The leap of adventure in the movement of brands, spirit, soul and destinations—
the risk to get out there, go further, get farther.
In a recent set of GIRVIN brand soul summits, brandquest® workshops [how we work to get somewhere new as a team-based collaborative exploration] we talked about a brand’s spirit, the nature of its foundation—the core offering—built on a global quest for imaginative ingredients, the layering of texture and mouthfeel, taste and the wisdom of adventure and travel in the quest for unique snacking opportunities for discerning, flavor and health-conscious customers. These are customers that are willing to spend more in the pursuit of quality.
Still, in the nature of the brand evolution—there’s change involved, new copy, new imagery, refreshed, and empowered color ways. Epiphanic shelf
presence. That’s scary: change, the embracement of the constant movement in brands,
their audiences, trends and expectations, new customers—and, in all,
getting to a new plane of expectation, delivery, brand characteristics.
For a brand manager, this is like sitting on the edge of a precipice—there’s imagined beauty out there, a new vista, but it’s scary. Research insights can help, but any expert brand shepherd well knows their audiences, and embraces a gut instinct about what’s right for the brand. Instinct and intuition play large—and, potentially are entirely right on the mark.
Live the brand as a spherical state of experience, 360º holism—
and you’re at the center of bullseye.
And it’s okay to be afraid, to have fear—while it’s not “the mindkiller” that Paul Atreides cries out in Frank Herbert’s “Dune,” this could be a clarifying moment of energization—that catalysis of sharpened perceptions
At this moment, things feel uncomfortably out of control,
as challenging events are happening. But this alertness could be used to move ahead, make decisions.
Talking to some, this could be an exemplar expression for the Covid years, which still circulate.
Then too, speaking with others, it could’ve been a year or two back—
others, other times, other uncertainties.
Change happens—it’s the one thing we have as an immanent condition of life, work, and play, for that matter.
Like the collision of waves on the rocks, it continues unceasingly. Being a wave watcher, I know.
Everything changes—and everything, everywhere—is about change.
I’ve walked this way, towards fear, with others—a client—
about the notion of fear of change, and finding the fear, moving through it. Which is seeking that space of fearfulness and risk. To change, is to risk a subversion of the normal and expected, to a new plane of consciousness.
You were there. Now you are here.
This client, working towards dramatic brand evolutions, said that some of the ideas we offered scared him. He liked that. It took him away from his place of comfort. It could be described as the space of exposure, of possible danger in the abstractness of a business context—“what’s in control, what’s not in control—you make a plan and it will last for how long..? But still it is the place of newness–of opening.
This pace of change-making, the activation of fear consciousness, it’s an adrenalized place of energy, hyped-up—
it’s exuberant and thrilling.
It’s fast as you can go—make it happen. And my history is about risk, running headlong into fear, as a curiosity of journey. I like to work around this place, this fear-full place.
It is the point. It is the axis of living, in which every day
could be the glide of the easy, or the brink of danger—that is the edge of living—large.
And I like being here—
but there are variants on the idea of fearfulness.
There are layers—ways of depth—in seeing this, and being thus.
B E I N G
H E R E.
And to be honest, I need to be clear, reverential. Seek reverie in it. And if I enter this place of risk, of exposure, I have to be watchful for the enrichment. —what do I get from it. I have to hope that there is an enriching in the being, of this place. The space of fear. The place of risk.
As now, I am moving ahead being mindful of the risk, the danger, the gut-wrenching feelings of fear. And being open to the calmness of letting it come, reside, working with it, inside it, then watching the change pass—yet integrating the exposing, living in the edge.
I believe that there are components, layers of the place of fear fullness—of going there. But approaching this as something that any of us need to consider; we can’t go there merely for the rare risk of walking to the edge of the firepit; we need to go, to watch—sense: to be sentient—and learn what can be gathered.
What do I take away from this exposure?
Likely, a heightened consciousness. You’ve been there, come out of these fears, and learned more.
And shall continue with, through, and inside that transitioning.
Climb.
Climb higher.
And still higher.
Climb up, out,
through.
There’s risk, but then the view is better.
And we will reflect this in our strategy, our design, our brands.
Look for exposure, for opening, with or without fear, with or without danger. And leave it to the moment—that discovering. Leave it to the instance. The instant. The moment.
And then, with that, achieving momentum and flowing on.
And flowing through it.
Beyond finding fear is the idea of finding serenity—in fear.
Which is courage. Which is heart—the brave heart.
So when you are frightened, in this space—
it is okay to feel it, get into it. Live it, live through it—
walk through the shadows—back into the blinding light.
And linking the two. And keep moving—from the wavering shadows of the fear fullness—from the valley of the dark, into the renewed space of the luminous and the awakened.
Seek exhilaration.
Awakening.
Sometimes the scariest place, the riskier, could be the most beautiful vista.
Holds, too, for enterprises, brands, lives, and the work of marketing.
The risk—well-played, fearful or otherwise—with insight
can make the break for change. And out there, a new vista.
We’re thinking that this place of fear is the place of opening all
the channels—it’s the place of open-eyed exposure.
Laying oneself open to this “opportunity,” this portal,
is the step from ignorance to learning,
from absence to insight.
Such is, the advancement of venture, a way forward, which is:
A D
V E N T U R E
Hold this for a while. Keep listening.
And go there, to see what we can learn.
Imagery from the Grand Canyon National Park, AZ,
Joshua Tree National Park, CA,
The Breakwater, Grays Harbor. WA
We will help.
Tim | GIRVIN | Strategic Brands | NYC
Digital | Built environments by Osean | Theatrical Branding
Projects in strategy | story | naming | messaging | print
identity | built environments | packaging
social media | websites | interactive
Take the leap. Jump into the new.
