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It takes a partnership between the creative and marketing teams to really increase the effectiveness of creative. Both parties need to share an interest in performance analysis and be open to surprising insights. When the teams find insights, learn, adapt, and iterate together you see real business impact. “ Brent Chiu-Watson Senior Director of Product Management: Creative Cloud Collaboration AdobeCONTENT Introduction 1 Executive Summary 2 The Creative - Marketing Relationship 3 Top Challenges in the Creative Process 9 The Importance of Data & Feedback 19 An Appeal to the CMO 23 Fun with Fonts 24 Demographics 25 About Us 271 Alex Withers CMO inMotionNow Within this report are the keys to building strategic alignment with marketing and creative, getting creative work into market, and driving results faster. In recent years, CMOs have begun to bring more creative work in-house, resulting in significant growth in in-house creative teams. In-house agencies have grown 22% in the last decade, and more than half of advertisers (64%) have shifted their creative organizations to an in-house agency. This trend shows no signs of slowing. A report by The Creative Group, which is owned by the talent consultancy Robert Half, found 60% of marketing hiring managers plan to expand their creative teams in the first half of 2019. In this environment, the In-House Creative Management Report, now in its second year, is more important than ever. It highlights trends in creative and marketing leadership, collaboration, and even team morale. Bringing creative in-house promises greater efficiencies and higher quality creative work, but organizations cant just bolt on a creative team and expect miracles. In order to reap those benefits, creative and marketing teams must develop a strategic relationship. This report uncovers opportunities to improve the alignment of creative and marketing shops and tells a cautionary tale for those that do not. Marketing and creative leaders seeking to improve creativity and performance would do well to examine the findings in this report closely. Within this report are the keys to building strategic alignment with marketing and creative, getting creative work into market, and driving results faster. “ Andy Brenits President, Board of Directors InSource As in-house creative services departments mature and become more embedded within their organizations, more is asked of them on an almost daily basis. However, as the needs of the company become increasingly urgent, we need to remind our marketing partners that the name of the department is Creative Services, not Creative Servants. If marketing managers merely see the creative team as their go-to resource for execution of tactics, they are missing out on the actual value this in-house resource can be to them. The creative team has problem- solving and idea-generating capabilities that extend far beyond executing design and content. In fact, I believe that all creatives have the professional responsibility to offer another option that the client has not yet considered by asking “why” as often as possible. However, if the creative team feels like they are continually running down a hill with their hair on fire, they cant possibly provide value because they are too busy putting out the fire. This, of course, is where the operations side of things comes into play. A project management system, used correctly, allows creative leaders to smoothly manage the workload of the team and the needs of the client. Yes, urgent needs do arise, but if you have your operations running efficiently, you should be able to put out the fires as effectively as anything else you do. “ Efficient operations are what gives you the time to be really creative problem solvers.2 Executive Summary Creative and marketing leaders are receiving marginal grades as creative teams suffer low morale. As in-house creative teams continue to grow, creative and marketing leadership must be more effective in how they connect their teams. Marginal leadership and poor morale lead to a disjointed and ineffective partnership with marketing.45 % of respondents say morale on their team is high Usher in a new age of creative - marketing alignment by understanding the top challenges creative teams face, and the key process improvements to address them. Creative and marketing teams need to increase alignment. As a product of leadership gaps, creative and marketing teams are misaligned, preventing them from doing their best work. Teams that report strong alignment are 16% more likely to have strong leadership, and 12% more likely to have high morale. 79 % say they rarely or never receive feedback on the performance of their creative As teams grow, creatives are stuck spending more time on administrative tasks. In addition, an astonishing one-fifth (22%) indicated they spend 10 hours a week or more chasing down information, feedback, and approvals.48 % say they spend about one day a week or more on non-creative work thats up 14% from the same survey last year Consistent with the 2018 report, volume and velocity are the top challenges facing creatives. This is followed by the creative desire to be considered strategic contributors rather than “mechanical artists” robotically banging out creative content. Key creative process improvements will address these core challenges and build alignment between creative and marketing. 72 % of creatives report that “obtaining the necessary information to get started on a project” is the biggest administrative task that soaks up time they could otherwise spend being creative ONLY3 CREATIVE AND MARKETING NEED TO STRENGTHEN THEIR RELATIONSHIP As more organizations migrate from agency to in-house creative teams, the relationship between the creative team and the marketing team is crucial for success. In-house creative teams are not service providers, but rather strategic business partners, focused and dedicated to core business objectives. Leaders should keep a close eye on creative and marketing camaraderie of creatives sayteam moraleis highof creatives say their organization invests in training 45 % 44 % Only Only4 CREATIVE AND MARKETING NEED TO STRENGTHEN THEIR RELATIONSHIP 4 My organizations creative leadership is effective Morale on my creative team is high My organization invests in creative team training and development Creative and marketing leadership must become more effective Given the significant growth in creative team size over the last year, its not surprising leadership is struggling with the required operational change management. However, creative and marketing leaders should heed this warning, as poor leadership leads to misalignment between the teams. Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or disagree Agree Strongly agree Level of agreement with the following statements 64 % think creative leadership is effective 60 % say the creative team uses best practices 54 % think marketing leadership is effective 64 % 45 % 44 % 18 % My creative team uses best practices 60 % 19 % My organizations marketing leadership is effective 54 % 26 % 31 % 37 % ONL Y ONL Y ONL Y5 The relationship between creative and marketing is still playing catch-up Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree Disagree Neither Agree or Disagree Agree 11% 11% 6% 36% 36% 47 % say the relationship has improved 17 % say the relationship has not improved say collaboration is ineffective Collaboration leaves room for improvement If the relationship between the marketing and creative teams indicates overall morale and rapport, then collaboration goes a level deeper to get to the crux of the issue: how well do these two teams actually work together towards business objectives? The survey results for collaboration are very similar to those for the creative - marketing relationship. While there is a silver lining in that 51% of teams have strong collaboration, there is still plenty of opportunity to improve collaboration so that creative teams can be effective strategic contributors. Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree Disagree Neither Agree or Disagree Agree 15% 11% 7% 27% 40% 51 % 22 % say collaboration is effective Agree or Disagree: The relationship between creative and marketing has improved since last year. Agree or Disagree: Collaboration between creative and marketing is effective. While almost half of creatives indicate that the relationship with marketing has improved over the past year, over a third report no change, and just under a fifth say its worse. Creative leaders should note that the 36% who are neutral offer a prime opportunity for improvement.Timm Chiusano VP Production & Creative Services Kernel, Created By Spectrum Reach How Creative Teams Can Strengthen Relationships with Marketing Partners How you strengthen the relationship between creative and marketing depends, in part, on how the organization is structured. However, if theres a common denominator, it probably rests in values like mutual respect. We all need to have an appreciation for the value of the “ask.” If any of us is making a request or assigning a deadline, we must understand both the “why” behind that request and the work that goes into fulfilling it. Creatives must be part of the marketing team, even if they arent co-located in the same office. They need to be in the planning meetings, and while they dont need to make every- day decisions about marketing objectives, they do have to understand the goals and the reasons behind them. This goes both ways. Marketing teams need to understand what it takes to get a creative task done. That doesnt mean they need to be experts on design, video production or scripting, but they should have a sense for the work that goes into these tasks and help plan accordingly based on their needs. When you reach this level of understanding, the entire organization can harmonize like a symphony. The quality and turnaround time of creative work is incredibly more effective. It sparks greater creativity: if you have a deeper understanding of the purpose, you are in a better position to find a creative solution to achieve it. Theres an obvious need for real trust here too trust that conversations can truly work both ways. A graphic designer might have a great idea about strategy, but if theres no trust, they may be more sheepish about sharing it. Marketing also experiences this. Sometimes a marketer has an idea on the deliverable but isnt sure if its even creatively possible. They may be less likely to even introduce it if that trust hasnt been established. Those conversations dont happen without mutual understanding, respect, and trust. The organizations that do foster these values are more likely to reach breakthrough ideas. It really is a bit like Mad Mens clich scenes: they trust each other enough to have aggressive conversations that, just when they seem to be going off the rails, reach a breakthrough moment. 6 For organizations that are struggling with this, it can start by putting all the little squabbles between creative and marketing into perspective. First, you need to be clear with your team that it is counterproductive and unacceptable to make the relationship a one-way street. While that may seem obvious, sometimes a reminder that theyre actually wasting each others time and the companys time is helpful. Theres no reason why these two groups (with the same common goal) shouldnt be able to get past minor differences and assume positive intent. Second, we all need to keep in mind what a privilege it is to do what we do in the grand scheme of life. Were spending our days in creative and marketing, not living in a place like Raqqa. Have some perspective. Organizational disputes are petty compared to the many problems in the world. This contrast also establishes that with the fortunate circumstances most of us have out-of-the-gate, when we work together, anything is truly possible. When you can paint a stark but fair picture like this, in a calm but direct way, you lead with humanity, and it begins to remove the fear, animosity, and conflict. Then, both sides are more likely to be empathetic and willing to have those tough conversations. And that is how you begin to build that shared understanding together. “7 The benefits of better collaboration between creative and marketing Those teams with stronger relationships cite reasons such as: Better creative briefs Open communication Frequent project check-ins The use of project management and workflow tools Reorganizations that brought creative and marketing closer together Marketing leaders who understand the creative process High creative team morale Those that say the relationship between creative and marketing is ineffective point to: Haphazard project planning An organization that treats the creative team as “mechanical artists” relegated to robotically banging out design work at scale Constant organizational churn both throughout the organization and at the leadership level A lack of leadership support No process to cope with increasing demand for creative work The growing volume and speed of creative work “Most of our customers are resistant to collaboration.” “The creative team is seen as a service tool rather than a partner.” “When there is collaboration on the front end, it reduces the amount of time spent making edits on the back end.“ “The marketing is geared towards quantity over quality.”We are living in a “Golden Age of Creativity.” How does the creative team become a leader in how their brand is communicated to the world? 8 Stacey Burke Lead Graphic Designer Amica Mutual Insurance Company Several years ago, a cross-functional team led by corporate communications conducted a brand audit. We collected examples of all broad market, policyholder and employee communications, as well as from our digital channels. We displayed them along what we called our war wall, and then took a step back. What emerged was obvious: across the board we lacked consistency. Every voice was unique and visually our colors, fonts and imagery were inconsistent. The message the communication was meant to deliver may have resonated, but our brand did not. From that point forward, the business identified the corporate communications and creative services team as the guardians of the brand. Over the course of months and years that followed the audit, we developed guidelines around our voice, design system, fonts, imagery and colors. Our visual image needed to represent our company and our employees. We knew that by creating a consistent image, our brand would be more compelling. This process evolved o
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