Does your agency have the courage to fail?

It’s all very well spouting West Coast mantras about ‘failing-fast’, but it takes bravery to get things wrong.

My cell biology degree course taught me three things: a lifetime’s worth of Simpsons quotes (do NOT get me started), ‘herbal’ cigarettes are not a career choice and scientific advances come from disproved theories.

And although I’m not denying the transformative power of ideas, perhaps that grounding in learning-through-failure is why eulogising ‘Creativity’ as the root of all progress leaves me cold.

In contrast, I’ve always warmed to the notion of ‘failing-fast’ – or rather, “learn-fast”. But if the answer is always creativity, that doesn’t leave much space for failure.

Why wrong doesn’t equal bad

With your incurable optimism and a prime directive to Be Creative, embracing failure just isn’t in most agencies’ DNA.

By way of example, long before programmatic, I worked at Omnicom’s Creative Technology network, Code Worldwide, automatically testing all manner of creative variants.

Learn what works, we said. Brilliant, said clients. But agencies weren’t always so keen, preferring not to know which half of the client’s budget was being wasted.

It’s the same when you lose pitches. Agencies only see two possible explanations: either it was a ‘bad’ idea or the client must be some kind of philistine, lacking courage or vision. No prizes for guessing which you prefer.

But clearly it’s not so black and white. A wrong idea isn’t necessarily a bad one. That’s not the world we live in.

Context matters

As Jonathan Bacon’s Marketing Week piece on creativity in an automated world argued, the likes of AI, programmatic and automation are driving profound change.

And yes, as Unilever’s Dan Izbicki said, most advertising is terrible. But that’s hardly surprising; there’s a shit-tonne more space to fill, often with less money – no wonder nimbler specialists are challenging mainstream agencies.

The point is that context is king.

I didn’t mind Nike inferring that I’m a tubby middle-aged man when I clicked on some running shorts in August. But I don’t need lycra stalking me round the web until Christmas (I bought them, damn you – LET ME TRUDGE IN PEACE).

Anyway, I digress. Suffice to say that with Customer Experience and accountability now top priorities, assessing the effectiveness of ideas has got a lot more nuanced.

In a digital world, ironically, creative quality is far from binary.

Feel safe enough to fail 

So how do we navigate this newly transparent landscape? Let’s try another Silicon Valley-ism – ‘what would you do if you weren’t afraid’.

Obviously cowering under the sword of Damocles doesn’t help anyone embrace failure. Like the England Test team in the 90s, knowing you’ll be out on your arse after one bad match won’t help you perform.

So a hiccup in effectiveness shouldn’t be a one-way ticket to reviews-ville – or forever consign a creative idea to the ‘shit’ pile. More likely, a cheeky tweak informed by ‘failure’ could be the key to success (because, science).

Don’t buy into the fight

Unfortunately, the iteration game isn’t easy. Although ‘fail-fast’ was long-preceded by its less gobby elder sibling ‘test-and-learn’, it’s also got way harder – not least because we’re all being distracted with unhelpfully polarised agendas.

Agencies are on the side of magic - worshipping at the altar of ideas, knees seized from a lifetime of sanctuary.

And arguing for logic, ex-HSBC marketer Philip Mehl said “marketing used to be a creative challenge but now it’s a data challenge”, echoing the case made by the AdTech industry.

Every day we’re compelled to pick sides in an either/or duel – mad men v. math men, data v. creativity or art v. science.

Let’s reject these conflicts. Give those ‘v’s the V’s. And let’s never say mad or math ‘men’ ever again.

Show clients the way

Free yourself from the fear of failure. Leave the refuge of your creative church and head for the hard reality of the trenches. Of course results matter, but short-termism needn’t govern all. Have total conviction that you should be in team for the next match, no matter what.

Convince clients that failure and improvement is the price of creative brilliance. Make your commitment to effectiveness a principle, not just a slogan on your coffee cups. Have the confidence to reject brands that don’t want that kind of relationship.

At the end of the day, both you and your clients are feeling your way here. But your job is to lead.

As Homer Simpson once said, “trying is the first step towards failure” – and failing is the first step towards success.

Robin Bonn is the founder of Co:definery – a new-business management consultancy.

(this article first appeared on Creativepool)