Use A Catch Phrase

by Randy Christensen - originally printed in the Laugh*Makers Journal (1999)

Definition: “Catch Phrase” - noun - a statement or phrase that uses a minimum of words to help the recipients remember the shared facts or concepts.

Using a “catch phrase” in your programming will help your audience to remember the lessons you’ve talked about. The phrase is a memory hook used to retrieve the shared information.

This catch phrase may be motivational or inspirational. Consider the number of advertising catch phrases. “I wanna be like Mike,” Frosted Flakes’ “It’s Grrrreat!”, and Nike’s “Just Do It” come to mind. “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”

A catch phrase may be used to teach specific information. Examples: “Stop, drop and roll,” “Recycle, Reuse, Reduce,” “Stranger Danger,” and for crossing the street “Stop, Look, Listen.”

Of course, we’ve heard numerous uses of catch phrases in comedy. Remember Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?”, Bugs Bunny’s “Ehhhh, what’s up doc?”, and “Bud - wise - errrrr.”

A specific phrase may be used as a running gag in a show. As I exit the platform after a clown skit, I always stop and say to the emcee, “If you need me, I’ll be right back here,” pointing to the side wing. By the end of the program when I say, “If you need me,...” the audience yells the conclusion of the sentence. It brings laughs. They know what’s coming and they join in.

By remembering these phrases, the audience’s memory is triggered. Now they may remember and reconsider the rest of the presentation. The catch phrase helps them recapture the things they saw, heard, and experienced.

Select a key phrase that you may use throughout your programming. Often that phrase is my theme for the entire program. The tricks, skits, songs and routines I use are illustrations that expand on or work as analogies for that theme.

In church services, a specific scripture verse may be your key phrase. Mark 12:31 “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is a fine example. You won’t be able to use that scripture as a catch phrase in school assemblies, but you may still use the same message with a slight twist. Simply put it in modern English and leave off the scripture reference. You may not be able to say, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” but you may say, “Treat others how you want to be treated.” James 1:22 says, “Be doers of the word, not hearers only.” In a non-church setting you may use, “Do what you’ve heard.” “Thou shalt not covet,” may become, “Be happy with what you’ve got.”

Repetition is a memory key. State the phrase at the beginning of your program. Say it again between segments. Let the catch phrase be the magic words to make the trick happen. Have the children say the phrase with you two or three times in a row. Towards the end of the program you’ll start the phrase, and the children will be able to complete it. At the wrap up of your program end with saying, “Thanks for letting me come today to be with you. I’m (your name) and don’t forget...” then say the catch phrase one more time.

A catch phrase helps an audience retain and remember the theme of a program. Then when someone asks an audience member, “What was the show about?”he will not respond by saying, “I don’t know.” Catch phrases help produce a long lasting memory. Ready? “Just Do It!”