Let's talk about money for a change.

I don't want to shout it from the rooftops, but my local butcher shop almost always has domestic, unfrozen "pork cartilage" in stock. It's 100 yen per 100 grams. Even buying a whole kilo only costs 1000 yen. It takes a bit of effort, but the flavor is guaranteed.

When I say it's a bit of a hassle, I just mean you need to parboil it once to render the fat. After that, you can simmer it in miso, brown sugar, and sweet potato shochu like a Kagoshima specialty, or my recent favorite: meat sauce. Use it instead of ground meat, simmer it for 4-5 hours, and the gelatin from the cartilage creates a delicious, springy ragù.

Come to think of it, author Hiroyuki Agawa often enjoyed tongue stew using "beef tongue" during his post-war poverty days when nobody gave it a second glance. But I live each day nervously wondering when the world will discover the charm of pork cartilage and drive up the price.

Now, today's theme is "money."

I'm not very comfortable with this kind of topic, and even in over 100 columns, I've hardly ever touched on it. Long ago in China, people were so reluctant to speak directly about money that they used euphemisms like "those things" (阿堵物). Perhaps this mindset persists in Japan, where a monetary economy took longer to take root. The Meiji-era archaeologist Kiyoyuki Higuchi once grumbled, "When entertainers, cultural figures, or scholars assess their own worth and propose a fee, they risk being labeled as money-grubbers."

That said, money is unavoidable in business. Even Harvard's design school thoroughly discusses "money" ( https://dentsu-ho.com/articles/5474 ).

Therefore, I'd like to share my personal thoughts on the compensation structure for the business of "selling ideas" outside the realm of advertising communication—an area advertising agencies must increasingly tackle proactively.

To get straight to the point: "We should actively consider performance-based incentives (such as revenue sharing)."

The product "idea" is inherently tricky. For instance, when buying or selling "fruit," you can evaluate the product and set a price based on various accumulated objective metrics like origin, producer, variety, or sugar content. But an "idea" points to a new path no one has walked before. While you can spot a poor-quality product, no one can promise "this will definitely work."

Furthermore, ideas possess the nature of not being "finished once created," but rather "created, then refined through trial and error to improve quality, eventually reaching a breakthrough at a certain point."

For instance, if we only have a fixed-term "fee contract," it's easy to understand why questions arise like, "Why should only the buyer bear the risk until the idea is fully developed?" or "Where does the seller's responsibility lie?"

This is where a "performance-based compensation system" comes in. Only then does the relationship between idea seller and buyer dissolve, forming a single, equal team. Members can truly "be in the same boat."

Of course, I cannot agree with discussions about introducing incentives solely to "drive down the price of ideas." If the seller also takes on a certain level of risk, it is only natural for them to seek a fair share of the profits when results are achieved. While there are various practical challenges in reality, I myself practice this "selling ideas" business model, centered on this approach, in the realm of new product and new business development.

This incentive system also has a byproduct: even companies without massive development budgets can become business partners if there's a trust-based relationship that properly shares profits. In fact, I currently have multiple projects underway with companies that have never done advertising before.

Moving forward, if advertising agencies are to expand their business domains and cultivate this "selling ideas" business, this discussion is unavoidable. Still... money matters are just so complicated!

Please, help yourself!

 

This article reflects the author's personal opinions and is not related to any specific cases at Dentsu Inc.