A quick word on the safe word

”So to summarise… we want something new and challenging. Something that pushes the boundaries. Something that will achieve our goals, and win awards.

Oh, but don’t forget the safe options.”

Ug. ‘Safe’.

An option that wears high vis to eat vanilla ice cream while it toes the line in sensible shoes.

You’ll more often than not find one of these ‘50 shades of beige’ ideas in a creative response though; no (good) agency is naive to the pressures on marketing teams to appease stakeholders in a timely manner with depleting budgets, nor the strict guidelines that accompany some requests.

But is this really what you mean when you’re pulling your brief together? You want the Unadventurous? The Conservative? The just ‘All right’? Can’t safe also mean dependable? Solid? Reliable? Even, dare we say, effective?

If a creative route is built on a meaningful foundation of research, insights, truths and understanding, could we start to think of this idea as ‘safe’ because it’s designed to work and meet your objectives no matter how left-field it might sound in the pitch? Like, oh, I don’t know… Booking a funeral for a cup; using a drag act to bellow your benefits; arranging a heist to highlight eye care, or asking a lovely lady called Carol to water the garden with her bits out.

Who comes up with this!? That’s right - we do. Ideas that produce work that works - but doesn’t always have to have the stabilisers on.

Ready to move your brand from beige to black, and see what a really safe pair of hands can offer? Get in touch with OBB.

#BeFierce