeareas they challenge: the marketplace, the consumer mindand in the brand which communicates them.
Therefore, whilst isolic ideas need no formal mechanism tocreate them, catalytic ideas need three complementaryprocesses to develop them.
All at the same time, you need to:
1. Interrogate the brand.
2. Probe and understand the consumer mind.
3. Explore the marketplace and work out a way ofchallenging its conventions.
Then you need to find an inspired combination of your threelines of thought.
CATALYTIC IDEAS ARE HARD TO MAKE
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 22
THE CATALYTIC IDEA
MARKETPLACE
Isolic ideas have few real roots – as a copywriter put it to us,they ‘just sort of come into your head’.
Catalytic ideas on the other hand, are rooted in the threeareas they challenge: the marketplace, the consumer mindand in the brand which communicates them.
Therefore, whilst isolic ideas need no formal mechanism tocreate them, catalytic ideas need three complementaryprocesses to develop them.
All at the same time, you need to:
1. Interrogate the brand.
2. Probe and understand the consumer mind.
3. Explore the marketplace and work out a way ofchallenging its conventions.
Then you need to find an inspired combination of your threelines of thought.
CATALYTIC IDEAS ARE HARD TO MAKE
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 22
It’s a tortuous process.
And we’d be the first to admit that we ourselves don’t find iteasy.
But as Orson Wells put it in The Third Man:
“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare,terror, murder and bloodshed but they producedMichelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. InSwitzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundredyears of democracy and peace and what did that produce?The cuckoo clock.”
Spotting the catalytic idea that emergesIt’s easy to spot an isolic idea.
If you think “That’s a good idea”, it’s likely that you are lookingat a good isolic idea.
You like it.
You enjoy it.
But your actions do not change.
It’s much more difficult to spot a catalytic idea.
Promises of smiley stewardesses aren’t enough to make young peoplethrow in their jobs and take a flight to the other side of the world. ThisRKCR/Y&R commercial for Virgin Atlantic leaves them with a much morecatalytic thought: When your life flashes before you, make sure there’splenty to watch.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 24
It’s a tortuous process.
And we’d be the first to admit that we ourselves don’t find iteasy.
But as Orson Wells put it in The Third Man:
“In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare,terror, murder and bloodshed but they producedMichelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. InSwitzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundredyears of democracy and peace and what did that produce?The cuckoo clock.”
Spotting the catalytic idea that emergesIt’s easy to spot an isolic idea.
If you think “That’s a good idea”, it’s likely that you are lookingat a good isolic idea.
You like it.
You enjoy it.
But your actions do not change.
It’s much more difficult to spot a catalytic idea.
Promises of smiley stewardesses aren’t enough to make young peoplethrow in their jobs and take a flight to the other side of the world. ThisRKCR/Y&R commercial for Virgin Atlantic leaves them with a much morecatalytic thought: When your life flashes before you, make sure there’splenty to watch.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 24
INTERROGATETHE BRAND
UNDERSTANDTHE CONSUMER
CHALLENGETHE MARKET
DEVELOPING A CATALYTIC IDEA INVOLVESTHREE COMPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
Developing a catalytic idea isn’t easy because theprocess isn’t linear.
Before their time, catalytic ideas take the shape of disturbingfeelings, or unpleasant thoughts, or they feel just plainuncomfortable:
When the first Walkmans appeared in1979, they came as a shock to thegeneration who had been brought up onghetto blasters, thinking that music wasalways an experience to be shared. Asthey watched the first Walkman ownerssilently shake their bodies, many thoughtthey were mentally unbalanced.
Only once catalytic ideas become accepted by a goodproportion of society do they start to feel comfortable:
In most countries, the idea of drinking coffee cold withcrushed ice is seen as fashionably refreshing. But that’sbecause fashionable people refresh themselves with thestuff. Before they did so, the idea of drinking coffee coldover ice was seen by most people as just plain weird.
And then once they become accepted by everyone, theyagain become difficult to spot:
Today, we think that one-to-one communication is theobvious use of the telephone. But it didn’t start off that way.Many early telephone entrepreneurs thought they would
“All great truthsbegin as
blasphemies.”GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 26
INTERROGATETHE BRAND
UNDERSTANDTHE CONSUMER
CHALLENGETHE MARKET
DEVELOPING A CATALYTIC IDEA INVOLVESTHREE COMPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
Developing a catalytic idea isn’t easy because theprocess isn’t linear.
Before their time, catalytic ideas take the shape of disturbingfeelings, or unpleasant thoughts, or they feel just plainuncomfortable:
When the first Walkmans appeared in1979, they came as a shock to thegeneration who had been brought up onghetto blasters, thinking that music wasalways an experience to be shared. Asthey watched the first Walkman ownerssilently shake their bodies, many thoughtthey were mentally unbalanced.
Only once catalytic ideas become accepted by a goodproportion of society do they start to feel comfortable:
In most countries, the idea of drinking coffee cold withcrushed ice is seen as fashionably refreshing. But that’sbecause fashionable people refresh themselves with thestuff. Before they did so, the idea of drinking coffee coldover ice was seen by most people as just plain weird.
And then once they become accepted by everyone, theyagain become difficult to spot:
Today, we think that one-to-one communication is theobvious use of the telephone. But it didn’t start off that way.Many early telephone entrepreneurs thought they would
“All great truthsbegin as
blasphemies.”GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 26
Catalytic ideas are fragile. They need to be handled like eggs.
make their fortunes not by selling phone calls, but bybroadcasting orchestral concerts down phone lines t opeople who couldn’t make it to the theater.
This means they’re fragileFor a catalytic idea to be useful, it has to be conceived,developed, produced and bought before anyone gets thechance to become comfortable with it.
This makes catalytic ideas difficult to identify and define, andthey therefore need to be handled with care.
These are some questions that help identify one:
• Does it make you see the brand, product or market in acompletely new light?
• Does it challenge the way that people do things at themoment?
• Will it cause discomfort to competitors?
In short, rather than ask yourself ‘Is this a good idea?’, youshould ask yourself of a catalytic idea, ‘Is this a thought whichsomehow disturbs, scares, or worries me?’
In short, you shouldn’t be looking for something that looks likean idea at all.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 28
Catalytic ideas are fragile. They need to be handled like eggs.
make their fortunes not by selling phone calls, but bybroadcasting orchestral concerts down phone lines t opeople who couldn’t make it to the theater.
This means they’re fragileFor a catalytic idea to be useful, it has to be conceived,developed, produced and bought before anyone gets thechance to become comfortable with it.
This makes catalytic ideas difficult to identify and define, andthey therefore need to be handled with care.
These are some questions that help identify one:
• Does it make you see the brand, product or market in acompletely new light?
• Does it challenge the way that people do things at themoment?
• Will it cause discomfort to competitors?
In short, rather than ask yourself ‘Is this a good idea?’, youshould ask yourself of a catalytic idea, ‘Is this a thought whichsomehow disturbs, scares, or worries me?’
In short, you shouldn’t be looking for something that looks likean idea at all.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 28
Some advertising agency networks promise their clientslowest cost coordination across markets.
But if minimizing the cost of your marketing is your primarygoal, your most logical solution is not to squeeze yourmarketing development process to the bone.
It is not to spend money on marketing at all.
Other agency networks make promises in the area of whatthey call ‘creativity’.
But media rates are today much higher when the principlesof creative advertising were first laid down in the 1960s.
And few marketers today can afford the levels of repetitionneeded to make creativity work - however witty theiragency’s idea.
Today, only with a catalytic idea welded firmly to it can abrand enter mankind’s imagination.
OBTAINING A CATALYTIC IDEA
With over 50 brands of SUV on the market nowadays, the Land Rover brandrisked oblivion. This RKCR/Y&R campaign keeps it differentiated as theoriginal, authentic best.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 30
Some advertising agency networks promise their clientslowest cost coordination across markets.
But if minimizing the cost of your marketing is your primarygoal, your most logical solution is not to squeeze yourmarketing development process to the bone.
It is not to spend money on marketing at all.
Other agency networks make promises in the area of whatthey call ‘creativity’.
But media rates are today much higher when the principlesof creative advertising were first laid down in the 1960s.
And few marketers today can afford the levels of repetitionneeded to make creativity work - however witty theiragency’s idea.
Today, only with a catalytic idea welded firmly to it can abrand enter mankind’s imagination.
OBTAINING A CATALYTIC IDEA
With over 50 brands of SUV on the market nowadays, the Land Rover brandrisked oblivion. This RKCR/Y&R campaign keeps it differentiated as theoriginal, authentic best.
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 30
Only with a catalytic idea welded firmly to it can a branddeliver its stockholders the returns they dream of.
Young & Rubicam is dedicated to the creation of powerful,market wrenching catalytic ideas.
Marketers who seek to change consumer habits rather thanmerely to spend a budget should seek nothing less from theiragency.
The emailable version of this booklet is at emea.yr.com/catalytic.pdfTo watch the TV commercials featured in this booklet, open the emailableversion and click on the relevant images.
There are more Y&R booklets to download at emea.yr.com
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 32
Only with a catalytic idea welded firmly to it can a branddeliver its stockholders the returns they dream of.
Young & Rubicam is dedicated to the creation of powerful,market wrenching catalytic ideas.
Marketers who seek to change consumer habits rather thanmerely to spend a budget should seek nothing less from theiragency.
The emailable version of this booklet is at emea.yr.com/catalytic.pdfTo watch the TV commercials featured in this booklet, open the emailableversion and click on the relevant images.
There are more Y&R booklets to download at emea.yr.com
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 32
TCI Final 2.0 17/11/05 17:17 Page 1
