The Story
If you haven't heard the story, it goes something like this:
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
OK, I'm guessing you knew that part.
However, it took him hundreds of attempts to land on the right combination of materials and fabrication to finally arrive at a practical, working lightbulb. The number tossed around was a nice round 1,000. The 1,000th try was the winner.
After unveiling his invention, he was asked by a reporter how it felt to fail 999 times before reaching that eureka moment. Edison snapped back with something like: "I didn't fail 999 times. I discovered 999 ways not to invent the lightbulb."
That Tom. He was a sharp one.
Good Ideas are the Enemy of Great Ones
Most use this little Edison anecdote as a springboard to talk about determination and perseverance. Good stuff, but I'm going to take it a different way.
Couldn't we say that Edison had 999 ideas for a lightbulb before Idea Number 1,000 sealed the deal? What if he'd stopped generating ideas at No. 999? Maybe Light Bulb No. 999 was "good enough." Maybe No. 437 lit up fine, but only for a few minutes. Maybe No. 138 glowed like gangbusters but was the size of a tractor tire. The point is, ol' Tommy Boy could have settled for any of the ho-hum ideas along the way and moved on to inventing something else. But he didn't. He waited for "it."
Is Your Team Idea-ed Out? Bring Us In.
If you are developing advertising for your product or service, it's easy to run with the perceived "best" from a handful of ideas to keep a project moving ahead and costs under control. But what are the real costs? Maybe another handful of ideas would have revealed not "a" concept, but "the" concept. The concept that will really move people.
At Captivation Capital, Inc., we believe that for every brand, every product, every ad-related initiative there's that eureka concept, tagline, character, headline, campaign theme that will go well beyond simply filling ad space, but deeply connect with the intended audience. In fact, we believe that multiple lightbulb-worthy concepts can be generated. Why? Because we do it all the time. It's a bundle of objective-nailing, audience-enthralling ideas we call Captivation Capital®. We think you owe it to your next project, product launch, ad campaign to invest in some.
Don't stop at idea 999, or 99, or nine, for that matter. Give Captivation Capital a call at 616-355-2530, and let's light up your next big advertising project.
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