Why Playing It Safe in Advertising Rarely Works
Every time a client asks for a “creative” ad, we face the challenge of being unique yet familiar. They want something unique but often shy away from truly innovative ideas. This blog dives into the struggle of meeting client expectations while pushing creative boundaries.
Email notification. You have received a new “Enquiry: Creative ad for the launch of a new product.”
Every time a potential client approaches us with terms like “Creative,” “Unique,” “Different,” or any other synonyms you can think of, I get a bittersweet feeling. The creative part of me screams: “I can already think of five ideas!” But another part of me, which has done hundreds of these pitch decks, thinks the client will want to “play it safe”. Maybe just develop ideas that will differ enough from their direct competitors.
Cut to the call with the client. Still hesitant about the “Creative ad” claim, we’re reassured that the client is open-minded, loves our work, and gives us no limitations in creative exploration.
Yes! This is a dream client!
We’re inspired, and each idea gets a strict check: “Does it solve a problem for the client?” “Does it embody the brand voice?” “Is the idea simple but clear?” and lastly, “Is the idea CREATIVE enough to stand out from everything else in this genre?” The ideas that survive are carefully placed in the pitch deck. Finally, I email a solid week’s worth of work to our potential client.
Now, we wait.
Finally, after weeks of consideration, a pitch that, no doubt, has been seen by the marketing team, managers, CEOs and CFOs, and teams from abroad branches, we receive a reply:
“Thank you for your time; we really appreciate your effort, but this is too out there.”
Is that it? One or two sentences? It is not the first time and won’t be the last. This is just part of the job.
Months later, I stumbled upon the ‘Creative Ad’ that another company produced for the prospective client. Okay, I was obsessed with seeing what they made in the end. The execution is excellent, but it was just more of the same-old, same-old. I didn’t even watch it till the end, and I saw at least two videos just that week that looked almost identical to this one.
So why is this the case?
It is the fear of trying a different approach. Understandably, your company has invested a lot of money into your project. So, it better work! And how do you make sure it works or at least does not completely fail? Play it safe, check what other competitors do, sprinkle a little of your brand voice, and it might just hit the sweet spot. But will your brand or message be remembered when your video is seen by your audience? That’s the question the client does not want to hear the answer to because the answer is a hard NO!
I really like this example. Imagine an ad: A child returns home with stains on their clothes. The mother is very clearly disappointed, but she has detergent. She puts the clothes to wash with this detergent, which has an amazing new formula that clears any stains with no effort. Cut to: The mother is happy that the clothes do not need to be thrown away. The end. Same-old, same-old, right?
In a market where each detergent claimed their white clothes were the whitest, Persil took a different approach to their campaign. “Dirt is good!” The idea was to let kids be kids, let them explore the world knowing that you have nothing to worry about as you have Persil detergent.
I get it. It’s scary to take a different approach, but if you decide to be like every other brand in an already saturated market, the chances that the customer will spot you among others will be close to zero.
So, give it a go. Try a different approach. Maybe consider A/B testing: one video is “Creative,” and another is more in line with other brands—Analyse, which shows more engagement and views.
In the end, it is a constant exploration until it sticks.
