That Which Does Not Kill Us Makes Us... Boring?

Filed under: Creative Failure | Brand Nihilism | Nietzschean Ad-Crime

---

Nietzsche once roared: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

But in modern marketing? It’s more like:

  PROMPT: “Should we try something bold?”
  RESPONSE: “Let’s just do what worked for the toothpaste brand last year.” 
  

Marketing didn’t die. It became afraid of dying. So now it clings to A/B tests and AI scripts, praying not to be noticed, not to offend, not to try too hard. It’s survival over sensation. And it shows.

Safety Isn’t Strategy

The worst campaigns aren’t the ones that failed. They’re the ones that never dared. The ones engineered for applause but forgotten before lunch.

Great brands bleed in public. They fall. They flinch. They get roasted on Reddit. And then they get up, weirder and wiser.

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but the stories you tell.” — Seth Godin

But here’s the real secret: The best stories? Come from the stuff that nearly killed you.

The Crisis of Creative Cowardice

Today’s creative teams sit in Zoom rooms hoping ChatGPT will birth originality. But Nietzsche would’ve snapped their ring lights in half.

You can’t iterate your way into bravery. You need tension. Threat. Even the possibility of failure to force evolution.

• If your campaign doesn’t risk ridicule, it probably won’t earn reverence.
• If your copy reads like beige tofu, no one’s tasting it twice.
• If your brand never limped, it never ran hard enough.

Nietzsche wasn’t handing out motivational posters. He was preparing us for war — internal, external, and existential. In brand-speak? He was begging you to do something weird enough to maybe suck. But maybe… shake the market.

Fail Forward or Fossilise

Madsot embraces glorious flop potential. That’s why our campaigns have blood in them. Sweat in them. Stupid ideas that somehow land like lightning.

Because what doesn’t kill us?

Makes us memorable.

---

← Back to Mental Cartography