Development of great creative ideas in the industry is hampered by lack of training, poor feedback and subjective opinion, according to a new global study.
The BetterIdeas Project was conducted by BetterBriefs and research agency Flood + Partners, in partnership with the IPA and the World Federation of Advertisers.
Overall, it found that over three-quarters of marketers and 91% of agencies agree creative ideas are essential to marketing. However, the average rework rate is high and time-consuming — on average it takes five rounds of creative development before an idea is signed off, up from three rounds in a previous IPA study in 2007.
This is attributed to a number of issues. Just 30% of agencies and 27% of marketers agree that they are trained in properly evaluating creative ideas.
Meanwhile, 70% of agencies and 48% of marketers don’t think clients provide clear and constructive feedback.
Finally, 89% of agencies and 84% of marketers believe personal opinion plays a big part in decision-making.
Action points
In light of this, the research has recommended four ways to improve the creative process.
First, training is required on how to evaluate ideas, providing constructive feedback and ensuring that feedback is objective.
The report also recommends streamlining the approval process to include only those involved in decision-making. Only 23% of agencies and 56% of marketers agree the current approval process works well, while just 43% of agencies and 62% of marketers think the right people sign off on creative ideas.
Thirdly, the creative idea must be evaluated against the brief and key criteria — only 10% of participants believe this is currently happening.
Finally, the report argues marketers should better empower agencies; the study found that less than a third of agencies think marketers inspire them to do their best work.
“This timely report is something of a wake-up call for our industry, but one which also alerts us to quick wins in efficiency and effectiveness: because good briefs and good briefings achieve both,” said Laurence Green, director of effectiveness at the IPA.
“This work lights the touchpaper for a re-commitment to shared goals, to briefs as lodestars, to less subjective and — above all — less plural feedback.”
Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler, co-founders of BetterBriefs, added: “If briefs serve as a guide for agency thinking, then ideas are the vehicle that propels effectiveness in the advertising world.”
A free webinar will explore the results further on Tuesday at 5pm GMT. The full report is available from BetterBriefs.
The BetterIdeas Project involved 1,034 agency, marketer and in-house participants, spanning 54 countries including Australia, the UK and the US.
