Spanish CMOs believe that short-termism and budget cuts are the biggest barriers to creativity
Creativity in organisations is critical or extremely important for the majority of Spanish CMOs. Three out of four surveyed by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Advertisers (aea) consider this to be the case. This is a higher percentage if you ask their colleagues in Europe and the rest of the world.
For Spanish marketers, creativity in business drives brand affinity and improves sales. These executives also link creativity with innovation, differentiation, surprise and originality, all of which are key drivers for capturing consumer interest.
Marketing executives want more challenging agencies and care little about their awards in creative competitions (they do care about effectiveness).
In order to improve the creative process in their organisations, Spanish CMOs miss the need to find challenging partners. In this aspect, one of the executives surveyed by the WFA maintains that “in general, agencies, although they have a lot of talent, do not fully listen to the client, who is the one who knows the most about the brand, the target…; which in some way detracts from what the client can contribute to generate better advertising”.
Regarding the selection of their agencies, the WFA study concludes that Spanish CMOs do not care too much about the awards their suppliers have received in creative competitions. On the other hand, they give much more weight to the recognition they receive for the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Marketers also argue that improving the briefing process would help them to boost creativity in their organisations. “To create a campaign, all the steps from start to finish are important: from the development of the briefing to the final production of pieces. But it is also important to measure the results, make adjustments, evaluate results and always get points for learning,” says one of the CMOs consulted.
Greater autonomy for local teams
The WFA report also stresses the importance of local strategies and local creative in the case of multinational companies. They believe that this approach is more effective and popular. This opinion contrasts with the current trend, in which large international companies are increasingly relying on designing their strategy – and more and more of their creativity – on a global level. In this respect, the common position of Spanish CMOs is that companies should offer greater autonomy to local teams.
Spanish marketers also agree that the biggest barrier to developing creativity in their companies is the focus on the short term, a view shared by their colleagues in other countries. They are also concerned about the cuts they are experiencing in their budgets and the risk-averse culture.
To improve creativity in their organisations, marketing managers are clear. The solutions lie in getting to know consumers better and working more collaboratively both internally and externally. Spanish CMOs also think that it is key to rely on external agencies, but also to internalise some creative processes. In this aspect, Spanish executives differ from their international colleagues, who are much more inclined to manage this area in-house.
One of the CMOs surveyed sums up his views on driving creativity in his company: “Balancing the short and long term, establishing an internal creative culture, de-hierarchising processes, taking risks and, above all, a better understanding and knowledge to apply consumer insights”. For the respondents, the companies that meet these characteristics are Apple, IKEA and Nike.
