Communication entails risk. Will the person or audience receive the key message? Will it be perceived the wrong way? Could it unwittingly offend somebody, somehow? Will it be leaked to an audience for which it was unintended, or worse, be manipulated and go viral?

As brand communicators, our business is “risky business.” I’m not talking about the 1983 film “Risky Business” where Tom Cruise danced in his underwear. More like Tom Cruise still doing his own stunts in 2023’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”

At this stage of his career, Tom Cruise could take the easy way out. Play it safe and let stunt doubles do the dangerous work for him. Tom Cruise has earned clout in the industry to get paid either way. Yet he brings his best to every shoot, stunts and all. 

By embracing risk and immersing himself in the action, Tom Cruise adds authenticity and nuance to his roles.  

Both generated advance publicity, adding buzz and excitement around the films.

His exceptional commitment turns films into franchises. Winning brands like “Top Gun” and “Mission Impossible” endure for decades because they find new ways to excite the imagination. Just like we must continually do at (add)ventures.

Safe is boring. Monotonous strategy does not sell products and tedious creative won’t build brands. Safe doesn’t enhance individual careers—plus organizations that play it too safe for too long get disrupted. We must never let ourselves or our client partners stagnate. In an age of AI, malaise and mundane mean disruption.

At (add)ventures we are the disrupters, and never the disrupted. Everything we’ve done to build and grow our brand agency has been counterculture to traditional industry norms. So take calculated risks.

In true “Mission: Impossible” fashion, (add)ventures has solved and evolved our way into saving the day for decades. For more impossible deadlines than I can count, exciting is both what we do and who we are. Our brand has saved the day and remains strong after decades too.

Embrace risky business. Put in the work that calculates risk and (add) up the possibilities. In 2024, let’s think bigger, and be bolder (together).