Is It Really a Creative Risk, or Do You Just Not Know Your Audience?

Matt Trappe nailed it when he said:

“If your creative feels risky, you probably don’t know your audience well enough.”

It’s a simple insight that cuts to the core of why so many brands avoid “risky” creative. Only 13% of brands are “risk-friendly” according to a Canes Lions study and 50% of them cite lack of audience insight as a key component as to why. When you don’t know your audience deeply, everything feels like a gamble.

Charlie Grinnell put it this way:

“If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one.”

But determining your audience isn’t as easy as generating some demographic details and giving them a name. Let’s build a real framework for understanding who you’re creating for.  Here’s a comprehensive list of questions that goes beyond basic information to help you uncover the emotional, behavioral, and cultural depth of your audience, based on insights from the guests who have joined our show.

Context & Culture

“Understanding the psychographics of your audience leads to more resonant storytelling.” – Marc Bock

• What community or subculture are we speaking to?
• How do they see themselves? How do they want to be seen?
• What does “real” look like to them?
• Where does this audience feel overlooked?
• What language, rituals, or inside jokes define their world?
• What’s changing in their world right now?
• What brands already have credibility with this audience?
• Where are they physically (geographically, socially, economically)?

Mindset & Motivation

“You have to understand what their needs are, what the problems are, what the tensions might be.” – Tony Sattler

• What motivates this audience to take action?
• What needs, goals, or frustrations drive their behavior?
• What tensions are they navigating—internally or socially?
• Why do they participate in this activity or lifestyle? (escape, challenge, belonging, identity?)
• What does credibility look like in this space?
• What sacrifices are they making to participate?
• Are they proud of their identity within this community, or still trying to find their place?

Behavior & Attention

“You have to show up where they are—whether that’s Instagram, the trailhead, or a ski film.” – Kevin Knutson

• Where does this audience spend time online? (Instagram, Discord, Reddit, niche forums?)
• Where do they go for inspiration? For answers? For entertainment?
• What channels do they consume? (YouTube series, zines, short films, memes?)
• What channels do they not use?
• What do they scroll past? What makes them stop?
• What do they not consume?
• What other brands have their attention?
• What brands do they ignore?

Emotional Triggers

“Emotion drives recall. That’s what people remember.” – Will Truettner

• What speaks to them emotionally?
• What emotion is our audience seeking right now? (hope, clarity, motivation, connection?)
• What gets them excited or curious?
• What do they find emotionally annoying, patronizing, or exhausting?
• What parts of their emotional life are rarely reflected in marketing?
• What emotional tone feels real and resonant to them right now?

Relationship with the Brand

“You can’t just create trust in one interaction.” – Ben O’Meara

• Where do they encounter your brand?  (retail, events, digital, community spaces, peer shares?)
• Are you part of their world, or just shouting from the sidelines?
• Do they trust you with their time? Why or why not?
• What signals do you send that build—or break—credibility?
• Are you showing up consistently or sporadically?
• Are you talking at them, or with them?
• What would make this audience feel like your brand is “theirs”?
• What kind of community would they want you to help them build?

Insight Activation

“Are we really talking to the right people… what inspires them?” – Diana Ochenrider

• What ideas are you assuming without evidence?
• What insights have you already gathered that we’re not using?
• Are you listening actively to our audience?
• Where are you seeing emotional spillover into new subcultures or use cases?
• What’s the clearest emotional arc we can deliver that would land with this group?
• Are we tailoring distribution and platform strategy to match where our audience actually is?

If your creative feels risky, the first thing to check isn’t the script or the concept—it’s the audience section in the brief. With a clear understanding of your audience, you should start to see insights that can help drive creative. Insights aren't just an observation, it’s about connecting observations, conversations, and behaviors into something emotionally compelling and actionable. Insights often link data and story, helping you understand what’s really driving your audience before you start creating solutions.

As your audience becomes clear, the ideas about what will speak to them become clear. Don’t take risks on your audience or the insights you derive about them, but use those foundations to take a creative risk and see what happens. Don’t put yourself where you’re betting the entire farm on one idea, but try something, analyze it, and try again.

If you’re wondering whether or not the idea is a good one, trust your gut. It should feel right when the idea is right because of the groundwork you’ve done.

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Photo credit: Riley Seebeck

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