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Theoretically, creativity is an economic multiplier that can boost business, drive sales and make money. Easy, right? But when it comes to paying for it, it all gets a bit more complicated. 

After three packed days on the Little Black Book & Friends Beach at Cannes Lions, the week concluded by opening up a dialogue about the value of creativity, and how it’s perceived in marketing departments and agencies. What’s really affecting marketers’ budgets? What impact has the wobbly world economy had in the last 12 months - and what might be in store for us? Are agencies and production companies approaching how they charge in the most sensible way? And what’s the impact of treating creative as a cost, rather than an investment?

Tasked with tackling this rather large and weighty question was Neo Mashigo, CCO, M&C Saatchi Abel Group, Sam Hawkey, CEO, AMV BBDO, Samira Ansari, CCO, Deutsch NY, and Will Cady, global brand ambassador, Reddit. 

The panel opened with a frank discussion on whether creativity was still the ‘king’ of the advertising industry. “Absolutely,” said Samira. “Creativity is currency. Now, I think you see more and more creative people in business positions. And I think it's because creative is valuable.”

Sam from BBDO spoke about the increase in presence at Cannes of things like programmatic, search and various channels. While those things have great value to agencies and brands, clients eventually catch up with each other and end up with very similar capabilities. "The only thing they've then got to make their work stand out is an idea and creativity. You see the importance, in the business' eyes, of creativity fluctuating, but ultimately it's the only thing you've got that you can really count against competitors. It should always be seen as valuable, I think the context is the problem and that's why it gets devalued, sometimes."

“The tools that we have today are really lowering the barrier of creativity but raising the bar of its potential,” said Will from Reddit. “Everybody can be a creator now, and the onus is on creative professionals like us to facilitate what that means and how they can develop in that skill set.”

“It is king and it is a great differentiator,” added Neo. “But whether everyone believes that is a different story. I think there are more and more people who say it but they don't really believe it. That's why most of the work we do is the same - and clients are OK with that, which is telling.” 

Neo followed by expressing his belief that he didn’t feel creative people were as valued as they once were, due to the fact that everyone can be seen as a 'creator' in 2023 and can make something seemingly beautiful with a simple phone app. “But once you get to the space where you want to be differentiated,” he said, “that's when you need to partner with a creative agency or specialists in a specific field to push yourself forward and stand out.”

Given the topic of value, the conversation moved onto the intricacies and difficulties around the payment of ideas. Each panellist was asked if they believed the business was aligned on the issue and whether they agreed there should be more rules applied to how ideas and creative campaigns are paid for by clients. 

“I think it should be,” said Samira, “but it’s the Wild West right now. We're pitching and hustling, and I think good ideas come out of that, but it's exhausting. So, I agree with you, but I somewhat disagree as well. I think the way of the future is the way it is now. You'd have to reinvent the whole industry to be able to put a structure in and I don't know how that would work.”

Sam added that while he believes there will always be great clients who believe in creativity, it needs to be an attitude and culture throughout a brand’s entire organisation. What’s more, when you get to the procurement part of the process, their objectives and KPIs can be completely different to that of a CMO that really believes in creativity. Though he did point out that he works with many positive people in procurement roles too. He also went back to Neo and Will’s point about how everyone can be a creator now, and how that has impacted the actual definition of creativity. “Creativity is a much more diverse thing than it's ever been,” he said, “[so] the definition of it is difficult. As soon as it gets difficult, people start being able to devalue and dilute it. Unless you're an organisation that really understands it and has spent time understanding it, ultimately the money won't come... That's a problem, and I think that's where it's devalued, not necessarily because people don't believe it, [but because] they can't deliver on it.”

Given this prevalence of creators and content, the conversation turned to the value - and payment - of quality over quantity. With the age of mass content likely here to stay, is it justified to charge more for ‘big idea’ thinking? 

Will from Reddit believes so. “I think the pricing models have to change because there is a premium on quality that I think is easier to justify now that the quantity of creative is more available,” he said. “How do you find the quality of something when it's such a subjective thing? Your rules can be the colour palette that you use... and the scarcity of that - of something made according to your unique set of rules for your creativity - I do think should be charged at a premium.”

“You have to pay for experience and the backing that comes with people who've done and managed to do it over and over again and get it right,” added Neo from M&C Saatchi Abel. “That has to stand out against someone who's a new entrant that happened to do this one thing particularly well. Those people should be paid differently. I think that we, as an industry, are somehow to blame because we are so desperate for clients, that we are willing to bend over backwards for anything. Going forward, we need to look at ourselves and set a standard for ourselves, and there must be certain things that we don't engage in.”

Sam looked at the problem differently, questioning - as an agency CEO - whether agencies have really done their utmost to prove the value of creativity to their clients. After all, any project undertaken by an agency is a commercial endeavour for a client, so he would place much more emphasis on measurement and effectiveness to justify the price of an idea and its execution. “I think that allows you to be less rules-based,” he said. “We want our teams to be less rules-based, we want to allow them to be as creative as possible to get to an output for clients where they go, 'that was worth it'... How much time have we actually spent - with the amount of tracking and data performance and all the things that we've got - to try and find ways to justify the price of the idea or the campaign or the execution that we've done?” The idea of being paid incremental revenue for good performance was suggested, though, should this ever become a reality, agencies need to be prepared for similar treatment should something underperform. 

The conversation weaved between topics such as pitching - and not being paid to do so - and if agencies are as talented at and passionate about selling their wares as they once were. The general consensus was, yes, the passion is still very much present but the dilution of ideas happens because of the fragmented landscape - and various specialist agency partners that exist as a result - that a campaign must show up and thrive in today.

On pitching, Neo added, “I think pitching is great, but how we do it is the broken part. We do get paid for pitches... but clients are paying for the snacks for the pitch, not even the dinner.”

The panel ended with a timely question given its location at Cannes Lions. What is the importance of awards when it comes to correctly valuing and appreciating creativity?

Sam thinks they’re critical from a talent perspective. If the best creative teams care about awards and want to win them, by default, clients should care about them too if they want those teams working on their account. “You want to incentivise the best creative minds in the world, you want them in your agency and you want them in your business. I think it's the bar - and we've got to have a bar - otherwise, everything will get sucked to the floor.”

“I have gone back and forth on awards myself,” added Will. “I have to admit, I've been dismissive of them in the past. But I've learned how they matter. This is a subjective space that we work in and you need moments to anchor into to understand that you did something that matters. That award is the point in time that helps you build a story around it for yourself and for other people. So for talent, for the creators, for the clients, for everybody that gets to have that moment, it really matters. It defines a high point in their life and career.”

Samira said, “You come here and get renewed energy, as do clients. You see the best work, you see what's possible. I've been doing this for 25 years, and every year I walk away more pumped, my clients walk away more pumped, my creatives walk away more pumped. That's what keeps us going.” 

“Coming from South Africa,” added Neo, “our budgets and market are so much smaller. Awards show you what's possible. They remove you from your situation and put you into the bigger picture. It tells you as a creative that there are answers for everything. If there was a brief that you thought was impossible, the work that stands out and gets awarded, is the work that did something that felt impossible to solve. And that is inspiring. When you look at great work, you want to do great work.”