Creativity in pR Global Study 2015 / The Holmes Report

Creativity in pRGlobal Study 2015In association with H+K Strategies

Co-authored by Now Go Create

#CreativityInPR

holmesreport.com/focus/creativity | 2#CreativityInPR

agency and in-house, and from a range of industries and sectors.They answered a variety of questions during the three months the study ran during the summer of 2015, encompassing attitudes towards creativity; tools and skills; opportunities and challenges; and suggestions and advice.

We are very glad to bring you the fourth edition of this landmark study, particularly after the remarkable support the first three editions have received. As always, we appreciate your time, thoughts and feedback.

The fourth edition of the Creativity in PR study again provides the most in-depth examination of how creativity is transforming the public relations world.

Even as persistent overuse and empty application conspire to rob it of all meaning, the transformative impact of genuine business creativity has never been more important. It is the difference between cutting edge campaigns and humdrum marketing, between genuine innovation and copycat mediocrity. In short, it is the not-so-secret ingredient behind every great public relations and marketing initiative.

Three years ago the Holmes Report and Now Go Create set out to explore whether the public relations industry is truly creative enough to meet the demands of the 21st century. Our findings have demonstrated a significant gap between rhetoric and reality, between an industry that often talks about creativity, but has found it more difficult

to ensure that it is paying more than lip service to the notion. Encouragingly, this year’s Report — conducted in conjunction with H+K Strategies — suggests that things are changing fast. In particular, the Report indicates that creativity is becoming viewed as a central element in organisational culture, rather than being viewed solely in terms of creative output. More resources are being devoted to creativity. Creative confidence is high. And clients are more likely than ever to approach PR agencies for big brand-building ideas.

Yet it would be remiss of us to suggest that everything is rosy in the garden of PR creativity. Concerns still linger. Techniques for generating and evaluating creative ideas remain a work in progress and, perhaps most importantly, the creative talent challenge continues to rank as the thorniest of all.

This Report polled 500 people from more than 35 countries across the world, helping us once again uncover some fascinating findings about the state of creativity in PR. Respondents came from

introductionCreativity in PR | A Global Study

Arun SudhamanPARTNER ANd EdITOR-IN-CHIEf

http://www.holmesreport.com/focus/creativity


an increasingly relevant question – if nothing else one you have to answer if you want to hire or target Millennials, who care about this alongside getting a salary.

In terms of practice and processes there seems to be a divide opening up between those agencies who genuinely are fostering creativity and those who want to, or say they do, but still need to get the basic processes right. Crappy group brainstorms and lack of strategic thinking and planning are still going on in a lot of businesses (big and small).

I’m interested in exploring whether women are being represented as part of the rise of the Creative director in PR agencies, and whilst we touched on this subject in the study this year it’s a topic we’ll be getting stuck into in the next few months.

introductionCreativity in PR | A Global Study

A lot has changed since we started the study four years ago, and a lot is still the same. More resources are being devoted to creativity, with plenty of businesses not just talking about it

but training staff and paying attention to developing a create culture. Creative leadership is on top team agendas and creative confidence is high. But there are still key areas lacking rigour (like evaluating ideas) and HR is seemingly not really connected to driving creative practices. Measures around rewarding creativity and talent, interview practices and promotion opportunities are actually down on previous years.

In terms of the work – tapping into culture and social good are two key trends that are going to continue. How to use creativity to make something that matters beyond profit is continuing to gain traction – what Unilever’s Keith Weed calls “connecting

purchase with purpose”. Many of the people doing the best work are taking this heart (and taking awards home to boot).

The current Christmas campaigns for John Lewis, Pret a Manger and Sainsbury’s show that brands can make a real contribution to improving lives, whilst working to enhance their own reputations and delivering profit. Dove’s work shows that it doesn’t always have to be about the brand saving the world, just making it better. When I first started in PR twenty years ago these would have been CSR campaigns that ran alongside the brand activity, now they are the brand activity.

The agencies doing brilliantly well creatively well right now have their own purpose and reason for existence and clients respond to that. In ad-land it’s the rockstar-creatives at droga 5 who say they’re ‘creatively-led and humanity obsessed’ and closer to home Unity PR have won 43 industry awards in 2015 alone. They say they exist ‘to increase human happiness’. What do you exist for? I think this will be

Claire BridgesfOUNdER, CREATIvE CONSULTANCY, NOW GO CREATE



contentsCreativity in PR | A Global Study

Business Value05

Ideas & Quality13

Barriers19

Drivers & Influences

21Talent

24



Business valueBusiness places a premium on creativity in PR…

This year’s study provides compelling evidence of the premium that businesses now place on creativity when they perceive PR value.

In-house respondents were asked how important creativity is to their decisions to hire and retain an agency. Almost two in five (39%) rated it ‘fundamental’ at 10 out of 10, compared to 21% last year, while 45% scored it at nine or more compared to 43% last year.

10.1 %

<5 6 7 8 9 10

12.4 % 13.5 % 19.1 % 5.6 % 39.3 %

2014

If you are in-house, how important is creativity in your decision to hire & retain an agency? 10 being fundamental and 1 being unimportant



Business value…and clients are increasingly turning to PR firms for creative ideas

despite the obvious importance of creativity, PR firms continue to underwhelm when clients actually rate their creative capabilities. Just 14% are consistently happy with PR agency creativity. Almost half (49%) are sporadically satisfied, while more than a quarter (29%, the same as last year), believe it is a constant challenge. There is some good news though: only 7% of clients are not happy with their firm’s creativity capabilities, a major decrease on last year’s 32%.

Also encouraging, 73% of clients are more likely to approach their PR agencies for big creative ideas today than they were 12 months ago, compared to 43% last year, suggesting that PR firms are starting to ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to creative delivery.

Yes, consistently

Yes, sporadically

No, it’s a constant challenge

Not at all

14.2 %

49.3 %

29.3 %

7.3 %

2014

If you work with an agency, how happy are you with the creative capabilities of your agency?

YesNo

26.9

%

73.1 %

Compared with 12 months ago, are you more or less likely to approach your PR agency for big creative ideas?



Business valuePR vs the world

Respondents were asked to rank the creative quality of their various agencies, with PR firms again ranking close behind advertising and digital agencies, but ahead of experiential, content and media agencies. The results suggest that the creative gap between the PR world and adland may not be quite as big as people sometimes think, although it should be noted that the survey was undertaken by more comms directors than senior marketers.

2. Digital Agency (4.4)

7. Other type of agency (3.2)

1. Advertising Agency (4.5)

4. Experimental Agency (4.1)

3. PR Agency (4.3)

5. Content Agency (4.0)

6. media agency (3.5)

If you are a client, please rank the creative quality of your various agencies. (1 is highest, 7 is lowest)



Business valuePR vs the world

Respondents were also asked to compare the quality of creativity in the PR industry with other disciplines. Among agency respondents, more than 60% describe it as worse than advertising agencies, although they are more circumspect when it comes to comparing it with digital, experiential and content agencies.

Interestingly, clients appear more bullish than agencies when it comes to benchmarking PR creativity versus other disciplines. More than 30% think it’s better than advertising agencies, with similarly positive results also recorded against digital, media, experiential and content agencies. The results suggest that agency folk might be a little too self-critical about their creative capabilities vs other types of agencies.

Slightly worse than Advertising agencies (41.0 %)

Slightly worse than Digital agencies (31.1 %)

The same as Experiential agencies (34.3 %)

The same as Content agencies (44.1 %)

Slightly better than Media agencies (32.4 %)

How would you describe the quality of creativity of the PR industry compared to...? (Agency)

Slightly worse than Advertising agencies (42.9 %)

The same as Digital agencies (31.5 %)

The same as Experiential agencies (36.6 %)

The same as Content agencies (46.5 %)

Slightly better than Media agencies (33.5 %)

How would you describe the quality of creativity of the PR industry compared to...? (In-house)



Business valueRoom for improvement

There is considerable flux where client demand for creativity is concerned, across numerous areas such as content (19%), integrated ideas (17%), insight/planning (16%), and storytelling (15%). Last year’s results revealed a concentration on content and integration, suggesting that clients are now looking for creativity from their PR firms in many more areas. The onus, accordingly, is on PR firms to up their game across a range of skills, such as those listed above but also including creative personnel, media relations and experiential.

“The balance of the results seems right and reflects my own belief that creativity is im-portant to every part of the process; from conceiving the ideas to creating beautifully crafted content. I think of it as ‘applied cre-ativity’, in that creativity does not sit with a single person or in a single department but is

part of our culture and the way we work.” CLAIRE

HOLdEN, CREATIvE dIRECTOR, PUbLISHING, H+K LONdON.



Business valueRising demands

A new question this year asked agencies whether clients are demanding greater levels of creativity from them. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, 70% agree with this statement. drilling down into their responses, it appears that these demands are clear across the board, with many of those polled noting that consumer brands typically place the highest priority on creativity.

“What client wouldn’t want more creative ideas? There are great case studies that show that more creative ideas are more effective; the Volvo Trucks ‘Epic Split’ campaign win-ning the Grand Prix for Effectiveness at the Cannes Lions evidences what brave creative campaigns can do even in the most unlike-

ly categories. I think clients have always demand-ed creativity; we have to become much better at is showing how our ideas are going to be effective and the data and insights that support to them. We will then be able to realize this demand.”

SIMON SHAW, CHIEf CREATIvE OffICER, H+K CENTER Of CREATIvE STRATEGY.

70.2 %

YesNo

19.4 %

Agencies: are clients demanding greater levels of creativity from you?



Business valuePriority

Good news for clients – almost two thirds of agencies acknowledge that you want and expect creativity. 20% of agencies say their clients consider innovation to be fundamental, while a further 44% think it is a high client priority. Less than 5% said they thought clients felt it was unimportant.

“We agree. Creativity is fundamental to our agency not just in terms of our clients business but also in terms of an ever-evolving culture. By developing the culture of a creative move-ment within our agency we are attracting new and different talent to our business which in turn is feeding the culture and changing the

type of work we are producing for our clients.”RICHARd MILLAR, GLObAL CHAIR, H+K CENTER Of CREATIvE STRATEGY.

Fundamental High Average Low19.7 % 44.1 % 26.3 % 4.1 %

Agencies: how high a priority is creativity for your clients?



Business valueGetting paid

This year’s survey again addresses one of the fundamental issues that affects creativity. How exactly should agencies be reimbursed for their ideas? This question was put to both clients and agency people.

Interestingly, both agencies and clients select ‘set fees for ideas’ as their top choice, suggesting that a more innovative approach to funding would help encourage idea development and overall creativity.

Agencies, however, continue to favour billable hours (34%) far more than clients (9%). The latter group prefer ‘sales results tied to ideas’ (28%). Interestingly, there is not a huge appetite for IP/licensing of ideas.

34.3 %

9.4 %

38.6 %

37.5 %

13.4 %

15.6 %

7.9 %

28.1 %

In-houseagency

Billiable Hours

Set Fees for Ideas

Intellectual property & licensing of ideas

Sales results tied to ideas

In terms of developing ideas would you prefer to pay or be paid according to:



ideas & qualityConfidence

An encouraging set of results, with two-thirds of respondents having no qualms about blowing their own creative trumpet at work. Of these an impressive 14% think their creativity is ‘inspirational’ while 52% describe it as ‘good’. Not a single respondent chose ‘non existent’ as an option.

“I would argue that this not only shows how se-riously people now take creativity and how they set about trying to get great results, but how much confidence is on the rise, too. In a similar-ly-worded question last year, only 6.5% of peo-ple thought creativity in PR was ‘inspirational’.”

CLAIRE bRIdGES, fOUNdER, NOW GO CREATE.

GoodOrdinary

InspirationalUnsatisfactory

Poor

52.4 %25.1 %14.0 %5.4 %3.2 %

How would you rate the quality of creative thinking and personnel within your business?



ideas & qualityTop priority

People in PR consider creativity a top priority. 88% of respondents say that it is either fundamental to what they do or a high priority. A mere 2.5% don’t see it as a priority at all.

“Proof, if any were needed, that people who work within PR want, need and expect a daily workload that challenges them at a creative level. Interesting that the majority of respondents this year work in corporate rather than consumer PR and the response to this question is still this high. That speaks volumes about how the industry is embrac-ing creativity regardless of the challenge..”

CLAIRE bRIdGES, fOUNdER, NOW GO CREATE.

“Great creativity is no longer a nice to have, but it is a must-have. The challenge for PR agencies is how to get it. Some agencies may decide to build it. Others will need to think in new ways how to get it. The old question that’s always asked — did the PR agency develop the creative? -- no longer matters. What matters more is what kind of value does the work deliver for the client. The great agencies of the future will create new structures that enable the combination of great creative resources with other more PR-spe-cific skills to deliver great work.” SURvEY RESPONdENT.

Fundamental High Average Low43.5 % 44.1 % 9.8 % 2.5 %

2014

How high a priority is creativity for you in your current business?



ideas & qualityQuality

The survey finds a modest increase in terms of the industry’s creative quality. 50% describe it as ‘good’ or ‘inspirational’, compared to 47% last year.

Clients continue to rate creative quality at a lower level than their agency brethren. Just 38% describe it as inspirational or good, with more than 60% seeing it as ordinary or worse.

“Our experience is that if we create bigger, more compelling ideas built on solid audience insights and informed by data our clients are more engaged than they have ever been. The ability to buy (or sell) great creative ideas is sometimes curtailed by existing client agen-cy relationships or commitments to existing

campaigns and this can be especially true for con-sumer facing clients. We are seeing great success in our ability to realize truly creative ideas with our B2B clients. In the next few years you are going to see many more award winning creative ideas in that space; ideas that are not just creative for a PR agency but ideas that are leading the whole communications industry.”

RICHARd MILLAR, GLObAL CHAIR, H+K CENTER Of CREATIvE STRATEGY

How would you describe the quality of creativity in the PR industry?

In-houseagency

non-existent

Poor

Good

Ordinary

Unsatisfactory

9.4 %

0 %

3.1 %

34.4 %

50.0 %

3.1 %

2.8 %

0.4 %

7.1 %

44.1 %

34.6 %

9.8 % Unsatisfactory

Inspirational



ideas & qualityTrending upwards

There is clear evidence that the PR industry is moving in the right direction where creativity is concerned. Almost two-thirds of agencies (62.9%) think that the quality of creativity in PR campaigns has improved over the past year, compared to 49% last year.

Encouragingly, clients also agree that creative quality is improving in PR campaigns. 56% agree with that statement, a clear increase on last year.

No

37.1 %

43.8 %

Yes

62.9 %

56.3 %

In-houseagency2014

Over the past 12 months, do you feel the quality of creativity in PR campaigns has improved?



ideas & qualityContinuous reinvention

At the 2015 Cannes Lions festival, WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell told us that he believes in ‘continuous reinvention’. but do our respondents believe that the PR industry can deliver and lead creativity across key areas?

The results on this score are broadly positive. 56% think the PR industry will hire and train a more diverse creative workforce, and around the same believe it will deliver in terms of innovation. Slightly lower percentages think that the PR industry will deliver in terms of creative leadership (49%) and their agency business models (43%).

breaking down the results, it becomes apparent that clients are more bullish on certain areas. Two-thirds think that the PR industry will deliver in terms of innovation, versus 58% of agency respondents. Clients also hold a more positive view of the PR industry’s prospects regarding creative talent and leadership, but are more negative on the agency business model (34%).

“We have to continually evolve. Everything is changing in our world and our client’s world and we have to avoid the ‘being fat, lazy and happy’ trap. This trap represents safety, not only corpo-rate safety but in some cases personal safety; a safety that paralyses our ability to change. We have to make change part of our culture. Without that, we will simply be obsolete.”

RICHARd MILLAR, GLObAL CHAIR, H+K CENTER Of CREATIvE STRATEGY

yes(55.9 %)

yes (58.4%)

yes (42.5%)

yes (48.9%)

no (33.3%)

no (38.7%)

no (31.4%)

no(31.1%)

don’t know(13.0%)

don’t know (10.2%)



Innovation

Agency business model

Leadership

Talent - hiring, training, diversity of workforce for creativity

Do you think that the PR industry is set fair to deliver and lead creativity in the next 5 years, in terms of?


http://www.holmesreport.com/long-reads/article/data-content-and-creativity-martin-sorrell-on-how-pr-firms-become-more-%27relevant%27


ideas & qualityTrending upwards

Respondents were also asked how their business has changed in terms of creativity since this survey began three years. Around half (51%) noted it is more of a priority, with 47% of agencies also stating that clients expect more in terms of creativity. On the client side, 34% point to a better understanding of how to use data and insight, but 38% say nothing has changed. (53.5 %)

(47.2%)

(38.6 %)

(17.7 %)

(20.9 %)

(18.1 %)

(15.0 %)

(28.1 %)

(12.5%)

(34.4 %)

(35.7 %)

(3.1 %)

(0 %)

(6.3 %)

In-houseagency

It is more of a priority

clients expect more in terms of creativity

We understand how to better use data and insight

Nothing has changed

We have had training in how to generate creative ideas

We have appointed a Creative Director

We have applied a clear process

What, if anything, has changed in your business in terms of creativity since this survey began 3 years ago?



Barriers

Several new options on the list found some backers: ‘lack of bravery’ (14%) and ‘lack of process or skills’ (12%). Interestingly, this time only 2% blamed the economy for their lack of creativity (it was 6% in 2014). but the number one barrier to being creative by a country mile is ‘lack of budget’ (58%). Last year the top answer was ‘client feedback or risk aversion’, which came second this year with 51%. do clients need to dig deeper – or do PRs need to think differently?

“Confidence is high. It’s those niggling prob-lems of second-guessing the clients and, perhaps, their play-it-safe attitudes – as well as omnipresent budgetary constraints – that most rankle. Clients might be less risk-averse if the ideas were tested more. The PR indus-try could learn a lot from the world of design

thinking and lean start-ups – prototyping, iterating and developing ideas rather than budget all-in

or nothing.” CLAIRE BRIDGES, FOUNDER, NOW GO CREATE.



Top answer once again, ‘improve use of insight’ pulls in 40% – up from 33% last year. Almost as important is ‘ability to take more risks’ (38% – up from 31%). ‘More budget’ and ‘educate clients’ equal third place on 30% Clearer client briefs is the 4th most important factor with 25%.

“Creativity has always been a key element in an agency’s offering. Too often the clients just doesn’t know what they really want in terms of creativity – it’s sort of, ‘I’m not sure what creativity is on this project, but I’ll know it when I see it.’ Hard to zero in with that type of brief!”

“Creativity is a learnt muscle – we have to exercise it.”

“Clients need to give PR agencies a fair seat at the table. They claim to be idea agnostic – that they will take the best ideas wherever they come from. In reality, they assign the Ad agencies as lead and the great ideas from PR rarely see the light of day.”

“Creativity is the topic that keeps me awake at night!”

“We spend countless hours in this industry na-vel-gazing and working out how we can get better at doing concepts. We completely ignore the fact that 99% of producing good work is the knowl-edge and craftsmanship that comes with exe-cuting something.” SURvEY RESPONdENTS 2015

Barriers



drivers & influences

As with each of our polls to date, the trend that knows no sign of wavering is ‘storytelling’ (84%) with ‘social good’ (49%) and ‘brand transparency’ (53%) continuing to inform PR campaigns. ‘Real-time marketing’ makes a strong appearance this year (29%) – along with ‘culture’ popular with 31% - the first time we’ve included both as options. ‘Co-creation’ (32%)and visual/image-led communication (52%) also continue to drive work.

Technology has certainly played its part in the development of PR over the past few years – though that clearly isn’t to say that ‘wearable tech’ (8%) or advances in ‘3d tech’ (5%) are shaping the everyday life of PR practitioners (yet?).

“For us, the ability to be great visual storytell-ers has never been more important. The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. We all know the power of an iconic news photo to entice you in; visual storytelling for brands works in that same way. It enables us to cut through the content fog and engage our audiences in faster, more emotional ways.”

CANdACE KUSS, dIRECTOR Of SOCIAL STRATEGY,

H+K STRATEGIES, LONdON.



drivers & influencesCreativity is...

When asked which factors drive great creative work, respondents again ranked ‘great storytelling’ first (71%), but down on last year (78%). Insight/planning as a creative driver (57%) is also down, while emotional resonance again ranks third (47%), followed by content creation (38%). There is a notable increase for purpose (21%) and results (14%)

“For us everything has to start with the cli-ent’s purpose – it is the primary driver for us to create ideas that build the client’s brand, not just create spikes of awareness. We would always rank insights (plus data) at the top of the list of drivers from that point on to ensure that our ideas are resonant and relevant for today.

Using the right insights will make the work a balance of the rational and emotional. Content and storytell-ing then become the way we bring the ideas to life.”




drivers & influencesAssessment

‘Risk-assessment’ (11%) is down from 17% last year; down too are ‘SWOT’ (22.2% compared to 32% last year) and most other methods. In fact, ‘we don’t use any particular process’ is the only big change in the other direction – up to 35% this year from 25% in 2014. 43% are using personal experience to assess ideas. Is this the sign of a more confident industry less obsessed about analysing creativity and just getting on with it?

“The balance of risk sits with the client – it’s their budget, reputation and potentially job on the line if money spent doesn’t translate into results. So it’s unsurprising that if there’s no critical assessment of the idea it won’t fly.” CLAIRE

bRIdGES, fOUNdER, NOW GO CREATE

“Data + insights then more data + insights… this ensures that ideas are built on a sol-id foundation… only then can we build the idea and ask is it beautiful, does it delight you… and does it make you smile.”




“Agencies have to stop paying lip ser-vice to the subject. For real change, organisational structure, new talent and new ways of working have to be introduced at an institutional level for winds of change to set in. Hiring one person and expecting miracles seems to be the mantra of even the more forward-looking firms. The entire value chain has to be realigned to incor-porate creative thinking and execu-tion, which includes as your survey points out the journey from recruit-ment, to reward and recognition.”

“Our CD’s role is to a) improve the creative process and thinking within the agency, b) make it fundamen-tal to the pitch and new biz process, c) look for organic growth oppor-tunities with current clients, d) look for the new, the next, the shiny.”

“The CD is there to insist on insights, set the bar and the tone, provide oversight, and occasionally create the central idea.”

“The role of our CD is not really clear – creative resource to tap into?” “The CD is there to make it pret-ty.” SURvEY RESPONdENTS 2015

Recognising the importance of a Cd, 39% of respondents say they have one. That’s almost no change from last year – slightly down from 42%. Just like last year, 22% of companies either want a CD but can’t afford it or they are considering it.

“There’s a schism here – 39% in both camps as to whether a CD is needed. I notice a shift in thinking about the role of the CD and whether one person can truly be held responsible for the creative output of a business. It’s

more a question of creative leadership, which comes from the whole leader-ship team or board in terms of whether creativity is genuinely important. This leads to a culture where creativity is fostered and nurtured and a CD is part of that but not the sole answer. Too often in PR agencies the CDs I speak to are lumbered with managing every new business pitch, every difficult client issue and day-to-day client responsi-bilities with the role as creative leader frequently sidelined. But when the CD is given the room to breathe they need it can be transformational to a business.” CLAIRE BRIDGES, FOUNDER, NOW GO CREATE

talent & investmentCreative director

Yes (39.4 %)

no, not necessary, it’s part of everyone’s job (38.7 %)

no, but we’re considering it (12.4 %)

we’d like to but we can’t afford it (9.5 %)

2014

Do you have a Creative Director?



25% of creative directors in PR are female according to the Creativity in PR study. This is considerably higher than the proportion recorded in the advertising industry, but must still be a cause for concern.

“We haven’t asked this question before and with only 124 people responding, the sub-ject definitely needs more digging and re-search. We asked it because although there are clearly increased creative resources in agencies, we wanted to see whether the PR industry is putting more women in cre-

ative roles than our ad-land counterparts. A first assessment of the top UK agencies CDs would suggest not. The 3% conference and movement was set up to champion female creatives in ad-vertising due to the appallingly low representation of women.” CLAIRE bRIdGES, fOUNdER, NOW GO CREATE

talent & investmentCreative director

75 %

malefemale

25 %

Is your creative director male or female?



A broadly similar set of results to last year, though ‘specific interview questions’ (33%) and ‘specific interview tests’ (15%) are both slightly down. The main way to land a new job remains having a proven track record: 41.9% say that your ‘previous work’ counts for a lot, while a ‘recommendation’ (35.9%) goes a long way, too.

“By seeking out and selecting only those who show the highest levels of curi-osity in the world around them”

RICHARd MILLAR, GLObAL CHAIR, H+K CENTER Of CREATIvE STRATEGY.

talent & investmentRecruitment



The results this year show a workforce being rewarded less and less for their creativity. Across the board the numbers are down: ‘internal awards’ has fallen to 30% from 43%; ‘annual performance review’ has dropped to 46% from 53%; even ‘promotion opportunities’ is down, too (21% compared to 33% last year).

“The only response on the rise this year was ‘we don’t reward for behaviour’, which jumped from 26% to 33.3%. This, and the other an-swers, perhaps point to the rising expectation levels in the industry when it comes to cre-ativity. Like arriving for work on time and not insulting the boss, creativity is being woven

into the very fabric of what we do and rewards for it are falling. People who enjoy being creative do it in large part for intrinsic motivation – because they like it for its own sake - which is lucky for their employers who don’t seem to want to reward it. However this result and the recruitment results demonstrate to me a major disconnect between HR practices and crea-tivity. Who wants to leave something so fundamental down to luck?” CLAIRE BRIDGES, FOUNDER, NOW GO CREATE

“We don’t (reward it) because it is expected. If anything, the reward comes when the cli-ent gives feedback. A good practitioner loves good feedback.” SURvEY RESPONdENTS 2015

talent & investmentRewards


Presentations & Public Speaking

Creativity in pR Global Study 2015 / The Holmes Report