Almost seven in ten marketers (69%) say that creative output is a top marketing priority in their organisation, but almost half (47%) express concerns about a shrinking talent pool.
According to the survey conducted by Canva and MMA, which surveyed CMOs and senior marketers in decision-making roles from the UK and the US, more than three quarters (77%) believe that creative output is more crucial now than ever before.
Moreover, 68% feel that creative process will become even more important to their organisation in the next 12 months.
The findings also revealed that 55% of marketers invest 10% to 25% of their marketing budget on creative outputs, with 41% saying they aren’t making the right level of investment in creative tools, systems and technologies.
Whilst 34% of marketing leaders believe that their creative output is better than their competitors, and 53% believe it is on par, around 45% believe they’re worse at managing a creative process that optimises for speed, efficiency and flexibility.
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Is in-house or outsourcing better?
For many, the in-house model is also gaining appeal, with 30% having moved to the model and 31% expecting to do the same in the next year.
Moreover, 48% say creative strategy is mostly done in-house, while 23% say it is mostly outsourced.
Overall, 83% say in-house is better from a cost perspective, but 61% say outsourcing is better for quality of creative output. This highlights the importance of good quality and creative agencies.
However, despite the fact that 80% feel satisfied with outsourced creative talent and resources, 47% say the pool of strong talent has gotten smaller.
“Producing stellar creative output while optimising for resource efficiency is a massive challenge for every modern marketer today,” said Canva CMO Zach Kitsche.
“We’re delighted to work with the MMA team to identify the pain points and opportunities that marketers are facing today, in order to shed light on top-of-mind issues to inform their decision making.”
