InSource and inMotionNow have released the 2018 In-House Creative Management report. According to the survey, which queried 400 marketing and creative professionals, most businesses measure and value creative work based on its impact to the business.
The majority of respondents said that the top three ways their organization values creative work are: Business Impact (55%), Audience Feedback (51%), and Internal Stakeholder Satisfaction (48%). At the same time, it's not uncommon for a team of fewer than 10 creatives to support the demands of 50-plus stakeholders in businesses with $500 million or more in revenue.
"The level of dedication and performance these creative teams present is remarkable and generally under-recognized by marketers, especially in light of the results they help businesses achieve," said inMotionNow CMO Alex Withers. "Creatives provide an essential fuel business must have to propel their often large and highly automated sales and marketing teams forward."
Other Key Findings
Volume, velocity and variety of creative work mushrooms
The volume and velocity of work were identified as the top challenges facing creative today; variety of work - accommodating the plethora of new creative specifications across digital channels and social media - ranked among the top five challenges.
Creative briefs and project intake lead the list of process challenges
The creative brief and project intake - the first steps in the creative process - are also the biggest challenges in creative workflow (42%). Some 67% of respondents said obtaining the necessary information just to begin work was difficult or very difficult.
Making time and headspace for creativity is squeezed by administration
Most respondents (46%) said they spend between 3-7 hours per week on administrative tasks; about one-third (24%) said they spend seven or more hours per week on admin tasks. That's about one full day every week, or 20% of creative time spent annually.