Cole Heilborn (00:00.494)

Today I want to talk about risk aversion. And I want to dissect an article from Marketing Dive titled Brands Appetite Wains for Creative Risk Taking. I might be a little late to the draw here, but this article came out on May 5th. And since then I've seen it populate around on LinkedIn. I've seen people talking about it. I've seen people weighing in on it. And I think there's some really interesting stats in here and some interesting analysis that we can do on this article.

and then kind of apply it to our own outdoor industry. So I'm gonna read some stats here that I think are shocking, that are kind of alarming, but I'm not surprised. This was a study that was conducted from a thousand marketers and creatives across a variety of industries. And here's some stats. So only 13 % of brand marketers and creatives view their companies as risk friendly when it comes to creativity, while 29 % are highly risk adverse.

according to the 2025 State of Creativity report from Lions, which produced the annual Canes Lions Festival. It also says that more than half of respondents, 51 percent said their customer insights are too weak to develop creative and 57 percent said they struggle to react quickly to cultural moments. It also revealed that 2020 and 2025, nearly two thirds, 63 percent of respondents said their brands are focusing on short term tactics.

instead of long-term brand building, which is up from 53 % in 2023. So in this report, there's two definitions that I think are important to define. Number one, when we talk about creative risk taking, this article defines risk taking as unconventional ideas that challenge norms and engage audiences in unexpected ways. And the two reasons that are cited why brands struggle to take creative risks,

are defined as insight, famine, and a lack of cultural agility. Here's another interesting kind of breakdown of the impact of this risk aversion that it has on brands. I'm gonna quote here. So according to Peter Field, he found that UK brands that invest in dole advertising would need to spend a combined 13 billion pounds, an additional media costs, an additional 10 million pounds per campaign to achieve the same effect

Cole Heilborn (02:24.502)

as more emotionally creative, engaging ads. And in the US, that combined total of additional media investment required for dull ads to make an impact is a staggering $189 billion. So in other words, avoiding creative risk, it might actually be the riskiest move that you can take as a brand. You know, as I thinking about all the insights that have been shared on our show over the years, a few stuck out to me that I think kind of reinforce what we're talking about here. I've said it many times, but Drew Pautler said,

It's presumptuous to assume that people want to hear from a brand. There's some other themes that have popped up as well. This idea that audiences are overloaded, they're overwhelmed, they're overstimulated. Mike Lewis on our most recent episode said that audiences have seen everything. They're familiar with all the tricks. They see thousands of ads every single day and we've become immune to them.

And so the only thing that works is to be creative, is to execute in a way that stands out. I hate this notion that good creative is risky. I think that's a lie that we perpetuate. Maybe it's to make ourselves feel better, to tell ourselves that taking that creative risk is a risk, therefore we shouldn't try or we shouldn't put in the effort. We can pat ourselves on the back and sleep well at night knowing that

we dodged a risk, right? Risks, you want to avoid those. But the truth is, think producing creative work that stands out and is quote unquote risky, the principle and the strategy behind it is actually fairly concrete. There's actually a pretty well-defined methodology to doing so. It starts with knowing your brand. It starts with knowing what

makes your brand unique and I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, that requires a lot of work. Secondly, it requires a deep understanding of your audience, who they are, where they are, where are they emotionally? What activities do they enjoy? What activities do they not enjoy? What type of content do they consume? What type of content do they not consume? It starts with a really deep understanding of who is your audience and either what do they wanna hear from you or what do they not know that they want to hear from you? And then additionally,

Cole Heilborn (04:48.426)

It starts with great insights. And remember, insights aren't just observations. As Tony Satler said on the podcast years ago, an insight is more than data. It's the connection of observations, conversations, and behaviors into something emotionally compelling. And how do you know when you've arrived at a compelling insight? You feel it. It's that simple unlock, that simple reframing that, as he says,

you need pages of paper to write about because it's so good, it's so potent, it's so valuable. And once you know your brand, your audience and the insights that drive them, then it's all about just being creative. Developing creative, developing campaigns, brand films, podcasts, whatever it is, developing media around those ideas and executing on it in a way that works for the channels, that breaks through the noise, that...

you know, is intentional and strategic.

And lastly, think one thing to consider, Matt Trapp said it really well. He said, if you truly know your audience, it doesn't feel like a risk. Because if you really know them, then you know what speaks to them. But if you don't, that's why it feels like a risk. And this doesn't mean that you have to go out and produce a giant brand film and spend tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, right? This means that use social media as your proving ground.

Test content, create hundreds or thousands of pieces of content and test it, analyze it, see what's working, see what isn't working, try different messaging. That's the beauty of the world that we live in. You don't have to put all your eggs in one campaign and roll that out and hope that it works. I saw recently a article on LinkedIn, actually it was a picture, and it was a picture of a pinball machine and it was the customer journey. The idea that customers no longer flow through a funnel,

Cole Heilborn (06:42.69)

They bounce around like a pinball in a pinball machine. And so there is no one size fits all strategy. In this pinball metaphor, it requires great social media. could require great brand content. It could require great customer experience or great, you know, in-person brand activations. There's so many ways to be creative for your brand to show up in the world in a way that provides value, in a way that...

gives the audience a reason to care about your brand. And then if you truly need to justify the ROI of the spend behind whatever you're doing, one, consider the cost of not producing something creative. Where does that take you? It might not kill your brand today, but years down the road, where does that lead you? But if you're looking for more immediate ROI, there's a lot of ways to quantify the ROI.

You specifically, how can you use branded content shoots to supplement and build out your sales material? Right, how many brands go out and do a brand film and then they go out and do a product shoot campaign? What if you just tied those together? So now you're not only getting the product assets that you need for your sales team, but you're also now getting branded content out of that same shoot. That's a smart investment. That approach, though it requires a little more planning, a little more strategy, single-handedly is a way

to offset the costs of the risky brand investments, but you label it as a sales investment, label it as a product shoot. That's an easier way to get it approved. Al Perkinson said, you can tell a real story with everything you do with your brand. You will have a competitive advantage over 95 % of the other brands out there. Because remember, if 13 % of brands are only taking creative risks, that means the barrier to entry is pretty low. Diana Ochenrider said,

clients who were spending more in their upper funnel saw a 55 % average increase in brand organic keyword clicks. Jordan Williams said that if people are talking about your campaign a month later, that's a way to inform ROI. If people are talking about what you're putting out into the world, that's a huge benchmark that you're onto something. Kyle from Garmin said, sometimes the biggest return is just clarity, right? Going through the effort of producing something aligns internal teams.

Cole Heilborn (09:01.952)

and it clarifies some of the ambiguous elements. That clarity can be quite valuable for internal teams. And then I think what Chris Pew was talking about is really fascinating. This idea that you don't have to necessarily be the brand that produces the content. You can help facilitate the content. Chris and his team over at True Gear, they put on a film festival every year and they work with their community of filmmakers to produce films.

They host film screenings. And you know what the impact is? Well, in season one, based on the way they structure their film contest, they collected 4,000 emails. Season two, they've collected almost 8,000 emails through their festivals. And right now they're planning season three. So if there's anything our outdoor industry is excellent at, it's embracing discomfort. Go to, know, embrace the discomfort of taking on a risky project.

It doesn't mean you have to be careless, right? Risk on the execution. Don't take risks on your insight. Don't take risks on your audience. Don't take risks on your brand, but show up in a way that's unexpected. Remember, audiences have seen everything. So the only tool you have left is to be creative and to show up in a way that they aren't expecting.

‍