What footballer Antonin Panenka teaches us.
Tom Theys, Executive Vice President Global Strategy at FCB Global, argues that true effectiveness in marketing requires balancing careful calculation with the willingness to take creative risks.
Effectiveness requires careful calculation, while creativity demands a willingness to take risks. "Calculated risk" implies thoughtful consideration of potential rewards, as seen in memorable achievements like Antonin Panenka's daring penalty kick. To truly stand out, leaders must invest equally in both the creative and analytical aspects of their work. Creativity without risk is like a plane without wings—essential but ineffective.
Effectiveness requires calculation. Creativity requires a willingness to take risks.
‘Calculated risk’ sounds pretty good. It’s something you can take pride in. That Panenka penalty you scored? Calculated risk.
Managed to make it to the meeting on time despite stopping for coffee on the way? Calculated risk. Putting the most popular candidate at the bottom of the electoral list? Calculated risk. It sounds bold, clever even, when you can say you took a calculated risk. But “Creative Effectiveness”? Just saying it can be exhausting.
In reality, calculated risk means you’ve thought it through carefully and decided to take the risk because you know it can pay off in spades. That risky penalty can mentally break your opponent. Thanks to that coffee you’ll be extra lucid at the meeting. And thanks to the popular candidate, your party may win an additional seat.
Creativity demands risk. Without risk, creativity is like a plane without wings: just a regular bus.
As a leader, to make it truly work you must be willing to invest as much in the risk part as in the calculation part. For every hour spent optimising a campaign, a media plan or market research, an additional hour should be devoted to sharpening the creative aspect. And sharpening means making it more original, more precise, more remarkable.
Is that easy? No. Is it an exact science? Again, no. But it is the only way for a brand to stand out in an expanding sea of uniformity. And it is the only way for a leader in our field to make a difference.
Because let’s face it, who would still talk about Antonin Panenka if he hadn’t taken the risk in the 1976 European Championship final to beat West Germany with an outrageous penalty and win Czechoslovakia its only title ever?
Exactly. His explanation: “I knew that if I missed, I might end up in the uranium mines. But I knew that if it worked, we would
earn eternal glory.” In other words: a calculated risk.
Tom Theys, Executive Vice President Global Strategy, FCB Global