Risktakers are rare for a reason.

Posted by John Mescall on September 27, 2010

People say they like adventure. But I suspect they like their adventure in carefully meted doses, totally controlled. Like bungee jumping, and safaris, and travel to safe but ‘exotic’ parts of the world. Or maybe a ordering a beer from a microbrewery they’ve never heard of.

Real adventure is pretty scary, because on a real adventure things can veer off in ways that are totally unpredictable. Backpacking through Nigeria would be a real adventure. So would quitting your job to open a restaurant devoted solely to chilli’s (yep, someone did… including the desserts).

So it’s no surprise that, given our instincts for self-preservation, you rarely meet a genuinely adventurous person; in business or in life. Because the truly adventurous tend to be a bit crazy.

Which is a pity really, given our industry is forever bemoaning the fact that so few clients are willing to be adventurous with their advertising. On the one hand, you know that if clients took more calculated risks, they’d undoubtedly be rewarded. But on the other hand, would YOU backpack through Nigeria?

I’m thinking about adventure right now because I’m thinking about the whole business of uncertainty. It’s always risky to be absolutely certain of anything (life has a great way of biting you on the arse when hubris sets in) but I’m reasonably certain that as of September 2010, we are living in probably the most uncertain times since the height of the Cold War and its attendant phallic posturing with nuclear missiles and other civilization-ending nasties.

We have a Federal election that no-one really won or lost, chiefly because the Australian voting population found it impossible to make a choice. We have the first real inkling of GFC2, which would turn out to be an even more unwelcome sequel than Sex and the City 2: Return of the Harpies.

We have the USA, for so long the world’s bedrock, seemingly at a tipping-point. Many respected economists believe it’s the end of the Golden Age for that most powerful and influential of nations. And you don’t need any kind of qualifications to sense they just might be right.

We have a two-speed economy, full of winners and losers. Even prosperity has become hopelessly fragmented.

Uncertainty everywhere. Which makes our job pretty interesting to say the least. Because forget the devil, we are the great seducers. Yet in order to be seduced, you have to be in the mood. Your guard needs to be down, you need to be comfortable. You need to WANT to be taken for a ride.

But all this uncertainty has created a huge amount of white noise out there in people’s lives. So much happening, so much of which is out of people’s control, and advertising is just adding to the mix.

More than ever before, we need to justify our presence to the consumer. “Why…” they may ask “are you trying to get inside my head, when I’ve already got so much to deal with?”

Our only answer, the only answer that will carry any weight whatsoever, is RELEVANCE. We need to have a really good reason to talk to people, or we’re just going to get shut out. We need to think like C-Grade celebrities, always hustling to get onto guest lists to big events. “How do I make myself wanted, and needed?” Imposition is no longer enough, not by a long shot.

This has always been true to a degree, but my feeling is that it’s just getting more and more important to demonstrate that the campaigns we create aren’t so much part of the problem, as part of the solution.

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One thought on “Risktakers are rare for a reason.”

Herby & Hearn on September 29, 2010 at 6:36 am said:

Considering the title of the article, I figured I’d take a risk and ask for your help on here.
I am a junior creative from Manchester, UK and I’m visiting Melbourne for a hol in November. I was wondering if there was someone at your Melbourne office who might have a bit of spare time to take a look at my portfolio and offer any advice / tips on it while I’m over there. As a junior trying to make my way in the industry a global persepctive on my book would be invaluable.
My website is http://www.herbyandhearn.co.uk or I can be contacted on herbyandhearn [at] gmail [dot] com.

Thanks,

Herby

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Risktakers are rare for a reason.

One thought on “Risktakers are rare for a reason.”

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