The marketing world has been shaken by a controversial debate with one question at the epicentre: Do marketing agencies place too much emphasis on creativity and not enough on achieving return on investment? According to 78% of CEOs, they don't...
This comes as an aftermath from a report published by Fournaise Marketing Group stating that a majority of Chief Executives feel marketing agencies are too “inward looking”. The report went onto explain this was because there was little or no evidence to support agency claims that creativity in their marketing strategies guaranteed an improvement in ROI.
Since the report was published on July 11th there has been a backlash response from marketing agencies and other influential bodies in the industry slamming the claims. Their group disapproval is proof that not only marketing agencies but also CEOs believe that creativity and ROI is not an either or decision.
Truly creative and original concepts have little or no backing research to support the strategy pitch due to the experimental nature of the ideas. It is this detail that rings alarm bells for CEOs who are used to being reassured their investment will be well spent with a presentation of hard data and evidence to ensure an airtight profitable strategy.