Global Study Highlights Issues Obstructing Development of Outstanding Creative Ideas

Poor feedback, lack of training in evaluating ideas and subjective opinions are just some of the issues highlighted in a new global report out today (4th March 2025) which provides evidence-based action points on how the industry can collectively improve the process of developing outstanding creative ideas.

Conducted by BetterBriefs and research agency Flood + Partners, and produced in partnership with IPA (The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) and the WFA (World Federation of Advertisers), the comprehensive new global study ‘The BetterIdeas Project’, represents the opinions of 1034 agency, marketer and in-house respondents. They span 54 countries including the USA, UK, and Australia, with representation from both B2C and B2B sectors. The results will be further discussed in a free global webinar later today (4th March).

In its exploration of the creative process, the research identifies that the industry places great value on creative ideas - with over three quarters of marketers and 91% of agencies agreeing that they are essential to an organisation’s marketing effort. It also identified, however, that the average rework rate is high and time-consuming; it typically takes five rounds of creative development to get to a signed-off idea (up from three rounds as recorded in IPA research in the UK in 2007). 

Action points to improve the creative process:

To ensure creative ideas can flourish, to cut down on wasted time and effort, and to increase the pride the industry has in its creative work, the report is able to pinpoint key areas that the industry can improve within the creative development process. These include:

Provide training on how to evaluate ideas and deliver better feedback, which includes ensuring feedback is objective, rather than subjective (personal opinion):

• Only 30% of agencies and 27% of marketers agree they are well-trained in evaluating ideas
• Only 30% of agencies and around half (52%) of marketers agree that clients/they provide clear and constructive feedback
• A considerable 89% of agencies and 84% of marketers agree that personal opinion has a big impact on decision making.

Streamline the approval process, including ensuring that only the necessary people are included in the decision-making:

• Only 23% of agencies and 56% of marketers agree the current approval process works well.
• Respondents describe the approval process as inconsistent, slow, subjective and painful.
• Currently, 43% of agencies and 62% of marketers agree that the right people sign off on creative ideas.

Ensure the creative idea is evaluated against the brief and key criteria:

• 23% of agencies and even fewer (15%) marketers agree that briefs are always used by their organisations when evaluating ideas.
• Only 10% of all respondents agree that ideas are always evaluated against clearly defined criteria in their organisations.

Empower agencies:

• Less than a third of agencies (29%) believe that marketers inspire them to do their best work.

Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler, co-founders of BetterBriefs, stated, “Creativity is a powerful tool that enhances advertising effectiveness. While many ideas are generated, only a few are approved and brought to fruition. The BetterIdeas Project shows that evaluating ideas is crucial for our industry. If briefs serve as a guide for agency thinking, then ideas are the vehicle that propels effectiveness in the advertising world.”

Laurence Green, director of effectiveness at the IPA comments, “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. The IPA is delighted to endorse this publication as a stimulus for new, improved processes and better training.

“The result - no less than five rounds of re-work, according to this dataset - is in nobody’s interest. It’s inefficient, obviously, but militates against effectiveness also. As the great DDB/Avis creative contract taught us: conviction, not compromise, must carry the day. 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. After all: search all the parks in all the cities, and you’ll find no statues of committees.”

On behalf of the WFA, its chief executive officer, Stephan Loerke, added, “Creativity is the lifeblood of our industry and a core driver of growth. Sadly there’s often a suboptimal creative process that delivers sub-par results. Advertisers and their agencies must invest time, effort and greater faith in fit-for-purpose briefing, evaluation and approval processes that foster collaboration and trust in order to generate bold ideas. Getting this right is the only way to truly harness the power of creativity and enhance the perception of marketing as a key driver of growth.”

The full report The BetterIdeas Project is available to download from the BetterBriefs website.

Join the free webinar later today, 4th March 2025  (Los Angeles 9am | New York 12pm | London 5pm | Dubai 9pm) here.