Bravery is a noun that gets used a lot in our world of brand and advertising. When the plaudits for rightly lauded work ripples through the industry, clients and creatives alike are praised for their boldness and bravery.
Burger King were brave to run mouldy whopper.
Nike were brave for spotlighting Colin Kaepernick at a time when, while taking a knee for what he believed in, he was a symbol for many of political divisiveness.
Aberdeen Asset Management are brave to de-vowel to ABRDN… well, let’s say the jury’s still out on that one.
It’s not to say that taking a creative risk doesn’t require courage and conviction. But bravery can feel a somewhat lofty expression for an industry whose fundamental purpose is helping corporations sell stuff.
Firemen are brave. Soldiers are brave. Doctors and nurses are brave.
And by bestowing such sentiment on great creative work can do a disservice to the astuteness of embracing and running with it. It takes a combination of courage and smarts to take such calculated risks when you’re putting your brand, and your reputation, on the line in the most public forums — often spending millions in media to do so.
Such ambition reflects a strong belief in the principles that make for effective marketing. Striving for distinctiveness. An appetite for brand fame. Commitment to a new and interesting idea.
Or, to coin a well-known agency motto, being determined to ‘zig when others zag’.
Sticking with Nike’s Kaepernick example. Nike knew there would inevitably be a negative reaction in some quarters to adding their influential voice to a politically divided culture. The cause is true to their values, of course — but (pleasingly) despite the steady ripple of video’s from a few ‘get woke, go broke’ numskulls burning their trainers in misguided protest, Nike’s resulting commercial performance was positive. In fact, they enjoyed a 31% sales spike during the period the ads first ran.
And as this analysis shows, despite spikes in social chatter of #BoycottNike, their share of search, including associated terms, enjoyed massive growth for the same period. Ironically, what negative response there were helped amplify the campaigns publicity.
There’s no telling whether Nike would have anticipated these kind of results. But it’s fair to assume that while their motives for such a pioneering ad were no doubt noble, it would have been backed up with eyes wide open of the potential commercial impact such a polarising creative move might have.
In short, courage taken to pioneer a new kind of brand activism. But smarts to recognise the resulting noise would inevitably do no harm to the brand.
We all want to produce great work that gets noticed. Something that makes us proud we were a part of it. Something we can show our Mom that might illicit a stronger response than a disinterested ‘Oooh… yea’.
But shouldn’t we retain a healthy grounding and perspective? Rather than challenging ourselves and our clients to be braver, should we not seek out and credit the smart ones? Those that recognise the indisputable evidence showing the difference that genuine creativity can make to effectiveness, and see advertising for what it is — a valuable opportunity to, for a fleeting moment, to get their brand talked about, make it culturally relevant and (in one way or another) occupy the minds of potential customers.
Compared to just bravery, that’s a more valuable a commodity in our industry.
