‘This is when creativity is at its best’: Creative leaders look to push boundaries in 2021
Mumbrella’s Zoe Wilkinson asks Laura Aldington, Ben Lilley, Stephen McArdle, Lindsey Evans, Cade Heyde, Jim Gall and Anthony Gregorio what clients will expect from creative agencies, and how creativity will evolve in 2021.
At the start of the year, the creative industry was focusing its efforts on how it could aid those who had been affected by, and were on the fighting on the front lines of the bushfire crisis. Then, it was all turned on its head when COVID-19 hit.
Being dependent on the demands of clients meant that some agencies were definitely harder hit than others. But agencies got by, not just due to the sacrifices made by staff and leadership, but by becoming the exact partner their clients needed to navigate the chaos and prepare for what’s next, getting scrappy to pick up all small pieces of work, and chasing after a surprisingly busy pitch calendar.
There is a hunger within the creative industry for clients to want to push the boundaries in the 2021 and for agencies to break free from the binds of traditional advertising. The call from clients for their agency partners to solve business problems with creativity has been growing over the last ten years. And the resounding thought from the industry is that the changes it will see in 2021 have been happening for a long time, but thanks to ups and downs of 2020 those have only been accelerated.
How do you think clients’ needs and expectations of their agencies will change in 2021? And, how will creativity change in response?
Laura Aldington, CEO of Host Havas: This time last year, I was predicting a bold and brilliant 2020 so it’s fair to say my predictive confidence has taken a bit of a bump.
