Risk IS the brand.

There’s something romantic about falling on your face.

Not literally, of course. That hurts and ruins perfectly good pants. But figuratively, falling on your face means you moved. You acted. You attempted something.

You tried a thing that might not work… and in doing so, you quietly declared war on the dullness of certainty.

Now, we understand. Risk has had a tough couple of years.

It’s been locked in a broom closet labeled “Q4 Forecasts” and told to keep it down while the adults are spreadsheets-ing.

But may we suggest (gently, lovingly, dramatically) that risk is not the enemy.

Risk is the jazz solo.

Risk is the turtleneck at a barbecue.

Risk is the moment in the pitch where someone at the table says, “Wait… can we even say that?”

Yes. Yes, you can.

And maybe you should.

Because as it turns out, most of the best ideas wore a fake mustache and snuck in the back door of logic.

They made no sense until they worked.

They were bad ideas… until they weren’t.

Take the moon landing.

Terrible idea. Expensive. Cold. Poor parking options.

But someone said, “What if we did it anyway?”

And now we have flags on the moon and a generation of sci-fi films that make it all worth it.

The point?

Great brands, like great comedians, bomb sometimes.

They tell the wrong joke. They try the weird visual. They release a limited-edition candle that smells like their printer room (we’re looking at you, corporate luxury).

But those are the brands we remember.

Because somewhere between the flop and the flourish, we feel… humanity.

Intent.

Guts.

And isn’t that the whole point of branding anyway?

To be memorable. To move someone. To matter.

So here’s to the flops.

The failed launches. The ideas that caused a long silence in the boardroom.

The bold internal emails that said, “What if we did this instead?”

Risk, like art and aging gracefully, is uncomfortable.

But it’s also where all the best stuff lives.

So go ahead. Trip on your shoelace.

We’ll clap from the audience and yell, “Now that’s a brand I’d root for.”