State of Creativity: Client-Agency Relations Show ‘Significant Strain’

There is a “significant strain” between clients and their agency partners, which is impacting the quality of the creative output, according to a new industry report.

The fourth annual Lions State of Creativity report surveyed 3,000 marketers and creatives, with nearly half of agencies/creative partners (45%) describing their client relationships as “difficult,” with businesses found to be three times more likely to suffer a decline this year as a result. Just over a quarter (26%) said they found client relationships to be “easy.”

According to the report, one unnamed respondent said their relationship was “getting harder and harder” and “lacks professionalism.”

However, this is not the view of brands, which felt more at ease with the current partnership approach with agencies; around a third (32%) said it was “easy” while 37% found it “difficult.”

There was also a higher feeling of positivity with increased marketing investment, signaling a fresh momentum for businesses with over half (51%) of brands and agencies anticipating stronger growth this year.

The causes of tension

The main cause of the tension was from frustrated creatives, who said they felt undervalued by clients and that they were seen mainly as “an extra pair of hands,” leading to less effective creative work being produced.

Another source of tension is the difficulty of collaborating with clients’ other external partners, with frustration cited around the need for a better alignment toward a common goal and more effective communication. Agencies also expressed a desire for more freedom to pick partners as well.

There was also concern about a lack of trust, which clients share.

“You will succeed or fail based on you as a client. You are half of the relationship, so if there is a problem, 50% of it is your problem,” said Victoria Sjardin, vp of international marketing at The Kraft Heinz Company.

She also said that using reverse appraisals with agencies as part of quarterly or annual reviews offered a regular opportunity to discuss what worked and what didn’t between the her team and external parties.

When you speak the same language, it’s then much easier to all work together to accomplish the same goal, which for us is making the most creatively effective work in the industry.

Sofia Colucci, CMO, Molson Coors

“We involve our agencies in our strategy sessions and actively seek their counsel. This collaborative approach has led to some of our most innovative ideas,” suggested Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer for Mastercard.

“Successful client–agency relationships are built on continuous communication. It’s crucial for both parties to engage in regular meetings, exchange daily emails and texts, and meet in person to foster creativity and ensure full immersion in the business,” he continued.

Meanwhile, PepsiCo’s category growth officer and chief marketing officer for international foods, Mustafa Shamseldin, revealed that the company was continually looking to strengthen its agency ecosystems using an internal process called SLAM (stop, look, assess, manage), which has teams that focus on producing award-winning work.

“We empower teams and agencies with the freedom of ideation without restrictions. In a large global organization, this practice allows for a self-organizing, lean, autonomous and multidisciplinary creative approach,” added Shamseldin.

Further causes of tension for creatives included a conservative approach being taken by an agency chief executive—avoiding new ways of working, being risk-averse to new opportunities that may stretch a budget—and a lack of understanding of marketing by business teams and leadership.

Respondents felt that focusing on short-term outcomes by leadership risked adding pressure on creative teams, while also moving away from high-quality, brand-building creative. Senior executives also find it more difficult to link disparate data sources to build a coherent brand story to enhance the case for creativity, citing campaign data and increased investment with clients.

A growing level of marketing investment expected

As well as feeling positive about marketing spend growth, more than half of brand respondents (56%) said they were investing to drive short-term growth, although 70% also said they were investing to balance against an expected business decline this year.

The research also found that brands are expected to make creativity a priority, being 4.6 times more likely to spend more on marketing spend this year.

Molson Coors CMO Sofia Colucci cited the brewer’s framework, called Muscle, which combines the elements that it believes powerful creative needs to have while ensuring everyone “speaks the same language” when discussing creativity throughout the company.

“When you speak the same language, it’s then much easier to all work together to accomplish the same goal, which for us is making the most creatively effective work in the industry. It also allows for us to have rich discussions and critically assess not only our own work but also work we admire within the industry—continuing to raise the creative bar even further,” she added.

Other findings from the report include that 62% of brands with a declining marketing spend will still increase their AI spend, and 54% of respondents plan to invest more in interest-based communities this year. Meanwhile, 44% said they would invest more into social commerce; only 5% said they would not spend in that the space at all this year.

Simon Cook, CEO of Lions, which produces the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, told ADWEEK that the analysis of its award winning work shows long-term and healthy client-agency partnerships leading to impactful work, and that this would be reflected in this years’ Festival, including outlining the best practices that can ensure creative effectiveness.