The creative industry hasbeen bruised by the 
pandemic, but in all the chaos lies opportunity. 
Our global survey will show
you what needs to change
and how.

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest2

“I think challenges of any kind usually lead to
big leaps in a lot of fields. Creativity is one ofthem. Creativity can bloom under the
toughest conditions.”

SENIOR BRAND LEADER | HEALTH & BEAUTYState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

3

Welcome to theState of Creativity

CHARLOTTE WILLIAMSVP CONTENTLIONS I THE HOME OF CREATIVITY

A creative re-set

Lions’ first global survey went out at the
beginning of 2021. Our intention was tocheck in with the global creative industry.
The honesty of the 1,500 responses was
illuminating, from the creative director wholaments the fact that “there is no creativity;
just production of reassuring content” tothe automotive brand marketer who
complains of “falling into pathetic
execution vs true creativity”.
Along the way, though, there were hundreds
relishing the creative opportunity to contributeto business recovery. Thanks to everyone
for your candour – it was truly appreciated.

Why post-crisis growthdepends on creativity

A collective consciousness

The pandemic is fundamentally changing
what people want and businesses need to
evolve to accommodate these new
expectations. Old ways of thinking and“sticking to what’s worked in the past”
simply won’t do. What was so positive to see
is a groundswell of optimism around the roleof creativity and an opportunity to rethink
the way we work: an opportunity to produce
more meaningful, more entertaining andmore exciting output.
It’s been amazing to see so many inspiring
examples of this at the Cannes Lions awards
for 2020/21.

We’ve scrutinised thousands of comments
submitted by respondents and identified ashared sentiment across the industry.
This can best be described as “radical
optimism”, “disconnected collaborations” and“a cautiously committed creative appetite”.

The report is based on
three inputs:
A global survey of 1500+
marketers, creatives and media
owners at “Head of” level
and above
One-on-one interviews withmultiple, global CMOs,
creatives and marketing
leaders
Advice from creative leaders andexperts featured on
LIONS Live

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

4THE SENTIMENTTODAY
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

5

“If you think about the point we’re at in time - which some are calling the “great reset” - atthis moment in the world there is a responsibility for companies such as ourselves to reallyhelp chart a path forward.
We can always say that things are not going to be perfect. But I’ve always maintained thatworking in this industry is a burden and a privilege.
Now, what are you going to do with that privilege? What truth are you going to tell? How
do you help people navigate what’s next?
[We’re] uniquely poised to help with that effort.”
NADJA BELLAN-WHITEGLOBAL CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
VICE MEDIA GROUP

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

6

RECOLOUR YOUR WORLD | LIST GENERAL CONTRACTOR

1

2017

RadicalOptimism
REICHL UND PARTNER WERBEAGENTUR | AUSTRIA

Given the industry’s inherent disposition to problem-solving,
we saw a level of comfort from our respondents towards all the current
ambiguity. But the levels of confidence and positivity in the comments
were unexpected. Despite burnout, remote working and temporary
stagnation, the industry’s natural inclination towards problem-solving
has never been keener.

“The blank canvas, clean-slate momentin the resetting scenario lends a
perfect platform for creativity tocontribute in the business recovery…
a strategic opportunity to rise up to
the occasion.”
VP MARKETING | ENERGY COMPANY
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

7LO AND BEHOLD | NETSCOUT

2

2017

Disconnected
Collaborations
PEREIRA & O’DELL | NEW YORKThe crisis seems to have brought the global creative community closer
together. Some things are simply bigger than ‘the competition’. There’s
no denying, though, that creatives and marketers thrive on humaninteraction and communication. Remote production shoots and virtual
pitches are not the creative community’s preferred way of working, withteams longing for the benefits of face-to-face contact once more.
But you told us how you adapted and in the process, honed new skills- be it upskilling in animation and CGI, refined briefing sessions,or improved listening skills.

“There’s a loss of serendipity inthe creative process”
CREATIVE | FULL-SERVICE AGENCYState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

8

67%

3

A cautiously committed
creative appetite
Fear and reticence were mentioned in a lot of responses. Agencies frequently lamented
a lack of bravery from brand partners and brand partners frequently cited the dread ofsounding tone-deaf. But as much as agency partners think brands aren’t committed tocreativity, the opposite is, in fact, true: 67% see creativity as extremely valuable as acompetitive advantage in business. We also saw strong commitment to creative marketingoverall from brands. So why the disconnect? Is it about not having a shared understanding of
the true definition and impact of applied creativity? It seems so. It would make sense thatthe respondents to our survey believe in the power of creativity: its capacity to change
minds, behaviour and business prospects. We just all need to get on the same page.
As one creative put it:“There is a perception that ‘creativity’ and ‘effectiveness’ are two different entities. When in
reality, they are just two sides of the same coin. Work can only be truly effective if it is truly
creative”.

see creativity as
extremely valuable
as a competitive
advantage inbusiness“Clients want to do innovative
things and ask for something neverdone before, but they’re not braveenough to do something novel andwant examples of how we have done
it before… which is contradictory.”
CREATIVE | FULL-SERVICE AGENCYState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

9THE FIVEKEY CHALLENGES
FOR 2021
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

10The Five key
challenges for 2021
The last 15 months caused huge
upheaval within the creative
communications industry. Our
research set out to identify themost pressing challenges, biggest
opportunities and new
approaches for creative andmarketing leaders.
These are the top five key points:

1
Creativity’sworth the fight.
And now is
the time tohold hands
and jump
together2
Committing tocreativity. This is
the momentto buckle infor thelong-haul

3
The campaign
to bring backbravercreative

4
How do wemake killer,
collaborative
creativity fromthe (kitchen)table?

5
Designingfor digitaldexterity

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

11

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

121Creativity’sworth the fight.
And now is thetime to hold hands
and jump together
Brands say they want big, bold, creative ideas– and agencies are straining at the leash toprovide them.
But saying one thing and meaning anotheris causing confusion. Agencies feel that theirclients have limped into ‘safe’ mode and areobsessed with short-term gains.

Three next steps...

Steer mutual
collaboration througha shared agenda

Focus on the value forbrands – and for
consumers

Encourage abroadened definitionof creativity

We need to be explicit about what
the goal is, creatives need to bebusiness partners to gain true
respect from clients.

Work must always be avalue-exchange and focused on theoutcomes. Again, teams must be
clear on what value is and revisit ifnecessary.

There needs to be clearer
consensus on what creativity is. It’s
not about performance v. brandmarketing or ideas v. execution: it is
wide-ranging and multi-dimensional.

“The whole notion of creative value – ofcreativity as a self-serving practice foragencies in disregard of what is actuallyvaluable for the brands – must be
re-evaluated, reassessed. There is an
unedited urgency to apply creativity as ameans of healing and overcoming the many
challenges faced by markets.”“Each year I give a lecture to the MBA
students at Oxford University about two
kinds of creativity in business - innovationand expression. Innovation is about arranging
the world in the way your company thinks itshould be and Expression is about arranging
the world in the way your company feels it
should be. Brilliant companies do both.”“Better creative, better insights” – everyone
agrees on the goal, but I’m not sure there
is alignment on how to get there. We needfaster mutual collaboration and ways tokeep it all very real… real to consumers andmarkets... while trying to breakout andconnect our brands to be really helpful toour consumers and customers, some ofwhom are in “survival’ mode.”
SENIOR BRAND MARKETER | FMCG FOOD & DRINKSENIOR AGENCY LEADERPERRY NIGHTINGALE | SVP CREATIVE AI | WPPThe challenge is to find common ground– for brands and agencies to agree on
exactly what is desired and how this can beachieved.

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

13

2Committing tocreativity.
This is themoment to buckle
in for the long-haul

Three next steps...

Defend the soft
metrics for creativity
as much as the hard
metrics
Metrics such as brand health areimportant and often underestimated.
As Hurman and Field showed in their2020 study “The Creative
Effectiveness Ladder”, they shouldbe tracked over six months, not justthe short-term.
Brands need a wide-range of metrics
to evaluate successes of campaigns.

Agree on theobjectives and KPIs
from the outset
The holy grail of all partnerships.
Rule number one. Be clear and don’trush this stage.

“It’s more about getting the clients to agree
to the right KPIs for the work, depending onwhether the objective is awareness orengagement/conversion.”
SENIOR AGENCY LEADERThe last two years have seen a partial retreat
from creativity, with a focus on short-term
results (at a cost). Before committing to wild
and wonderful ideas or wider messaging
designed to reap future rewards, brands now
want assurances.

“It’s hard to build a brand from banner ads,
but they are increasingly used because theC-suite can see instant results, rather thanbuilding a brand over time.”

There needs to be better, more unified ways
to define and measure creativity so thatbrands will commit to it.

“There is a wide gap for clients inunderstanding the correlation between
marketing effectiveness and brand health i.e. the value of ‘soft metrics’ is continuing todiminish.”

Recognise that thelong-term brand work
will have a halo effecton short-term stunts
The Creative Effectiveness Laddershows long-term brand and sales
growth to be the ultimate goal - andwork needs to be in the market for six
months or more for the best effects.

“We need to prove to clients thatshort-term spikes are not the goal.”
SENIOR CREATIVE AGENCY LEADER”If you invest in the long-term value of thebrand, that long-term creative idea - you’ll
be so much more successful in profit later
on, and you’ll be more resilient. This is aconversation that more companies areaving. People will turn back to those things
they are more familiar with.”
SENIOR BRAND MARKETER | PHARMACEUTICALSSENIOR CREATIVE AGENCY LEADERS

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

14

3

The campaign
to bring backbraver creative

In times of crisis, creativity famously flourishes.
Unfortunately, the creatives work for thebrands – and the brands are currently
disinclined to deviate from what appear tobe safe tactics.

Three next steps...

Get to the root causeof the problem first to
unlock more originalideas

See the changes in
consumer behaviour
as a licence to try new
thingsYou often have to do some serious
self-evaluation and reflection to dig
out the most brave ideas that feel
authentic to you and to consumers.
Trust your gut.

Be in lock-step with consumer
sentiment and focus on niche
moments in time as much as big,
long-term trends. There are plenty ofopportunities to be had at a precise
moment in time.

“We’re using a strong creative problem-solving
process for internal and client projects,
leading to some groundbreaking
developments for both the agency andclients.”
EVENTS SPECIALIST“There’s a lot of new techniques,
methodologies and approaches toexpand our creativity and bring new andexciting ideas, but we need to understandhow agencies can open their minds to thisworld.”In an environment ofconstant change, takeadvantage and iterate
Don’t be afraid of experimentationand trying new things. Everyone has a
responsibility here. Creative courage
is contagious.

“One significant positive outcome of thepandemic has been agencies’ and clients’
willingness to create, iterate and ideate
strategically and creatively in real-time given
the rapidity and acceleration of change.”
CREATIVE AGENCY LEADER

BUSINESS MEDIA OWNER

Lost in a sea of sameness, brands risk missingout on a raft of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
However, the agencies are committed
to upskilling their workforce in pursuit ofground-breaking ideas. Can they convince
their clients to take the plunge?

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

15

4

How do we makekiller, collaborative
creativity from the(kitchen) table?

Three next steps...

Provide access toexamples of creative
excellence
In times where in-person brainstorms
can’t take place to spark ideas,
establish centres of excellence thatinspire creativity.

“We’re creating centers of excellence thateveryone in our global network can accessremotely.”

Deprived of meaningful human interactions,many creatives are unable to operate at their very
best. The serendipitous sparks have been all but
extinguished, and you’re telling us you’re burnt out.
Motivation came up countless times. No-one has
a magic bullet in these “unprecedented times”.
As leaders, ideas people and problem-solvers, wemust rally together, support each other and comeup with solutions.

CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER | CREATIVE AGENCY | UK

Concentrate ontighter collaborationand training withpartners and clients

Re-imagine theplatforms andtechnologies in which
we build creative ideas

Find unconventional and fun ways towork with partners if you can. We might
be zoomed out but the businesses thatwill thrive are the ones that find ways tokeep the energy up.

There’s a wealth of tools out there to
improve real-time communication. It
sounds obvious, but make sure you tap
into them rather than default to what’seasier. There are better ways to work.

“We’re ensuring tighter collaboration withproduction. We’re choosing a key
production partner and running 95% of thework through them to achieve efficiencies.”“As an art director I need to work in realtime with my copywriter, and some of thetechnologies we use aren’t efficient. The
pandemic has really put into focus obsolete
ways of working. Instead of my writer sending
me a doc and me designing everything
separately then saving it and sending itback to her for review… we need to
re-imagine our platforms.”

HEAD OF CREATIVE | AGENCY | AUSTRALIA“We’ve got closer contact to stakeholders
through organising more remote work
sessions and catch-ups.”

CREATIVE AGENCY LEADERSTRATEGY DIRECTOR | CREATIVE AGENCY
NETHERLANDSState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

165

Designing for
digital dexterity

Three next steps...

Scrutinise yourvirtual shelf

Do digital-firststrategic planningWork at asustainable speed

Brand leaders explained how they are
doubling down on content for theirdigital shelves on Amazon and otherplatforms

Quick pivots to produce digital hacks
are now evolving into robust
digital strategies. The top priorities
are structured planning, building out
more significant capabilities
and more customisable ideas.

It’s of paramount importance tofigure out what you can hack andautomate to allow breathing spacefor ideas, but creation at asustainable speed.

“Ecommerce has made us be more effective- we weren’t very organised in our virtual shelf.
We have massively increased the amount ofA++ content we put on Amazon. We focus on
the detail.”

As Professor Scott Galloway said at Cannes LionsLive last year (quoting Lenin): “There are decades
where nothing happens; and there are weeks
where decades happen.” You can guess where
we are right now.

GLOBAL BRAND LEADER | PHARMACEUTICAL“We’re focused on proposing ideas that canbe customised in digital and physicalchannels”
BRAND ACTIVATION AGENCY LEADER“We’re bringing on better data mining anddigital analytical capabilities to sharpen thecreative solutions”“There’s a faster creative process, more agile,
creating in days what used to be weeks”
CREATIVE AGENCY LEADER

Timelines were fast before, now they’reeven faster. We are working against not only
a time clock, but a pandemic clock that canshift timelines with little to no warning.
CREATIVE AGENCY LEADERSENIOR CREATIVE AGENCY LEADER

Digital transformation was already a businessadvantage, but now it’s a business imperative. In
the race to keep up though, people are worried
about getting lost. It’s as much about culture as it
is about technologies and it’s as much about theidea as it is the execution.
There’s an opportunity for the brands who can betruly distinctive.
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

171Creativity’s worth thefight. And now is thetime to hold hands
and jump together
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

18Creativity’s worth
the fight. And now
is the time to holdhands and jump
together
WELCOME HOME | APPLEAt LIONS, we define creativity as “unusual,
original and unique thinking, which can be
usefully applied and executed”. Creativity is
innate, extraordinary and is in every human but it’s a muscle that requires constantnurturing. The breadth and depth of creativity
is constantly changing, enhanced by new
developments in data and technology.
Creativity can be experience design,
innovation, commerce and transformation.
It always requires fresh thinking on how it isapplied, revisiting the context in which it isbest used.

creativity’s value to drive growth, but creative
partners told us that they don’t experience
this confidence in creativity from brands.
There’s a need for greater alignment
between brands and creative partners on
their vision of creativity. There is also a needfor creative partners to help brands follow
through on their creative ambition,
particularly as many long-term strategic
brand plans were eclipsed by short-term
reactive schemes to ensure sales during the
pandemic.

Yet there’s a disconnect between how brandleaders and creative partners regard creativity.
Brand leaders told us that they believe in
GRAND PRIX

TBWA\MEDIA ARTS LAB LOS ANGELES | 2018

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

19

The insight:

A disconnected view on
how much brands
value creativity

67%
17%
26%

Despite what creative partners might experience in practice, brandleaders overwhelmingly value creativity to drive growth. 67% see
creativity as extremely valuable as a competitive advantage inbusiness. However, only 17% of creative partners believe that brands
value creativity to the same extent.
Creativity will always be an expansive term with nuances ininterpretation. The pandemic saw brands quickly pivot to reachcustomers through new channels and focus their creative efforts on
improving experiences. The majority of marketers (57%)* prioritised afocus on quality customer experiences to adapt to the economic
recession*. By comparison, creative partners recount that brandmessaging, tone of voice and creative expression often played safe
through the same period.

31%

Extremely Valuable

Very Valuable

43%

Question:

Brand Leaders:
To what extent do you value creativity as
a competitive advantage?
Creative Partners:
To what extent do brands value
creativity as a competitive advantage?
BRAND LEADERS*Source: WARC’s Marketers Toolkit 2021

7%

CREATIVE PARTNERS

Somewhat Valuable

0%
8% 0%
>3%

Not Too Valuable
Not At All Valuable
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

20

69%

The insight:

A disconnected view on
the priorities forcreative investment
Our survey also highlighted the difference between how brands andagencies claim to be spending their creative budgets. Where brands
stated they are prioritising creative investment in brand-building andbrand awareness - work associated with longer-term initiatives creative partners experience a different practice. More than half of thecreative partners surveyed believe brands are fixating on targeted
promotions and activations for sales uplift - work associated withshorter-term projects.
Reactive behaviour spurred on by sudden changes in spending habitsduring the pandemic may be the answer to this disconnect. As a senior
executive from an FMCG brand explained: “There is often lots of talk ofbeautiful brand-building with agencies - then the numbers come in.
We as clients have to make decisions to change the strategy to accountfor the need of revenue. Of course, we have an annual brand plan andwe have regular reviews - but it ultimately all depends on how sales pan out.”

33%
63%

Brand-building andbrand awareness

49%
36%
32%

Enhancing the customer journey
and brand experience34%
Re-shaping and launchof new product(s)or service(s)Question:
In which areas are you prioritising creative

51%

32%
40%

investment in the next six months?
BRAND LEADERSCREATIVE PARTNERS

Improving the commerce /transcation experience(s)State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

21

A year of
disconnection
will make us
stronger & better
We’ve spent a year in survival mode and whilst it’s frequently felt like adrudge, let’s not forget how quickly the industry adapted to all thevolatility. Plans were ripped up and re-thought, planning quickly moved
into action and the whole industry has upskilled in virtual production,
the rapid testing of ideas and how to be creative within newparameters.
Speed and agility were mentioned more than 100 times in verbatim
comments: it seems that you have even surprised yourselves at just
HOW quickly we can refocus and move when you need to.
This will lead to a new age of flexibility, dynamism and transparency.
It will also strengthen relationships: just think how many new faces
you’ve “met” this year, albeit over a screen. We also have a new empathy
and sensitivity towards colleagues, clients and society more generally.
That can only be a good thing.

Here’s what you said:“We’ve shown in the lastyear that we can be morecreative than we everimagined. Yes you see it in
the work...the work thathasn’t changed much...
because we have had tobe creative behind thescenes...we’ve had tobe smart and figure out
workarounds so we had aseamless transition toremote work, remote
production, fragmented
teams.”C-SUITE | FULL-SERVICE AGENCY“We’re building smaller, tighter agile
creativity teams”
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER | LEO BURNETT“We are trusting the newer creative
structure more and more that teams canstill function effectively even when notunder the same office roof. At times wedeliver faster than before.”
CREATIVE DIRECTOR | AGENCYState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

22Designing for change:
The way forward

Creativity inbusiness
disruption

When we pick apart the reasons why brands and theircreative partners are so misaligned in their beliefs about
how much businesses value creativity, one aspect is clear.
The definition of creativity – and with it,agency capabilities – must broaden.
Two agency founders share their views on how they’reagencies are adapting to meet today’s creative needs.

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

23

“It’s not just about keeping pace but being ahead of what’s next. And while our corephilosophy has remained the same, we’re increasingly asked by clients to take on a more
integrated and consultative role. For us, digital has always been the strategy not thetactic. It’s more than just a creative execution in a digital environment — it’s about
harnessing consumer data to inform design and engaging experiences that are built
around user needs and behaviours.
This is a big focus of our Data, Analytics, Research & Testing (“DART”) and technology
practices, which we continue to scale. Some companies tend to think of ‘brand’ in a more
singular way; that all you need are brand truths and guidelines, or only a big TV spot inorder to connect with consumers. While these are important, they are not the only
answer. Today, it’s not just about what your brand stands for but how your brandbehaves, and that means considering how a brand’s platform activates across allchannels — from communications and services to experiences. Modern brand-building isabout building brand experiences.”DAN GARDNER
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO
CODE AND THEORYState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

24

“With change comes opportunity. So I look at this as a moment of radical opportunity. The
opportunity for transformation over the past year has been unlike this industry has everseen. It’s forced talent to find new homes - some even whole new careers. It’s led to newagency models and ways of working. For Mischief, that means operating at speed withno layers or siloes, focusing on investing in talent and approaching every project from apoint of solving problems not selling a solution. This time has also forced marketers totake bigger risks and disrupt with more confidence at a much faster pace. Advertising
will never be the same. For the better. The past year is one of the best things to have
happened to creativity.”

GREG HAHN
CO-FOUNDER AND CCO
AT MISCHIEF@ NO FIXED ADDRESSState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

25

2Committing to creativity.
This is the momentto buckle in forthe long-haulState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

26

Committing tocreativity. This is
the moment tobuckle in for the
long-haul
NIKE DREAM CRAZY | NIKE

There’s nothing like a crisis to reduce
everyone to short-term thinking: in fact, it’sa natural human response. As one respondent
put it, “it’s fight, flight, freeze or fixate on
immediate results”. As uncertainty looms andshort-term initiatives dominate the conversation,
brand leaders repeatedly proclaim thedifficulty in demonstrating creativity’s
positive impact over the long-term.
At the same time, creative partners highlightthe challenges of shifting to project-based
work; all at the cost of ongoing partnershipsthat produce the transformational creativity
brands desire. It’s an agonisingly familiar
refrain.

GRAND PRIX

Despite the feeling that we’ve heard all thisbefore, it’s never been more important toshow the ROI on creative endeavours – andbe certain of the objectives from the outset.
It might be outdated now to cite brandbuilding vs performance marketing asan”either/or” when the reality is that you
need both, but as countless studies haveshown: when the chips are down, it’s time toinvest in long-term, brand-building creative.
So how can brands prove the cumulative
impact of creativity?
And what does it take to commit tocreativity for the long haul?

WIEDEN+KENNEDY PORTLAND | 2018

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

27

“A lot of the communication from clients has moved
to the more tactical briefs, solving immediatechallenges with smaller budgets, so everything rightnow is much more results-focused than simple
awareness or brand-building.”
SENIOR LEADER | DIGITAL AGENCYState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

28

What’s the appetite
for creativity?
While brand leaders speak of their business’s willingness to invest in
creativity, the scrutiny on creativity’s ROI has intensified. Almost a thirdof brand leaders (28%) told us that there is a more urgent, mountingpressure to prove the effectiveness of creativity.

31%

29%
Willingness to invest,
but have become
more short-term focused

Three common challenges were highlighted by those who try to do so:a lack of consistency, too much reliance on conversion data and the
difficulty of attributing success to creativity vs other business activities.
Digital media has generated numbers in click-throughs and likes,
but how can brands quantify the intangible benefits of creativity to
stakeholders?

“The biggest challenge is arriving at a measure ofeffectiveness that can be common across all media
platforms”

SENIOR BRAND MARKETER | FMCG

17%
9%

12%
18%

Understand the importance of long-termhigh-quality creativity and invest assordingly

SENIOR LEADER | MEDIA AGENCY“It’s tricky to measure the varying impact acrosstouchpoints, especially point-of-sale investments”

28%
21%

7%

Question:

How has your experience of sellingin creativity changed as a result of
the pandemic?
BRAND LEADERSAGENCIES

Become more risk averse with creative ideas

20%

Investment in creativity has
reduced following the pandemic
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

29How challenging is it
to measure creative
efforts?

35%

26%
Measuring brand health

20%

By far the most cited issue when it comes to creative effectiveness isshowing the impact of long-term creativity. 61% of brands told us theyfind this very or extremely challenging.
Brand leaders identified key reasons for this challenge:
A lack of standardisation around the concepts and terminology there is confusion around what we mean by terms such as ‘brandhealth’, ‘brand affinity’, and ‘brand engagement’. With the confusion
follows a diminishing reliance on these soft metrics.

20%

36%

Short-term tactical ideas can drive hard numbers. However, too muchdirection is taken from these “instant” results - data from short-term
spikes is used to set the next phase of action without allowing a
campaign to run its course.

47%

19%
18%
Showing the impact of long-term creative work

VERY OF EXTREMELY CHALLENGINGSOMEWHAT CHALLENGING

N.B This question was for brand leaders only.

61%

16%
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

30Designing for change:
The way forward

Multiplying
effective
brand work

To break the cycle of short-termism and see how anevidence-based approach to brand-building can work, we
can take guidance from Global Associate Director, Growth
Acceleration for MARS on the company’s strategy tomultiply effective brand-building.

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

31

“At MARS, we remain highly focused on brand building - one of our core principles is
how we create winning stories that let us build brands with purpose. What gives me
confidence is our creative process and how it allows us to increase the odds ofdeveloping content that sells. We take an evidence-based approach to building brands.
Research has shown that if you are measuring and disproportionately investing in ads
that perform at a high level then you significantly increase your brand’s growth trajectory.
We set global targets that encourage the business to invest the majority of spend in
effective advertising. If you want to build distinctiveness you have to invest in advertisingthat sells. The challenge with ROI as a leading metric is that it drives the behaviour of
maximising efficiency at the expense of investing to grow. You can drive a positive ROI
but this doesn’t always mean you are maximising conversion. Measure what is working
well, then boost investment in those campaigns.”

ALEX SCIACCA
GLOBAL ASSOCIATE DIRECTORGROWTH ACCELERATION | MARSState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

32

Why your brand matterseven more in a digital world
WARC’s VP Content David Tiltman explains why we can’t be short-sighted with brand-building online

Over the past two years, since Peter Field presented on the WARC stage at Cannes Lions, we have been told
repeatedly that there is a crisis in creative effectiveness.
And in the climate of the pandemic, it’s getting worse. WARC’s data has shown a sharp contraction in brandinvestment and a swing towards performance marketing. During the economic shock of the past year manymarketers understandably focused spend on short-term cash generation. And with the shift to eCommerce,
performance is likely to remain king: the biggest winner of the past year, in Western markets, is Amazon, as
brands fight to be heard as close to the point of purchase as possible.

DAVID TILTMAN
VP CONTENT | WARC

It’s no wonder marketers are confused. While industry researchers like Les Binet and Peter Field call for a return
to brand-building, high-profile pundits such as Scott Galloway declare that the era of ‘brand’ is over – replaced
by a product-focused era in which carefully crafted narratives are swept away by online reviews, and renderedmeaningless by the algorithms of almighty platforms.

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

33

So how can marketers and agencies respond?
Here are a few key things to consider to make the case for creative brand-building:Brand still matters in online commerce – think of brands as keywords. So marketers should be looking at therelationship between brand and search terms in their category. There’s a lot of interesting thinking going onaround how to use search data – it’s worth paying attention.
Performance works best alongside strong brands – so look for ways to tie the two together. The platforms
have already recognised this and are rushing to create ‘full funnel’ ad formats. There is huge scope forcreative thinking with these tools.
eCommerce is crowded – so what’s going to make you stand out? The role of distinctive assets built overtime – brand characters, logos, colours, devices – remains key.
Finally, brand-building has to include non-communications considerations such as CX, delivery and the productexperience. Again, there is huge scope to extend creative thinking to these areas.

DAVID TILTMAN
VP CONTENT | WARC

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest34

3

The campaign
to bring backbraver creative
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

35

The campaign
to bring backbraver creative“The future is unknown – which is the greatest opportunity for creativity.”
AGENCY CONSULTANT

THE WHOPPER DETOUR | BURGER KINGAt LIONS, we are in the privileged positionof seeing some of the most barrier-crushing,genre-defying, stereotype-shattering work and it’s this kind of stand-out work that wins
awards. It’s also this kind of work that pushes
the creative community to up its game andpush harder to do better. At the time youwere responding to our State of Creativity
survey, it seemed that many of you felt thatcreativity was in retreat – that the priority
for brands was to stick to tried-and-tested
methods. You also told us that a focus on
digital caused many brands to become aslave to the algorithm. Fear as a theme wascommon in both brands (who cited aconcern of appearing tone-deaf or cliched)
and agency creatives (who didn’t hold back intheir frustrations around a lack of client
courage).
If the right tone and stories are proving hard
to find, a proliferation in new platforms isproviding fertile ground for experimentation.
Many of you told us how you’re trialling newtechniques, exploring new platforms andengaging with new technologies. It’s been
incredible to see the exceptional creativity
awarded at the Cannes Lions awards for
2020/21
So, what can we do collectively to get outof the rut of safe creative?
How can we convince brands, partners
and the board that bravery pays off?

FCB USA | 2019

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

36

The insight:

Understandably,

the fear and reticence was aby-product of the emergence of‘cancel culture’ – and consumers
feeling disconnected from their
typical surroundings“I wanted to have T-shirts made for several years now that say ‘Fear is not a
strategy’: like you can’t have fear define what you do. And I feel like we’ve been
fairly fearless marketers historically. But in this latest context, I do feel that fear iscreeping in. Because it almost feels like with ‘cancel culture’, it’s very hard to do
anything right.
“I think the best thing we can continually remind ourselves to do is root in
authenticity. So make sure that the root of everything we’re doing is true.”
KATHLEEN HALLCHIEF BRAND OFFICER | MICROSOFT“Agencies have become more cautious, brands too.
And in a way, that is a reflection of the consumer - who has disconnected from allthings related to non-essential consumption and re-focused on the basics.”
CREATIVE AGENCY LEADERState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

37

The insight:

Agencies lament
brand conservatism -with candid comments on theneed for bravery and originality“I’ve seen a sea of sameness withtwo brands launching the sameideas on the same day.
Creativity needs inspiration andright now this industry is insideand lacking perspective - on
both the client and agency side.
A lot of mirroring the consumer
is happening and it is not good
because life is not good.”“Too many brands
adopting the ‘Zoom’ ad,
or ads reflecting thecurrent situation.
They lack creativity
and distinctiveness.
I can’t remember asingle brand associatedwith any of them, andI’ve seen loads.
The best ads are notmirrors, but enchanting
escapism.”
AGENCY SENIOR LEADEREDUCATION SECTOR

DIRECTOR | BRAND AGENCY“We saw a regression to the mean: safe and forgettable creative.”
SENIOR AGENCY LEADER | DIGITAL AGENCYState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

38

There’s a hunger for change.
What are the most vital areas in which you need to educate or upskill
You shared a burning desire
your workforce?
to upskill the workforce anddevelop category-breaking ideas
81%
71%
Question:

More than 80% of you told us it was very or extremely important to
upskill your workforce in order to develop brave or category-breaking
ideas.

Mastering creative briefs

This goes hand-in-hand with a need to also upskill the creative
workforce on how to think strategically with creativity.
To push beyond the mediocre you must first set a benchmark, andthat is where our in-depth discussions confirmed how brands, as well asagencies, are providing more forums to debate and discuss what makes
for the most original ideas.
As Julie Yufe, Head of Expansion Markets Europe, AB InBev explained“We’ve developed a creative council. We bring in internal andexternal people and get the advice of people across thecompany to help assess the ideas.”“We have a creative spectrum scale that we rolled out which we
use to judge the work. As well as creating more internal
dialogue, we have our own creative awards assessed by a panelof external jurors.”

65%

83%

81%
74%
Generating insights fromdata and research

BRAND LEADERS

75%
74%
Creative leadership

91%
87%

Strategic creative thinking(developing ideas that align with business goal)48%
52%
Creative social commerceD

82%
80%
Developing brave /category-breaking ideas

NON-BRAND LEADERS

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

39Designing for change:
The way forward

Category-breaking ideas
using humour to earn attention
With an understanding that creativity is the only way to break out of the mould of a category and earn
attention, Francisco Umana, Senior Global Marketing Director, Dental Appliance Care, GSK Consumer
Healthcare – explains how one of their core brands is using humour to connect with consumers andremain distinctive.
“We work on a brand that has some stigma attached to it but that can also be relevant to many more
people. So we’re mobilising to reset the brand and be different to attract more of those potential users.
Creativity, of course, makes up a big part of this, because in a category where functionally you don’t havehuge amounts of difference, connecting with people and serving them better will bring that distinctiveness.
In consumer healthcare this is a huge opportunity and that’s what we need to do. With FCB Inferno, ouragency partner, we’re trying a new approach that is more human and incorporates humour; this can bringa lighter touch to a serious topic. However humour is a difficult emotion to tap into with a distinctive voice.
That is our creative challenge, as we aim to be charmingly cheeky, but also be empathetic to people.

FRANCISCO UMANASENIOR GLOBAL MARKETING DIRECTORDENTAL APPLIANCE CAREGSK CONSUMER HEALTHCAREOur goal in this is to try to be like that friend we all have who says funny things that are true but aren’tharsh. We know from our research that people need this type of message and are more receptive to it thanever before. When you have a good planning team who is able to translate the insight into creativity thatconnects with the consumer, you can really disrupt the category and stand out.”
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

40

4Killer,collaborative creativity
from the (kitchen) table
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

41

Killer,collaborative
creativity fromthe (kitchen) table
HOT & SPICY | KFC

Many of us watched in awe at the beginning of2020 as innovative companies pivoted
strategies and responded at breakneck
speed to a new set of circumstances. But as
you told us loud and clear, that early ignition
is now waning. What at first felt novel
rapidly became stagnant. What was at first a
new energy (albeit over a screen) quickly
became energy-zapping.
Some of the biggest barriers to ourcreative thinking are the now unavoidable
daily mundanities of our lives: kids, dogs andloud neighbours included. For now, the joyof serendipitous connections andspontaneous conversations are on hold.
The whole communication dynamic has
shifted. As one senior director put it:“Collaboration through screens is making
relationships more transactional – withincreative departments and agencies, and alsowith clients. Overall, people are less curious
and more and more are looking for the pathof least resistance.”
Mental health and burnout has been atheme in the creative industries for sometime. Presenting ideas (only to have themknocked back) is mortifying for many, buteven worse over a Google Hangout, where
the nuances of empathy are lost. But there
are solutions and there are ways to bringback some of that lost spark.

How can we find new ways to collaborate?
What are some of the practical andinspiring ways that people are flourishing?

OGILVY HONG KONG | 2019

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

42You told us of
the realities ofcollaborating on
creativity in the current,
virtual working
environment“We’re missing the tactile
stimuli - stickies on walls,
papers and ideas scattered;
the in-person chemistry andmomentum of humans in a room
together.”“We’re missing out onthe ‘war room’-style
creative brainstorm
sessions and thebouncing around ofideas. It’s hard to build
the same energy andexcitement virtually.”
DIGITAL AGENCY LEADERSENIOR CREATIVE AGENCY LEADER“Zoom, Google Hangouts or Teams cannot foster discussions
necessary to originate or enrich good ideas. Also, the social
bonding necessary for a team to optimise its creative output is
not possible remotely.”“There is a lack of accidental inspiration - exposure to ideas bybeing in a collaborative workplace with other people.”
SENIOR CONSULTANT | AGENCY

PLANNING DIRECTOR | COLOMBIAState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

43

So what’s happening
with in-housing?

Question:

In 2021, how do you plan
to change how you manage
your creative services?

Bring morecreative development
in-house

22.2%

Aside from the shift to a virtual office, there has also been some change
to the way brands manage their creative services.
41% of brand leaders identified some in-housing of creative services
either on the media or creative side vs 17% looking to outsource. Just
over a third (36%) indicated no change.
How does this impact creative collaboration?
This trend falls in step with creative partners telling us they aredelivering their services to clients through more project-based workwith tighter briefs, where speed and efficiency are key.

“Clients give us more ‘dry briefs’ because their spending has been cut and we mostly work on adaptations or
smaller projects.”

FULL-SERVICE AGENCY LEADER

For brands, there is a focus on in-housing to drive efficiency andupskilling new internal teams on creative excellence, but a recognitionof where agency partners can best support.

“We’re centralising creative process and investment toscale winning ideas faster.”

SENIOR BRAND MARKETER | FMCG

“We’re partnering with agencies to deliver insightful,meaningful creative.”

41%

36.4%

No
change7.1%

In-Housing

Bring more
media planningand buying
in-house

5.1%
Don’t
know

17.2%

Outsource
more

12.1%

Bring both
ceative development
and media planning /buying in-house

SENIOR BRAND LEADER, IT SERVICES & SOFTWAREState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

44While senior leaders shared thetrials of working in a
virtual environment,
many also highlighted someincredible new approaches
that will benefit theirworkforces well beyond
the pandemic“We’ve used astrong creative
problem-solving
process for internaland client projects,
leading to somegroundbreaking
developments forboth the agency
and clients.”
EVENTS SPECIALIST“We’re reaching out to work with external creative
forces much more, and not just individuals but
like-minded companies.”
DIGITAL AGENCY LEADER“We’ve seenbrands show
a greaterawareness ofcommunity
and the need tothink and act
responsibly tosupport these.”
SENIOR
AGENCY DIRECTOR“The pandemic has
shown how brands
can take a small
budget and really
drive it further withthe right creativity.”
MEDIA AGENCY LEADER“We’ve seen
better work
across borders.
This working
style hasproven thata team doesn’t
have to bein the same
country.”“As we went digital,
our creativity got
closer to the people
outside our bubble.”
SENIOR CREATIVE LEADERDIGITAL AGENCYEXECUTIVE
CREATIVE DIRECTOR

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

45

Designing for change:
The way forward

A flexible andadaptive creative
cultureWhilst brand leaders and creative partners were vocal
about their desire to get back to in-person collaboration,
our office space will still likely take a more fluid form infuture. Among other aspects, the flexibility that virtual
working provides has led to some positive experiencesthat many may well wish to retain. We asked leaders toshare how they are embracing this significant opportunity amid
the chaos, and what they’re doing to adapt for change.

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

46

29/04/2021

IMG_2195.jpg“There’s been a lot said about the demerits of remote working.
But a lot of people have also found that the absence of noise and shoulder tapping has
meant they are suddenly more productive and can concentrate better. So...I am sure thefuture will be a hybrid model. At home for those times of intense concentration,
together in a workspace for times of creative collaboration and idea generation.
The thing that needs to span both these areas – and I think has been understandably
diluted in the last year – is feedback. It isn’t as easy to give feedback as fluidly, easily or
often virtually, and the lack of physical connection or reading of body language has madeit easy for it to fall away. But it’s an essential part of personal growth and new ways of
embedding it into our new ways of working is as essential as the collaboration tools
themselves.”

NATASHA CHETIYAWARDANA
CO-FOUNDER AND CREATIVE PARTNER
BOW & ARROW

https://drive.google.com/ﬁle/d/1LKeehqgUfkDcdcgMWlMdX79ukW_PmZTt/view?ts=608a7bee

1/1

PART OF ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest47

“I used to think that remote meetings could never deliver the same depth of connectionthat in-real-life meetings do.
Today, I can say with confidence: what truly connects people is having one clear common goal and knowing that every single person in that small universe is as invested,needed and prepared as you are.
It doesn’t matter if this space is one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.”

BARBARA SOALHEIROFOUNDER | MESAState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

48

“On the one hand I’m in awe on how fast creativity adapts. From one day to anotherwe switched from taking it for granted working together in an office, to working together over screens from our kitchens and bedrooms. And it worked like crazy. In many ways
we are more focused and quite frankly faster finding the solution working this way.
But there is also something more intangible getting lost. The stuff that doesn’t happen
on scheduled time, the stuff that comes from hanging out together, kicking stuff around,from not feeling that every minute of a zoom call needs to be filled with someone
talking. And sometimes thinking together, ideating together, needs the pauses and thesilence in order for ideas or hunches to happen. It’s a bit like playing music, the silence isan instrument too.
That’s the part I miss. The more spontaneous moments, the unscheduled mess. The
off-the-grid instances where there are no cameras. They’re different. I think a creative
group of people, like the one you find in an an agency, crave it, and feed off it. I believe
we could all use another hit of this kind of activity at the moment.”

ANDREAS DAHLQVISTCHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER & CEO
NORD DDB | STOCKHOLM

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

49

5

Designing for
digitaldexterity
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

50Designing for
digitaldexterity

CHANGING THE GAME | MICROSOFT

With digital transformation on a bullet-train
for most businesses – and expectations for aseamless customer experience as important as
ever – there’s a permanent fear of“falling behind”.

But let’s not deny the incredible and exciting
possibilities: data-led creative and superior
experiences can offer an unrivalled “surpriseand delight” factor which can put brands at acompetitive advantage.

Platforms and technologies have seemingly
fast-tracked in 2021 - but there’s a need tostop, breathe and take stock of where we areheading. As one Strategy VP put it:“The industry has gotten too comfortableusing data and targeting as a crutch, rather
than a tool to enable original thinking. A data
point isn’t an insight, and never was.”

To rise to the challenge, businesses areexperimenting with new tools, technologies
and strategies to master the digital world.

McCANN USA | 2019

State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

51

Question:

An urgent need tokeep up-to-datewith changes in
consumer habits
With customer buying behaviour in a more unpredictable state, it’s nosurprise that we want to be better informed about what consumers
want and expect.

Which topics are critical to your knowledge?
INTERESTING, WANT TO LEARN ABOUT
CRITICAL TO MY KNOWLEDGE

Navigating theblurred boundary
between physicaland digital

Creating exceptional
human experiences
to shape theconsumer journey

37%
45%

32%

41%
Authentic brandresponsibility

36%

56%

37%

44%

Re-shaping theindustry to be

41%
34% 24%The evolution ofe/social commerce

Consumer
behaviour andsentiment in
the new-normal

51%

94% of brand leaders said understanding consumer sentiment andbehaviour in the new-normal is a topic they want to know more about,or is critical to their knowledge.
Keeping track of search and spending habits online, in-store andeverywhere in between, is clearly a requirement.

38%

38%
33%

Planning creativity
for unpredicatablescenarios

Mental healthand burnout

37%
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

52

Consumer behaviour willcontinue to evolve as a result of
the pandemic - brands need toshow dexterity in the way they
evolve their messaging to meet
new consumer needs.

“It is essential to understand our audience: how
they consume, and what they expect from us.
Only those that understand what theirconsumers need now will survive and succeed.”“Consumer sentimentand mindset is changing
so rapidly that creative
can feel outdated thesame day it’s launched.”
SENIOR BRAND MARKETERHEALTHCARESENIOR BRAND MARKETER | FMCG

“We need toensure we deeply
understand how
consumers have
evolved as aresult of thepandemic.”“We are in a new world of creativity because of
the new behaviours created by the pandemic,
as well as the economic downturn that affects
cross-generations. Knowing how to respond to
this will be crucial.”
DIRECTOR | GLOBAL CREATIVE AGENCY

MEDIA AGENCY LEADERState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

53

Question:

Dexterity withdigitaltransformation
Poised for further change, brand leaders described how they are
elevating customer experience in all areas - digital being the main
focus. 52% of brands hold customer experience as a top priority for
their digital transformation efforts in 2021.
By contrast, 57% of creative partners believe that eCommerce is the
top priority area for digital transformation for brands.

What are the key priorities for digital transformation?
BRAND LEADERS

57%

52%

42%

NON-BRAND LEADERS

45%
46%
36%

28%

19%
18%

38%
30%

28%

16%

19%

17%

15%
16%

“We’re rethinking the commerce experience to movefrom shopping to browsing, and from commerce-first tocontent-first.”

14%
9%

BRAND LEADER | PACKAGED GOODS

4%“We’re playing with the constraints of digital andhaptic media, shifting boundaries for unique and surprising
placement in the consumer acquisition process.”
MEDIA AGENCY LEADER

Restructuring
the marketing
team

Changing
company
cultureCustomerexperience

Dataorganisation
andmanagement

In-house
Automation
agencies orof marketing
creative teams tasks

Investment inmartechDrawing
insights
from big data

Ecommerce/
new routes
to market

In-house
programmaticState of Creativity: The Essential Digest

54

Question:

Which of these creative tools are you experimenting with most?

Data, livestreaming
and the rise of‘one-to-one’ comms

50%

BRAND LEADERS

Personalisation

CREATIVE PARTNERS

Personalisation

Live video / Livestreaming

Chat bots / Messenger apps
Data-led Creativity

Social Commerce

40%
Data-led Creativity

Live video / Livestreaming

To support the delivery of exceptional brand experiences, brand leaders are focused on experimenting with tools that improve one-to-one
relationships with consumers.

“We’re trying to push the boundaries of digital interactions.”

Gaming (In-game activations)Social Commerce

30%

QR CodesChat bots / Messenger apps
Creative work that makes use of geo-location
Creative work that make use of AI

Gaming (In-game activations)

Creative work that makes use of geo-location

CREATIVE AGENCY LEADER

Top of the priority list is tools to aid personalisation. Almost half (49%)
of both brand leaders and creative partners told us they are experimenting
with personalisation. For brands, chatbots and messenger apps arealso playing a big role (45% are experimenting with these tools).

QR Codes20%

Augmented reality“It’s a time to reconnect emotional intelligence with thepower of AI to design new and powerful insights.
Creativity by itself can’t reach the hearts and mindsof customers. We need to build new ways to avoid too
much algorithm-based decision-making.”
SENIOR LEADER | MEDIA BUSINESS

Enhanced payment technologies
Virtual reality
Internet of things
Connected TV

Creative work that make use of AI

For their part, creative partners see greater experimentation using
data-led creativity and livestreaming. However, there is a resounding
call to ensure brands don’t over-index on algorithms and tech to drive
engagement.

Augmented reality

Connected TV

Enhanced payment technologies

Internet of things

Facial recognition

5G

5G

10%

Virtual reality

Voice interfaces

Voice interfaces

Wearables

Facial recognition

Wearables

Other (please specify)
Other (please specify)

0State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

55

Designing for change:
The way forward

Agility and scale with
eCommerce
In her LIONS Live CMOs in the Spotlight interview, L’Oréal’s Former Chief Digital Officer, Lubomira Rochet,discussed the effort involved to build out the company’s eCommerce capabilities quickly and at-scale acrossthe group.

“The first thing is to strategise your growth by channel, by brand, by country so that you
can really scale your strategy on eCommerce. The second thing is really to build thecapabilities. We have recruited more than 2,000 eCommerce specialists in the group,and those guys are operating the 27% back-end of the business.

LUBOMIRA ROCHETFORMER CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER | L’ORÉAL“We’ve upskilled more than 50,000 people out of the 80,000
employees of L’Oréal, and by doing so, we digitised the company – we didn’t create asilo that was digital on the side.”State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

56Designing
for Change:
A ResetIt’s unrealistic to think we’ll go back to where we were 15 months ago.
It’s been tough - personally and professionally. At times it’s felt we’vebeen on a high-speed train that we can’t get off, but it’s also been agame-changer for the creative industries. For years, we’ve heard fromyou that the industry has been too slow to adapt and resistant tochange. If anything will force this - and lead us into new fertile territory it’s this recent period in history.

A renewed emphasis on
creative problem-solving

Unlocking new creative
opportunity everywhere

Greater empathy andrespect for others

Creativity comes in many forms
but it really comes into its own
when there’s a challenge.
Consumer sentiment haschanged, we’re in a state of
emergency and social justice issues
have reached a tipping point. And
it’s these critical issues that require
the collective brainpower andfirepower of this community.

As LIONS knows and WARC
reiterates in this report,
brand-building must include
non-communications considerations
such as CX delivery and the
product experience. When you
think about it, this is vast and theopportunities are endless for theambitious.

Systemic inequity has long beena theme in the creative industries,
but we were heartened to see
many accounts of progress andincreased empathy towards
others in the last few months.
You spoke of new Diversity,
Equity & Inclusion Creative
Review Committees, moretransparency in leadership and a
new appreciation of colleagues’
and clients’ home duties. Even
though we’ve been so far apart,
we seem to know and understandeach other so much better.

“It’s an amazing time to bea creative person. We needmany, many more creative
solutions in every aspectof life”
SPECIALIST HEALTHCARE CREATIVE

The democratisation ofcreativity & a new set ofdiverse creators
Rather than seeing this as athreat, we need to embrace the
new makers and creators in our
midst. It’s an exciting time forcreators and creatives and thecollaborations we will see will beelectrifying.

“The creative processneeds to change to enableagility, cross fertilisation,
collaboration”
FOUNDER AND CCO
DESIGN AGENCY

An industry on the
precipice of change
Yes, we need better alignment
between all of us on thedefinitions and expectations ofcreativity. We need to be better at
explaining the value of creativity
and demonstrating its benefits.
But the good news is that there’sa unanimous consensus that it
works. So let’s get to work.
State of Creativity: The Essential Digest

57

Our services include

Driving progress through creativity
At LIONS we have over 65 years of evidence thatcreative excellence moves people, business and society forward.
Cannes Lions: The International Festival of Creativity has beenchampioning creative excellence since 1954 with the goal ofproviding a global destination and the definitive benchmark forcreativity that drives progress.
LIONS | The Home of Creativity is the destination for anyone who
believes in the power of creative possibility and wants to aim higher
and push forward. Our purpose is to drive progress through creativity
and provide those in the business of creativity with all they need fortheir journey to creative excellence, at whatever stage they are at
and wherever they are: insight and inspiration, encouragement andconnection, milestones and magic.

Our manifesto
Creativity is extraordinary.
It can come from anywhere and exists in everyone.
It can take any shape, some of which you would never expect.
Like all of us, it’s a work in progress.
When I choose creativity I take the harder path, the unfinishedsearch in the pursuit of the exceptional. A sprint forward when there
is no finish line. Creativity has the power to transform people, build
business and shape society in a way that nothing else can. It walks
with me every step of the way, through all life’s stages anddiversions. It’s insight and inspiration, encouragement andconnection, milestones and magic.
Because of creativity I stay restless, aim higher, and push forward.

LIONS | The Home of Creativity
lionscreativity.com

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