“Safe” advertising campaigns are a waste of time and money.

Before I dive into this cautionary tale, allow me to run through a few of the myriad responses I’ve had to work I have presented over the last 20 or so years (and I should add, all of the work was both on brief and on brand):

“We’re not ready for that yet.”

“We’ll never be ready for that.”

“Yes it’s on brief, but I think you've pushed it too far.”

“Hmm…it’s too risky. What if someone complains?”

“Love it! There’s no way the client will buy that one. Next!”

“Yeah, that’s not us. We’re not [insert name of industry leader here].”

“Dream on. That’s too brave for our company.”

“Our CMO is very traditional and will NEVER sign off on that.”

“Are you mad?! That looks nothing like anything ever done in our category.” (That one is word for word…my art director and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.)

I could go on. I probably would if I was feeling self-indulgent, but I’d like to get to my point…and quickly. And here it is:

Safe work is anything but.

As a strategic creative thinker and problem solver, hearing the kind of feedback listed above is akin to a mechanic being told:

“Listen…I kinda like where you’re going with that repair but I’m just not ready for it to work yet. Can you try something else?”

Of course, any client or account team that has pushed for “safe” work will say that the comparison is ridiculous, but I don’t think it is. Not in the slightest.

And if you, yourself, are in the business of developing advertising, marketing and PR solutions, you should be nodding furiously right now in agreement. (If you’re not, consider why you’re doing what you do).

As the great Dave Trott, and many other ad legends have said, the number one priority of any piece of advertising is to get noticed.

Guess what.

Safe doesn’t get noticed.

Yes, advertising has to deliver a message, move the needle, sell products, make money, and all of that other good stuff. But it cannot do any of that if no-one knows it’s there. A fantastic work of art won’t touch anyone’s soul if it’s stored out of sight in a dank basement (much like the plans to the bypass that led to the demolition of Arthur Dent’s house).

Safe is warm and cozy. Safe is nonthreatening. Safe is easy to ignore. Safe is pointless.

Most definitions of the word safe are along the lines of the following: “Protected from or not exposed to danger or risk; not likely to be harmed or lost.”

When it comes to advertising, that latter part of the phrase should actually read “highly unlikely to be noticed or found.”

Now, when I talk to fellow advertising people about this topic, and point out some of the beautifully-exacted but highly-ignorable work that has been done (sometimes by their own agency) I get the following response:

“My client isn’t ready to do something raunchy or outrageous.”

Good.

Most of the time that kind of advertising is barrel-scrapingly obvious and rarely comes from any kind of product or service truth. Titillation for the sake of it is not good advertising. Shock and awe that's there to grab attention is no good in a vacuum.

Now, sometimes (sadly) that kind of garbage works. The GoDaddy wardrobe malfunction ad got noticed and made the company a household name. However, the “nip slip” has absolutely nothing to do with the service they provide, and was just a cheap trick based on the Janet Jackson Super Bowl performance. That’s not great advertising, it’s a nasty little shortcut, and it will fail 99% of the time.

What you have to remember to tell the client (or yourself if you buy the work) is that producing campaigns that aren’t safe is not akin to doing something R rated, vulgar, or vacuously grandiose. Remember, once your ad gets noticed it still has to work. That’s why those “Free Sex…Now we’ve got your attention let’s talk about insurance” ads never work.

The consumer looks, finds nothing relatable or of interest, and moves on. In many ways they feel angered by the cheap ploy and it actually works against you.

But after rejecting work that is bold and original without being raunchy and outrageous, the client or account team will often push for something safe that they believe is risky. And here’s why…

“How can it be safe? It’s like nothing we’ve ever done in the past!”

I’ve had this answer from clients and account teams when I’ve explained that the solution they want to push forward with is safe, despite their protestations.

The back and forth usually goes something like this:

Me: “Yes, I agree, you’ve never done anything like this before.”

Client: “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Me: “But…can you also agree that just because you’ve never used this approach, it does not mean that it will get noticed?”

Client: “How can you say that?”

Me: “Because your competitors, and other brands, are using this exact same approach right now. It’s out there already. You’re not going to stand out, you’re going to blend in.”

Some silence follows. I'm overruled. The safe ads run. No-one cares.

I like to think of it this way.

You’re an Indiana Jones kinda hero. You’re escaping from a horde of bad guys, and suddenly you come to a rickety rope bridge spanning a Grand Canyon-sized ravine. It looks about as safe and secure as your Facebook data.

Is it terrifying? Completely.

Will it give way? You don’t know….but damn, it looks precarious.

Will it lead to certain death if it breaks? Absolutely.

When you take that tentative step onto the bridge, the gathering crowds wait with bated breath to see what happens. As you continue to walk into the center of the bridge, all eyes are on you. This is chilling for everyone. You could hear a pin drop.

Then, despite a few ropes snapping and a plank of wood disintegrating, you make it across. The crowd cheers and applauds. You’re the hero.

So, when someone follows you across, the suspense is gone. And when hundreds of people go across that rope bridge, it’s not even mildly interesting any more. The first crossing was Seth Godin’s Purple Cow. The rest…they’re safe and forgettable.

OK, so what is “unsafe” and effective advertising?

Well, thankfully there are hundreds of examples; way too many to list here. It would be easy to point to the recent Nike ad featuring Colin Kaepernick (although that was definitely a very calculated and highly strategic risk). But off the top of my head, here are some ads that broke the mold and did their job:

Lemon – Volkswagen. In a time when car advertising was based in boasting and a laundry list of features, Bill Bernbach did the unthinkable. He created an ad that said something negative about the car. How dare he?! Well, the honesty of the ad, and the campaign that followed, sold millions of Beetles and is still a glorious example of rejecting safe and going bold.

1984 – Apple. The infamous Super Bowl spot directed by Ridley Scott dared to do something incredulous…it didn’t show the product and it didn’t list a bunch of features. Many have tried to copy it, and most have failed abysmally.

Surfer – Guinness. Black and white. Epic in scale. A powerful story. Incredible visuals. And not once did the ad show a bunch of guys out on the town enjoying a pint of stout. It was the perfect embodiment of a fundamental brand truth, brought a young crowd to an old man’s drink, and became one of the most memorable ads ever made.

Subservient Chicken – Burger King. Creative departments across the world have all heard the phrase, “we want you to do a subservient chicken.” What they’re really saying is “that subservient chicken thing got millions of hits and it was cheap, do that.” When it was first done, it was risky. Advertising “chicken your way” by creating a human-sized chicken you could control via webcam chat was a bold move. It worked. It was superb.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like – Old Spice. Old Spice had some major baggage. It was your grandpa’s cologne. It was a cheesy commercial of a guy surfing to the Carl Orff’s Carmina Burina. It was dated and irrelevant. Then came Wieden & Kennedy’s 2010 Super Bowl spot. It took three days to film, and 57 takes. It was a stunning departure for the brand. It was well-written, beautifully-executed, and sold a hell of a lot of Old Spice products.

The Hire – BMW Films. People often talk about creating shorter content for limited attention spans. Make it 30 seconds. Make it 10 seconds. Make it 5. In 2001 and 2002, BMW zigged when others were zagging, and created small films under a collection called “The Hire.” They featured Clive Owen, and were directed by huge names including Ang Lee, John Frankenheimer, and Guy Ritchie. They ran long…some over 13 minutes. And you guessed it, they garnered millions of views and were a massive hit. Copies followed by other brands, but fell flat. However, the hit movie franchise The Transporter (featuring Ritchie alumni Jason Statham) were based on the series.

Evolution – Dove. Released in 2006, and one of the first of many ads in the “campaign for real beauty,” Dove dared to do something unheard of; they revealed the man behind the curtain, or in this case, the tricks of the beauty trade. A pretty woman (but certainly not stunning) was transformed into a supermodel via the use of Photoshop and other cheats. It gave women everywhere the chance to say, “see….these standards are impossible!” It was not a safe move. It could have led to major backlash. But it turned Dove into champions.

What all of these ads did was to break with convention. They dared to jump outside of that box account executives love to write in briefs. They challenged public perception, asked the audience to think, and never treated consumers like idiots.

Not one of these ads could be considered outrageous, sexually-provocative, or blatantly histrionic. But they were creative, unique, and brave. And in hindsight, once they were out there, brands that were too scared to make the move wanted their own versions.

Sorry. You don’t get to make that choice.

Either you go big and go bold, or you follow the leader. If you aren’t ready to remove the safety net and do something truly original and game-changing, chances are you never will be.