The BetterIdeas Project surveyed 1,000+ marketers in 54 countries (including US, UK, and Australia); study reveals creative disfunction; idea approval process described as Painful, Subjective, and Slow Conducted by BetterBriefs™ in partnership with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the study reveals: -Less than a third of the marketing industry is well-trained in idea evaluation -Only a third of marketers and a quarter of agencies feel proud of their work -Half of marketers and three quarters of agencies feel the quality of creative work is not improving
NEW YORK, March 3, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Marketing's creative process is flawed, and it is stifling creativity, new research reveals. An unprecedented global study, The BetterIdeas Project surveyed more than 1,000 agency and in-house marketers, and will release findings today (Tuesday, March 4).
Conducted by BetterBriefs™ and research agency Flood + Partners, the study was produced in partnership with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), representing the opinions of 1034 industry individuals spanning 54 countries (including the USA, UK, and Australia), including both B2C and B2B sectors.
The research highlights the creative industry's weakened state and pain points, particularly in terms of idea evaluation, offering evidence-based strategies to reform the process. Key findings include:
Strong ideas are important but hard to realize:
- 76% of marketers and 91% of creative agencies find "strong creative ideas are essential to the overall success of an organization's marketing efforts"
- 54% of marketers find creative work doesn't stand out, and 75% of people working at creative agencies agree.
- 47% of marketers and 76% of agencies feel that the quality of creative work is not improving despite access to more industry tools and heightened understanding of how creativity works.
What holds back better ideas:
- On marketers and their feedback: only 30% of agencies receive clear/constructive client feedback after presenting ideas; 70% of agencies are unclear on feedback they receive.
- When asked to describe their current approval process, respondents' most commonly used words were Painful, Slow, Subjective, and Inconsistent.
- Inconsistent process: on average, it takes 5 rounds of rework or additional rounds of creative development to secure approval of an idea (up from 3 rounds in 2007).
- Flagging pride and trust: Only 36% of marketers feel proud of their work, while just 26% of creative agencies and 32% of in-house teams feel this pride.
- 70% of creative agencies don't trust the creative judgment of marketers they work with.
How to improve the creative process:
Ensure the creative idea is evaluated in keeping with the brief and key evaluation criteria:
- 23% of agencies and just 15% of marketers always use briefs when evaluating ideas.
- Only 10% of respondents agree that ideas are always evaluated against clearly defined criteria.
Empower agencies:
- Less than a third of agencies (29%) believe marketers inspire them to do their best work.
- Marketers who inspire their agency to do their best work are three times (3X) more likely to feel proud of their work.
See full report (The BetterIdeas Project) at:
Free Webinar (March 4, 2025): available at https://www.betterbriefs.com/the-betterideas-project
Los Angeles 9am / New York 12pm / London 5pm / Dubai 9pm)
Media Contact
Norbert Beatty, Fortier Public Relations, 1 9178868119, [email protected], Fortier Public Relations
SOURCE BetterBriefs™
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