Swimming upstream

One of the things I'm working on is a way to change the paradigm in our business that calls for us to give away what's most valuable in order to earn compensation for what is, I believe, becoming increasingly commoditized.

Allow me to be specific. Typically, we - and companies such as ours - are asked to develop ideas that address specific (and sometimes not so specific) marketing problems. We crank up the inspiration engine, conceptualize and hope to sell the implementation of the idea that has value.

The idea is what's most valuable. It is a concept that, according to Encarta, exists in the mind only. The idea is what's being "bought," but what a customer is "paying for" is most often the implementation or execution of advertising, collateral and the like.

We at BURRIS are striving to establish a value for the idea. We can and will continue to offer to implement an action plan for the idea, but we're working to make that a separate transaction.

I know. We're swimming upstream on this. But I believe that's where the value is.