Do Marketers Play It Too Safe These Days? We Asked Five Top Aussie CMOs

With social media and a growing number of different advertising platforms, it’s arguable everyone – regardless of profession – is now being held more accountable.

While this may be a boon for some – allowing them to flaunt their professional and creative bona fides – others may feel pressured by increased attention, and the ability to receive direct and almost-instantaneous feedback from every Tom, Dick and Harry.

However, certain criticism aren’t levelled by consumers, but sometimes by those you’re working with. In adland, one often hears the creative agency side criticising marketers and their brands for playing it safe and not taking enough risks. But is this criticism actually justified?

“If you look at the quality of marketing out there, I think it’s justified. Because most of it all looks the same, there is a real lack of distinctive and original work,” said IAG CMO, Brent Smart (featured image, top left).

ANZ CEO Sweta Mehra (bottom right) agreed, and said contemporary marketers often find themselves at the mercy of increased workloads, budgets, and tight deadlines.

“While that is not a good enough excuse, I can understand why for many marketers it is incredibly tempting to stay in safe zones and to keep on doing what worked before.”

She added, “The incentives for experimentation in the system need to be nurtured and encouraged by the CMO and other senior leaders.”

Australia Post CMO, Amber Collins (bottom left) disagreed, saying whether or not brands play it safe cannot be characterised that simply. She also said it was untrue that “safe work” was ineffective.

“Daring or safe doesn’t matter to me – I care about brand, commercial and customer outcomes. If daring work will achieve that, then I will sponsor it,” she said.

“Agencies talk about being brave, but sometimes they just mean doing something different for the sake of it when often, it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.”

Flight Centre global head of marketing, Clinton Hearne (bottom centre), said criticisms of playing it safe were justified, and that while guaranteed formulas can help marketers “smash targets”, it can get old fairly quickly.

“Any opportunity to innovate, embrace technologies, be a bit whacky, or play around with fresh ideas should be what drives most marketers,” he added.

But not everything can rouse round-the-clock enthusiasm. After all, isn’t creating “boring” work just another aspect of the daily grind? McDonald’s Australia CMO, Chris Brown (top right) thought so.

“There are a multitude of reasons and it is a wider industry issue versus pointing the finger at clients,” he said.

“Brave work requires trust and needs to be anchored in a clear and compelling strategy

However, Brent Smart paradoxically believes “boring” work can actually present a bigger risk to a marketer than experimenting.

“Playing it safe is actually a bigger risk than being daring, because the risk is your work will be invisible, it won’t be talked about or remembered, and it won’t be as effective,” he said.

Advertise with us

Please login with linkedin to comment

Amber Collins Brent Smart Chris Brown Clinton Hearne CMO CMO Powerlist Sweta Mehra