The Catalyst

Welcome to The Catalyst.

This is a blog dedicated to all things Marketing and Advertising, with a particular focus on the small to medium sized enterprise.

As with all things marketing, we do our best to clearly differentiate between when we are looking at measurable scientific elements and when we are looking at more emotive elements like messaging and positioning.

We hope our articles, reviews, work and thoughts can help you with your own marketing journey, whether you are a marketing manager, business owner or creative professional, hopefully we have some thing for you.

Latest Articles

  • Serve, Served, Serves You Right
    In a world still driven by consumption and served by entrepreneurs who, whether we like it or not, generally find ourselves practicing Friedman economics, where is the place for service?   Let’s consider Friedman a little bit more closely. The summation of his economic theory: “The main responsibility of a business is to maximise their… Read more: Serve, Served, Serves You Right
  • Y is a Crooked Letter
    As my Oom (Uncle) Geel used to say to us children when we pestered him with whys: “Because, Y is a crooked letter and you can’t make it straight.”   Similarly, having our own brand and business WHY, does not mean we have a straight line to everyone in the world with a similar Why.… Read more: Y is a Crooked Letter
  • Creating Futures – Good or Bad
    If we are dealing with a “Need” that the market is unaware of, are we creating a solution or are we adding to the problem?   Let us consider a product that is hazardous to the environment or to the general health of humanity. Maybe this product is the waste-product or by-product of some other… Read more: Creating Futures – Good or Bad
  • New Need, Old Need
    Continuing with our considerations around the Needs of the market, what sort of need are you catering too?   If it is an existing need that everyone is already aware of then it is highly likely that there are a lot of different options available to the market already. Staying ahead when the need is… Read more: New Need, Old Need
  • Need, Want or Both
    A product or service that fulfills a need is not necessarily an instant winner because the market doesn’t always recognise needs as important, exciting, or there is very little loyalty to brand when the need is immediate.   A product or service that only appeals to a want, but has no intrinsic value may win… Read more: Need, Want or Both