The freedom to fail

Failure is often seen as a setback—a sign of something gone wrong, weakness, or lack of talent. It's something that was drilled into us as children: that failing is bad and should be avoided. Yet, some of history's most successful products, campaigns and strategies have emerged from lessons learned through mistakes.

Take Dyson, for example. Founder Jason Dyson tested 5,271 prototypes before finally creating one that satisfied him. Even then, he couldn't find anyone to licence and manufacture his product, leading him to set up his own manufacturing operation. A little while later, Dyson vacuums were a worldwide sensation.

In marketing, especially, rather than being feared, failure can be a powerful catalyst for innovation, creativity, and growth. In the 2024 Lions' State of Creativity report, 71% of respondents felt that 'giving people freedom to fail' was a highly effective way to enhance creative output.

Every famous artist, designer, director, or tech visionary has experienced their fair share of rejections and setbacks. The only thing that's enabled them to go on and succeed is their decision to embrace failure, instead using it as a stepping stone.

We asked industry leaders about the valuable lessons they've learned from their setbacks and how they've used these challenges to find success.

Rob Stevens, MD, Optix Solutions

As an agency, we hear clients express a desire to stand out and be bold. We guide them through taking small steps, strides, and eventually leaps forward in marketing. However, fear often causes businesses to retreat to a safety-first approach, limiting their growth and learning.

In marketing, failure can be a precursor to innovation. Take a look at BrewDog. Their early controversial campaigns, like the banned "Speedball" beer, initially failed but helped them position themselves as a rebellious brand. This boldness attracted a niche audience who valued their unapologetic style. By embracing risk and learning from their mistakes, BrewDog reinforced their brand identity and built a loyal customer base. BrewDog's journey shows that taking risks and viewing failure as a step toward success can lead to significant growth and innovation.

Kyle Ferguson, CEO of Forsta

Too often is failure brushed over rather than being used as the catalyst for change it can be. The common thread across the best marketers and CX leaders that work with Forsta is that they've embraced failure and created a culture that allows a business to take on feedback (both the good and the bad) from customers and employees. When failure strikes, the priority is making sure everyone in the room has a say. Companies that are able to tap into employee ideas are the same companies able to learn from their mistakes and accelerate strategic growth. Failure is an inevitable part of life; it's how we respond that matters.

Lauren Ogundeko, Chief Digital Officer and Board Member, KINESSO UK & I

While it's easy to try and brush failure under the rug, reframing failure can turn it into the foundations of your success and serve as a catalyst for innovation.

In the marketing world, having trusted cheerleaders and allies to offer fresh insights can enable and empower you to reframe these setbacks. Instead of focusing or over obsessing on the failure, relentlessly asking 'why' can help lead you into better decision-making in the future; even if those choices are slightly unconventional. Choices that may lead to failure aren't failure, they're a part of carving out your own groove, especially in an industry that can often appear unforgiving.

Wander Bruijel, Chief Strategy Officer, Born Ugly

I've been involved in my share of failures [...] I'm proud of my failures. I wear them as a badge of honour.

Whilst our industry talks a good game of 'fail fast, fail often', it isn't how we operate. As marketers, we're pressured to deliver certainty when our world is uncertain. We're pushed to be data-driven when data only aggregates what happened yesterday; the aggregate doesn't spark the unexpectedness of tomorrow.

Failure is a signature of creativity. Liquid Death would never have come from a bunch of logical people sat in a room analysing the water category. It needed implausibility. Its success has come from perfect timing, determination, and a dose of punk.

As marketers we are prone to mimetic isomorphism - copying others who are perceived as successful. But, as those who are there to serve the needs of illogical humans, we must inject intuition and jeopardy into what we do. Yes, you might fail. But you might just excel.

Karim Salama, Director at e-innovate

Failure provides a valuable opportunity for further growth and innovation by forcing us to test and refine our strategies through unique insights that successful campaigns aren't able to offer. I find that embracing failure leads to a broader culture of experimentation and creativity, potentially resulting in breakthrough ideas that give you a competitive advantage over the competition. It also builds resilience and adaptability, both of which are valuable tools to have at your disposal in times of uncertainty.

For example, Coca-Cola's introduction of "New Coke" in 1985 faced immense public backlash at first, but went on to redefine their brand identity by strengthening customer loyalty. Likewise, Airbnb's initial failure to gain traction led to a shift in focus towards the user experience, which then propelled them to become a market leader. These instances highlight how embracing failure can pave the way for lasting achievements amid industry disruption.

Simon Massey, Co-Founder of Neverland

At the start of my career, I specialised in innovation. My very first project was for Mars, resulting in the creation of Milky Way Magic Stars. A few years later I worked with Cadbury also on NPD. The contrast between how they both worked was stark. Mars were methodical, deep thinkers conducting extensive consumer research and were slow to act until they were absolutely sure. Cadbury was fast, inventive, and trying things; they launched a lot, accepting a high degree of failure, but with a launch-and-learn approach, also a lot of success.

I'm a strategist, so I like to think things through, but I also find that extensive pontification and research (risk management) can too often lead to a weakening of the idea. I'm a big fan of education, instinct, breaking rules, trying things, failing, learning and trying again. It's in those extremes that the truly brilliant emerges.

James Welch, Chief Innovation Officer, Embryo

Failing early on in your career can be difficult, but throughout my career, I've started to think of failing as shedding your skin. As you face setbacks, you grow. And the more setbacks or mistakes you make, the more you can avoid them further down the line.

Whether it's spotting the signs of good traits in employees at the interview stage or being able to anticipate the outcome of business decisions, the skills and experience you learn from failing help you become a stronger marketer and business leader.

Even the 'failure' of no ideas can lead to successes. On one occasion, I had been particularly bereft of ideas for a few days and decided to be unusually welcoming to anyone that pitched me that particular day. Lo and behold, I was pitched by a salesperson an awful product that day - but one that had the kernel of something amazing. That kernel of an idea then formed into a product that Embryo cannot now live without - our proprietary tool Needle - which has been the catalyst to most of our success over the past few years, helping us offer bespoke insights to clients and help us stand out at pitch stage.

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