Brand and marketing leaders: what’s happening behind the brief?

A health check for brand, marketing and comms teams

The early results from my Agency Commercial Health Check are both interesting and reassuring. Agencies are under pressure, but many are grappling with the same challenges.

But agencies are only one part of the picture. To understand the health of the creative ecosystem, we also need to understand what’s happening inside the brands commissioning the work.

Are expectations rising while budgets, headcount and planning time shrink? Are teams being asked to deliver more - and demonstrate greater commercial impact - with fewer resources?

The Brand, Marketing and Comms Health Survey explores:

• Changes to budgets, workloads and team capacity

• Commercial expectations and pressure to demonstrate ROI

• Planning, priorities and internal decision-making

• Skills and capability gaps

• What teams now need from external partners

It takes around seven minutes. Responses will be anonymised and reported collectively.

Start the survey

Why this matters

The pressures inside brands inevitably affect briefs, budgets, timelines and relationships with agencies and other partners. This research isn’t about pointing fingers. It’s about understanding how pressure moves through the whole creative supply chain - and what could help everyone work together more effectively.

This is the second stage of a wider study, following the Agency Commercial Health Check. Surveys for freelancers and specialist suppliers, followed by community and cultural partners, will come next.

Together, the findings will build a more complete and honest picture of the commercial health of the creative ecosystem. If you work in brand, marketing, creative, communications, partnerships or procurement, I’d really value your perspective.

Start the survey

Agency leaders can still complete the Agency Commercial Health Check here: