Don’t take risks
In both advertising and design, the riskiest concept for a brand isn’t the one that scares you. The riskiest concept is not the one that might get angry letters in your email. The riskiest concept is not the one that you think might get you in the headlines.
The riskiest concept is in reality the one that feels the safest and most familiar.
Again, for the people in the back, the riskiest concept is the one that feels the safest and the most familiar.
The riskiest concept on the table is the that fits in with what everyone else is doing. The one that doesn’t rock the boat. Because the risk is much greater with those “safe” ideas that they won’t help you get noticed or stand out from the crowd. When you buy the “safe” direction, your money is at the highest risk of not moving the needle for you. Rather than putting your money into forcing your brand to stand out.
Being risky doesn’t have to be all pink mohawks, cursing, and face piercings, either. It can just be an unconventional perspective. Saying the opposite of what the others are. Take, for example, the Citi Live Richly campaign. Rather than touting a new low interest APR, or saying how they’re faster, better, at getting you more money, this bank said that money isn’t everything. Yes, a bank. An institution solely built around money. Said that money isn’t how you live a rich life. The exact opposite message of what their competitors were saying. Now that’s how you get attention. How you get people to love your brand. And it’s how you spend your budget wisely. Doesn’t sound so risky now, does it?
Your brand needs to stand out to survive. You need to spend money on what will garner it the most attention. It’s the safest thing you can do. Especially in today’s world where attention is a war being endlessly fought between millions of brands, social media accounts, content creators, meme accounts, family, friends, jobs, etc.
The biggest risk you can take with your brand’s money is going with what feels like the smallest risk.
There’s probably no better modern example of what feels risky as actually being safe than Liquid Death.