The annual State of Creativity study is conducted by Lions Advisory, the consultant arm of Cannes Lions, to help marketers understand the key challenges, trends and opportunities for creativity in the industry. It is informed by a global survey of 1,000 marketers and creatives, and augmented by one-on-one interviews with industry experts.
The general sentiment from this year’s study is that creative confidence is waning. Only 13% of companies are taking a risk-friendly approach to their marketing communications. But there’s actually more incentive to take creative risks today than ever before.
Risk tolerance is a learned comfort zone – we can train ourselves out of risk aversion
Deloitte found that risk-taking brands are 33% more likely to see long-term revenue growth, and risk-taking brands generate profit margins up to four times higher than non-risk takers, according to WARC, part of the Lions family. What’s more, research by the consultancy Eatbigfish and the advertising company System1 has looked at the ‘cost of dull’ and found that, in the long run, it’s actually costing marketers more to be dull. Playing it safe is no longer the safe option.
The State of Creativity report showed that two key trends are holding marketers back from taking risks. The first is what we have termed ‘the insight famine’, which means that weak insight development is limiting bold creativity among marketing teams. The other is what we’re calling ‘the culture lag’, meaning that a lack of cultural agility is holding brands back from taking part in key cultural moments. If brands can navigate these confidence killers, they can go on to produce more effective work.
So what can brands do to regain their confidence? If I were a CMO, there are three things I would focus on right now.
Invest in training to get better at insights
The first is upskilling teams on insight development. Creative marketing capabilities are a bit like a sport – if you don’t keep on top of the training, you’ll lose your form and that’s what we’re seeing here, particularly with the insight famine. This year’s study revealed that brands with better insight capabilities are more likely to prioritise creativity, embrace creative risks and respond to cultural trends effectively. This is interesting because it tells us that, if brands can get insight development right, they’re more likely to have the confidence to build on these other areas.
Currently, over half of respondents say that their ability to develop insights is either poor or very poor. We discovered three factors that are holding brands back: a lack of understanding of what constitutes a good insight in the first place, not prioritising insight development in the business and insufficient time allocated for deep insight exploration.
My advice to CMOs is to invest significantly in training to get everyone up to speed and aligned on what sorts of insights the brand is looking for. Ikea, for example, does this well. Every year, the retailer publishes a massive research report called Life at Home, which it uses to understand the needs and wants of its consumers better and provide the brand with insights on how consumers feel about its advertising. By backing ideas with insights, you’re able to take more calculated risks, so your team will feel more confident in executing the work.
Get comfortable with the uncomfortable
Next, marketing teams must get comfortable with taking risks. There is a misconception that creative confidence is something you either have or you don’t, but that’s not the case at all. Risk tolerance is a learned comfort zone – we can train ourselves out of risk aversion. And we do this by pushing for ideas that scare us.
We need senior execs to lead these efforts and push their team’s creative thinking even when ideas fail. Mondelēz is a brand that does this well. As part of their internal marketing awards programme they have what’s called the I’m Possible Award, which is centered around learning from failure. This has helped to shift this mindset and reappraise behaviors like curiosity and courage in the organisation. The award highlights instances where things didn’t go exactly according to plan but valuable lessons were learned. The winners of this award get an invite to the Cannes Festival of Creativity as a celebration of their curiosity.
This kind of thinking is super important for the psychological safety of the team. If you keep shooting ideas down, people will stop telling you their ideas altogether. The dilution of ideas is another one of the main internal blockers for creative risk-taking, with 19% of marketers saying their ideas were routinely being shot down or diluted by those at the top level.
Buddy up
Finally, marketers should aim to build stronger partnerships. Having a strong client-agency relationship can help you develop better insights and get comfortable with risk a lot faster and more effectively. But these partnerships are not always fully utilised. One of the main causes of tension in last year’s State of Creativity study was the client-agency relationship. Agency partners felt that they were undervalued and claimed that they felt more like an extra pair of hands than a valued partner from the start. There’s a great opportunity here to invite them in, open up the communication more honestly and set some goals together around what you want to achieve and how you’re each going to own that.
The longevity of a client-agency relationship is key. It can enable a strong bedrock of shared understanding, shared ambition and trust, which, ultimately, are necessary to get true creativity.
From what I’ve seen from recent Cannes Lions winners, the most successful brands aren’t just prioritising creativity, they’re obsessed with it. What keeps brands at the top of their game year after year is that they’re innately curious in everything they do. Curiosity is a great tool and, if you can encourage it, it can fuel continuous learning and innovation. Brand leaders should look to create an environment where ideas can flourish and failure is seen as a stepping stone rather than a loss.
The annual State of Creativity study is conducted by Lions Advisory, the consultant arm of Cannes Lions, to help marketers understand the key challenges, trends and opportunities for creativity in the industry. It is informed by a global survey of 1,000 marketers and creatives, and augmented by one-on-one interviews with industry experts.
The general sentiment from this year's study is that creative confidence is waning. Only 13% of companies are taking a risk-friendly approach to their marketing communications. But there's actually more incentive to take creative risks today than ever before.
Risk tolerance is a learned comfort zone – we can train ourselves out of risk aversion
