Rory Sutherland

You know, is there an ad that says the same thing but in a more emotionally engaging way?

Is there an ad that says the same thing in a way that's funny?

Is there an ad that says this in a way people will remember or will act on?

So what is funny about being an advertising creative, you know, I spent 20 years of my life either in or managing those departments, is, you know, the rational solution is where you start.

He uses a springboard to something better.

There's a famous quote, you know, fascinatingly from Niels Bohr, who said, you're not thinking, you're merely being logical.

I think you'll know that.

He was an interesting guy, wasn't he?

In terms of his, because he also was the person who said the opposite of a good idea.

In boring physics, the opposite of a good idea is wrong.

But in high level physics, the opposite of a good idea might be another good idea.

I think there was an understanding then and the remuneration of agencies respected this because you were paid on commission.

So if you had a big idea and you came up with a campaign and the client spent millions running the campaign, you made money from that campaign for years after you'd conceived it.

So it was rather like having royalties on a book.

We didn't realize that at the time.

Then media independence came along, and so we had to be paid by the hour, like lawyers and management consultants, and we've never recovered because it's a catastrophic way to be paid.

And the reason it's a catastrophic way to be paid, my argument is that marketing is actually fat-tailed.

So is innovation.

R&D, pharmaceutical research, science.

In other words, 5% to 10% of what you do delivers perhaps 110% of the value.