LIONS Study Creative Confidence Impacted by Weak Insights and Cultural Lag

Creative confidence, essential for business success through bold ideas, is being hindered by weak insights and cultural lag, according to LIONS' State of Creativity 2025 report. The study, now in its fifth year, surveyed over 1,000 marketers and creatives globally between November 2024 and January 2025.

The research identifies risk aversion as a major barrier to growth, with only 13% of respondents seeing their companies as risk-friendly. In contrast, brands that embrace creative risk report four times higher profit margins and a 33% higher chance of long-term revenue growth.

The report highlights two main challenges to creativity:

1. Weak insights: 51% of brands rate their insights as poor, with a strong link between insight quality and risk-taking.
2. Cultural lag: 57% of brands struggle to react to cultural moments, with slow decision-making processes hindering agility.

To overcome these issues, the report recommends prioritizing insight development, fostering strong brand-agency relationships, and streamlining approval processes for quick, strategic actions.

01-05-2025