WHY IS THERE A CREATIVE CENSUS?

In 2022, we (The Ideas Business) had an idea to try and measure the levels of creativity in Australia's media and marketing industries.

The degree of how creative something is will always be subjective. Largely the job of measurement is left to award wins of campaign creative. It's measurement after the fact.

Creativity is the practice. It's the blend of the science and art. It's about what kind of culture operates in the offices and homes of the people who make the work. This is not strictly the domain of creative agencies. It comes from all parts of the ecosystem. Marketing teams at brands, media agencies, creative agencies, content & communication agencies, production agencies, media publishers - are all relevant players in the space of Creativity.

So we decided to focus on something we believe we could measure. The say-do gap. We know that all parts of the chain love talking up creativity as an important pillar of great work. But does the punchy quote by the CEO in the trade press talking about creativity match what is actually happening on the ground? Does having more inspo quotes painted on the wall really match the degree in which the team in that same office can contribute their ideas?

The role of The Creativity Census is to hold up a mirror. Take the temperature as it were, of how the people doing the work, feel about the core aspects of creative practice.

Who is ‘The Ideas Business’ and what is your expertise in this area?

The Ideas Business was founded in 2017 by Creative Consultant Wade Kingsley. Wade has extensive experience in media and marketing in Australia and overseas.

He was with Nova Entertainment from 1997-2013, dentsu from 2013-2015, and SCA from 2015-2017. In this time he was tasked with building and leading creative teams, and was part of National Leadership Teams in senior roles.

The Ideas Business operates as a creative consultancy. Our mission is to make the world a more creative place.

To do this, we run ideation workshops, coaching sessions, training sessions and creative projects for our clients. In Australia we have worked with media clients such as QMS Media, Nova Entertainment, carsales, Triple J, ABC Radio, SCA, SBS, Val Morgan Outdoor, NewsCorp, Hatched Media, halfdome, & Media Federation of Australia.

We also work with non-media clients to help them use creative practice solving techniques to achieve their objectives.

Who completes the Census?

Last year, it was our first attempt and we wanted to test the viability of the Census itself. Thanks to a supportive network of contacts across the media industry we had 237 people start the Census with a completion rate of 52% (123 Census surveys completed).

In 2023, we are aiming for more completed Census forms compared to 2022. We plan to do this by reducing the number of questions (and therefore the time it takes to complete), whilst engaging with a more targeted awareness campaign, providing a prize-based incentive for participants, and personally inviting CEO's and influential leaders to drive the Census in their organisations.

In 2022 the participants largely came from media publishers and media agencies. This year we are aiming for more participation from other agencies (creative, comms, production, content etc.) and also from the brand marketing community. We will be approaching the Media Federation of Australia (MFA), IMAA (Independent Media Agencies Association), AANA (Australian Association of National Advertisers), and IHAC (In House Agency Council) to get support through their large membership bases.

What questions are in the Census?

Each year we take a fresh look at the entire list of questions. While we want to understand differences year to year and therefore trends over time, we also want the experience of the participant to be engaging and use topical industry issues.

In 2022, there were a lot of Covid themed questions as the timing was coming out of people returning to offices. In 2023, we will be replacing some of the Covid questions with themes such as A.I. (Artificial Intelligence).

The questions ask the respondent for their views on their personal creative thinking styles, their current workplace initiatives to promote creativity and innovation, and their perception about creativity in the industry overall.

What are the relevant dates for the Census in 2024?

The Creativity Census will be live from 23rd May-30th June. Participants are welcome to complete the survey any time during that period. To ensure maximum engagement we have created it so it should take each participant no longer than 10 minutes to complete (last year's average time taken was 15 minutes).

The announcement of the results will take place exclusively at Mumbrella360 in Sydney from 18-20 July.

After the public release, there will be opportunities for organisations who participated to hear about their company results through a series of presentations booked with The Ideas Business.

What information is made public?

Because we are asking people for their opinions on their company and the industry - privacy is paramount.

All data is kept confidential, and we only share overall company data upon request by leadership at the company. It is never identifiable data, and we take measures through our Privacy policy to ensure that we respect the honesty of the participants. This ensures the Census is robust in it's accuracy.

All participants have an option to have their responses excluded from everything but the overall public presentation/release of data. The public presentation shows only overall trends and not by company or individual.

What’s the benefit for people completing the Census?

We ask that people give 10 minutes once a year to help us understand the health of Creativity in their workplace, and therefore the industry as a whole.

While we will incentivise people by way of a prize draw, the benefit is taking part in an initiative that helps us understand the current state of play and get the conversation going to close any 'say-do' gap that exists.

What’s the benefit for The Ideas Business?

We undertake this initiative in order to help the industry. The benefit we receive is purely exposure as a proud contributor to the cause of Creativity.

Sometimes companies will ask us to undertake training and workshops as a result of this increased exposure, but we don't directly profit from the Census itself.

In 2023, QMS Media is coming on board as the sole partner of the Census. Their investment covers our costs in undertaking the activity (head hours, marketing, postage, flights, prize incentives etc). In return they access consulting hours from The Ideas Business as well as exposure on collateral relating to The Creativity Census in 2023.