Embracing The Unknown: The Secrets Of Unlocking Fearlessness In Creative Campaigns

Integrated creative agency WeAreFearless. challenged the marketing industry to be more fearless in its approach to creative problem solving with the help of Britain’s first astronaut Helen Sharman CMG OBE. 

During the agency’s inaugural thought leadership event, #embracetheunknown...The Other Side of Fear, which took place at Omera, London Bridge on Wednesday 2 May 2018, Helen Sharman supported their message by sharing her unique insight into how she overcame her fear to become the first Briton in space in 1991. She told an audience of senior marketers how she managed the ever-present risk in space exploration through strategy, teamwork and fearlessness. 

“Fear is about the unknown. The more we know about something, the less reason there is to be fearful in the choices we make,” Sharman told the audience, as she described her exhaustive training regime prior to her mission. “Beyond that, the question at the heart of all of this is what to do with our fear. What do we stand to lose? And, more importantly, what do we stand to gain by taking a risk?”

She spoke of fearlessness as the bedrock for exploration and creativity, through which we can achieve new understandings, insights and growth:  “There are no boundaries in space. Boundaries are things that we construct because they make us feel more comfortable. But we do not need them. Every one of us should push against them.”

Unique Values Research

Her insight was supported by the agency’s proprietary tools which challenge the way the marketing industry thinks about audiences.  Naomi Segal, Managing Partner at WeAreFearless. shared an insight into how they use consumer psychology to solve business problems differently, moving brands beyond the ‘catch all’ of demographic audience profiling. 

The agency’s proprietary values research, captured across 40 years and more than 20 countries, examines the deep-rooted motivations behind why we make decisions, which allows WeAreFearless to take bolder creative risks when it comes to working with brands. 

Within the UK, the research identifies three broad ‘worlds’:

‘Nesters’: or traditionalists, who represent around 24.4 per cent of the population. They need to feel safe, secure and that they belong. 

‘Chasers’: or those who embrace the new and exciting; they like to be visible and considered successful and represent around 37.2 per cent of the population

And ‘Explorers’: questioning world citizens and independent thinkers, who challenge the status quo, representing around 38.4 per cent of the population.

Boldness With Back Up

A partnership with Dr Joseph Devlin, head of experimental psychology at UCL, explained how uncertainty creates fear in our brain and the impact this has on our creativity. He shared how the unconscious and conscious impact our decision-making abilities, and debunked right brain/left brain industry myths about creativity. 

He said: “When there is fear, there is danger, but there is also opportunity. If you can develop the knowledge that will help you navigate this landscape while facing fear, there are great opportunities for creativity to be spawned.” 

Garry Dods, founder of WeAreFearless., said:  “We believe fear in the face of uncertainty is the biggest threat to our industry. It causes stagnation and apathy and prevents marketers challenging the status quo. It hinders business growth because you’re comfortable solving business challenges the same way each time. Our event with Britain’s first Astronaut Helen Sharman aims to inspire the belief that if you have the right mindset, tools and back up, on the other side of fear lies real opportunity and growth.  And I’m proud that our team of category experts, backed up with our proprietary research in psychology and consumer neuroscience gives us and our clients the confidence to do things differently. We call it boldness with backup.”