I saw an amazing public awareness campaign yesterday.

I came across it first in the bus on the way to work. One of the few overhead ad-panels I’ve ever really cackled at; a cartoonish illustration of a guy wearing a hardhat and a confused expression, with a bloody length of rebar stuck through his head.

“Win an MP3 player and other cool stuff” was written in big letters, along with “Workplace Safety” and “Join the contest and win!”. Highly incongruous and ironic copy given the image. The people next to me were cackling at it too.

I memorized the url on the ad and checked the website as soon as I got to work. And hey – it’s fantastic. Full of craziness and craftiness, and also lessons about workplace safety. It’s really excellent work and I salute whomever made it.

It turns out – as i was informed by my knowledgeable colleagues – that the client,
the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario has done this sort of thing before, in a freaky tv campaign called Prevent It, which can be seen on YouTube, here and here.

And what struck me is, “Here, at last, is a client that takes risks!” Hallelujah!
Possibly this is because risk is their stock and trade, and because lives are at stake, but they deserve credit anyway, because intelligent and effective risk-taking in advertising is all too rare in Canada, though in other places, like the UK, it is common. (I mean, who can forget this risque classic?)

Very few clients are willing to take risks, for all kinds of reasons, none of them good, and collectively we suffer for it. And individually those organizations that do not take risks suffer too, losing their edge and their energy, and failing to translate their strategic visions into reality.

Of course risk inevitably involves an element of, well, risk. Whereas when you go for the same-old same-old you can be sure that whatever else happens, you won’t fail. At least not by standing out. But from an organizational perspective that’s risky too, because in the end campaigns fail by not standing out. Everyone has seen that kind of familiar failure, mediocrity tacitly approved, simply because it’s less risky to ignore than to critique.

I think part of the problem is that organizations tend to diffuse risk-taking, and when individuals do go out on a limb and advocate a ‘risky’ strategy, they become vulnerable to scapegoating if – for whatever reason – the execution does not match the original vision. Maybe organizations should have designated ‘risk takers’ who are expected to take risks and aren’t so vulnerable to scapegoating.

Another reason organizations fail to take useful risks is that employees often seem to feel they need to shield their bosses from seeing ‘wacky’ ideas. Whereas, in my experience, the higher up the ladder you go the more open decision-makers are to taking risks, and the greater their ability to see the potential benefits of trying something new. So I guess what I’m saying is that organizations that want to succeed by standing out rather than fail by staying in line need to create a culture of risk-taking that reaches from top to bottom and back up again.

Innovation always includes a measure of risk. But creative, intelligent and targeted risk-taking can produce results that really do the job, that really succeed, and that really matter.

Anything else, as Ontario’s Worker Safety Insurance Board evidently knows, is asking for trouble.

Oh. My. God.

So this post is a long time coming and I considered that given the love that Porter was getting from fellow bloggers like David Jones and Steve Palmer that I would keep my gushing to friends and family. That’s over. I’m in love. And it’s with a raccoon.

Well okay, not the raccoon specifically but the brand he represents.

I have flown Porter 6 times now. And I couldn’t like this service, brand and experience anymore if I’d created it myself. I’ve dedicated my life to evangelizing brand experiences like this one but rarely do I see one actually executed to the level of detail of the Porter brand.

Now truth be told, an airline could name themselves TinCan Airline and have stewards that spit on me as I departed. But if they landed at the Island Airport (in Toronto) I’d still stand in line for a ticket. But that’s a whole other post.

But Porter doesn’t just rely on their great location to draw customers, they rely on delivering an experience from the time you book your flight to the time you walk out of the terminal, that makes you feel like a civilized, sophisticated, jet setter. And that pushes my buttons.

Of course, (there’s always an of course) there are a few eentsy-weensty things I might have done differently…First, they make a point (in their brand book available in re:porter, their in-flight mag) to estblish one of their pillars as being authentically Canadian. Yet the brand was developed in the UK. Hmmmm…yes I know the creative director was Tyler Brule but I can’t help but think that there has to be some agency is this vast nation that had the creative capacity to pull this one off. Second, the “terminal” at Union Station is very odd. I didn’t even know it was there the first time. And when I did find it, you can’t sit there to wait because you can’t see the shuttle arriving. Finally, baggage claim was a bit of a fiasco. I recognize few of their weekday passengers are checking baggage but I flew on the Sunday after the holidays and the very small baggage area was mayhem and difficult to navigate without some unintended pushing and shoving.

Understand, these things are but mere sparse spots on the giant sprinkle donut of praise I’m offering to the airline. This airline is not only worth a try, its worth your loyalty. You will get as much as you give, if not more.

I have to echo David Jones’ remarks on Porter Airlines earlier this week. I flew from Ottawa to Toronto (and back) today and on top of the obvious convenience of flying in and out of the island airport instead of Pearson, what really blew me away was the flawless execution of their brand and how it completely shaped my experience with them.

As David mentioned, the beautifully designed in-flight magazine contains a mini-insert (which is practically another magazine in itself) that lays out the Porter brand from top to bottom – company philosophy to uniforms to logo to mascot. It’s unusually thorough but it really does a bang up job of framing Porter as a company that any customer would want to do business with. After reading their mission statement about a fresh approach to commuter travel and the whole flying experience, you can’t help but want to get in their corner and fight the good fight against Air Goliath. Being the only commercial airline to operate from the island airport has put them on the map but they’ve obviously realized that they have to offer a lot more than that to build up a loyal following.

They’re living and breathing the brand right down to the smallest detail – from the way the flight attendants greet and serve you right down to the glasses with the Porter logo etched into them – and every little piece contributes to a positive customer experience. In case you didn’t gather it already… I really enjoyed getting acquainted with Porter today – if only briefly. I plan to sing their praises far and wide and I sure hope they’re in it for the long haul.