Perspectives
Sep 7
Note: This blog was originally published in September 2023. It was lightly edited for republication in October 2026.
A pattern we see constantly: a company brings in outside expertise to solve a problem they also have internal resources working on. Could be creative, could be product, strategy, or innovation. Bean counters expect double the resources to yield double the benefit. The opposite is more often true.
Three Reasons Your Creative Isn't That Creative
1. A Tired Brief
A business goal is a business goal. An inspiring brief that is going to lead to interesting, novel ideas that deliver on that business goal is a totally different thing.
So many internal creative teams are briefed on business goals like: "We need people to understand our new technology. So let's tell them about it." That habit extends to the brief that they deliver to the outside agency. This kind of brief hampers thinking right from the jump.
A powerful creative brief is built on tensions. Unresolved and contrasting issues give creative people space to play:
- The disconnect between a brand that is all about travel and exploration but constantly showcases its home turf.
- A brand built on the notion of innovation, when the bulk of its sales come from a single product.
- The desire to build community while bots are plucking up all the limited edition drops.
These are real examples, which is why they are so specific. Unpacking a very specific problem and then asking creative teams to solve for it is guaranteed to deliver ideas that, at the very least, don't look, feel and sound like what your competitor is doing.
An uncomfortable truth: your business challenges almost exactly match those of your competitors. To break through, you must solve for those challenges in a differentiated way. Leaning into unresolved tension is the best starting point to unlock a breakthrough.
2. Not Enough Contrast in the Team
Internal teams don't cut costs, but they institutionalize critical product expertise, and this tradeoff is worth it. The problem is that these internal teams are often made up of the brand's hardcore fans. This leads to organizations filled with people that have the same deep but narrow worldviews, values, and ideas. They are too close to the thing to have unique or divergent ideas.
The formula for interesting ideas in terms of staffing is that you need contrasts in every sense: different backgrounds, skill sets, interests. Then you mash these people up, because they will challenge one another and build different kinds of ideas, tools, and stories.
3. Blurred Lines
This is the big one. Great creative talent is great creative talent. It's real. Let's call that a given. Some people are significantly more creative than others.
But this is also true: The way to get to breakthrough creative ideas isn't by having a single expert develop the one idea. It is by having many ideas. The best ideas are developed by generating tons of ideas and throwing away most of them. Every great creative director, inventor, or storyteller will explain this in their own way.
Ok, so what does this have to do with this post?
There is a proven setup that enables this to happen. A team of idea generators and a smaller group (sometimes just a single creative director) to edit and shape the best work from the options on the table. And when there are no good ideas on the table, to redirect the idea generators.
This is a solved problem! It has been solved for hundreds of years. Renaissance masters used this setup in their workshops. The editorial department of every great magazine has worked this way. Film studios have always sourced script ideas like this. From Pixar to Wieden+Kennedy to Lego, the organizations that consistently spit out novel ideas use a version of this system.
But a funny thing can happen when agency teams and client-side creatives mix, but no one addresses the question of who is generating and who is shaping.
This shouldn't be a controversy or uncomfortable discussion. But if it doesn't happen early, it ends up being uncomfortable, and often political. The work suffers.
It can work to mix teams from the agency and client side or have them each play a specific role. But it is critical that the person or team doing the creative directing is assigned, and that it is assigned to people with the experience to do that.
Too often, hierarchy between the buyer and seller gets in the way of the buyer getting what they paid for. It's ok to let the agency do the creative direction if they are best equipped to do it. It's also ok for an internal creative director to do it. But have this conversation early.
There might be other reasons for diminishing returns when serious investment is being made, but these three stand out. The playing field has shifted, and the mix of internal and external capability looks different in every organization. But the rules haven’t changed. Clarity on the brief, contrast in the team, and agreement on who is directing the work are prerequisites for getting a return on that investment. It’s a simple conversation if you have it early.