Digital Has Rocked the Creative Landscape in Five Distinct Ways (infographic)

Creatives used to spend countless hours designing a few pieces of choice content for a small number of specific channels. With the advancement of digital technologies and processes, creatives are having to create more varied pieces for more platforms than previously. What does that mean for creatives and brands? Luckily, the evidence points to the fact that high-quality, audience-focused content is more in demand than ever before.

MDG’s infographic, How Digital Has Transformed the Creative Landscape, highlights five ways in which digital is changing the creative game. These insights are valuable for marketers and brands in terms of generating a deeper understanding of what audiences want, the tools available to meet those demands, and how digital will continue to shape the landscape in the coming years.

So, how has digital revolutionized creative in the past few years?

1. More Formats & More Platforms

Today, creative comes in a plethora of formats for use on a variety of different platforms, and this is largely due to digital. Before, creatives were tasked with creating one piece of creative for one place, but due to the increase in the number of places consumers get their information, brands now need to engage with customers in a whole new digital world. Just take one look at the list of formats and platforms below and you start to get the idea.

Blog posts
Long-form texts
Images and slideshows
Long-form videos
Organic social media
Organic search
Display advertising
Social posts
Infographics
Short-form videos
Interactive experiences
External websites
Paid social media
Paid search
Email newsletters
Owned websites

Related: Ruling Social Media and Internet - It’s All About the Images (Infographic)

2. Greater Demand for Personalization and Programmatic Buying

With 70% of creatives saying it’s important to personalize content around the customer journey, marketers are facing an increased demand to develop content that’s personalized to the customer. When you consider that 65% of creatives are developing more content now compared to 5 years ago, and 60% are spending more time creating that content, it seems clear that personalized, customer-centric content is key, and lots of it. There is more demand from consumers for relatable content and that’s good news for creatives, because while digital is increasing that demand, it’s also making it easier to deliver.

Take programmatic ad buying as an example. This digital process allows companies to buy digital advertising space in real time and target the right audience on the right platform, meaning no more headache-inducing purchasing processes. But, don’t just take our word for it, listen to the 81% of companies that are using some form of programmatic buying of advertising already With that many companies already on board, this digital innovation seems to be offering users some pretty valuable benefits.

3. More Data and New Tools

The changes digital has brought to the creative landscape extends beyond how pieces are distributed and also addresses how those pieces are created. Tools in the form of hardware and software are making it easier for people to develop content that fits very detailed specifications. In fact, 69% of creatives say they are using different tools compared with 5 years ago. These new tools, while making it easier to develop content, also make collaborating essential to the success of campaigns. Creatives definitely agree, and 73% think being able to collaborate easily is very important.

Overall, digital has expanded the importance of creative and made it more collaborative and iterative at the same time, meaning that creative teams are expected to do more than just simply create content making them multi-disciplinary. Compared to five years ago:

40% of creatives spend more time on asset management and collaboration
38% spend more time on iterating designs and getting approvals
28% spend more time on meetings and administration

4. Increase in the Use of Automation and AI

Personalization and programmatic ad buying might be considered the introduction to automation and AI, which take those concepts a step further by changing the way that companies of all sizes reach audiences. Automation and AI are making it possible for smaller companies to reach bigger and bigger audiences without a similarly expanding budget. In fact, a large percentage of creatives are already using automation to help with a number of tasks. Take a look at the percentage of creatives using automation and what they are using it for:

46% templates
40% photo/design retouching
34% file naming
31% style guide implementation
20% smart grids
18% localization

Perhaps even more impactful is AI and the endless opportunities for dynamic experiences it presents. Creatives are noticing changes in their adoption of AI already:

69% envision their use of AI increasing in the next 5 years
45% think AI may take over some of their job responsibilities

Also Read: The Chances of Automation Taking Away Your Livelihood (infographic)

5. Democratization has made top talent more important than ever

Lastly, digital has done a very efficient job at democratizing creative. Essentially, anyone with access to a smartphone and social media can share content on a variety of platforms in a variety of ways. Consumers and creatives alike have responded and a flood of content is produced every single day.

People are engaging with creative on a scale not previously seen. Every minute online individuals:

Share 2 million Snaps
Watch 4 million YouTube videos
Post 50,000 Instagram photos
Publish 80,000 Tumblr posts

The sheer amount of creative that is shared across these channels makes it more important than ever to be creating content that stands out from the rest. This makes finding great creative talent vital. A study of Instagram users ages 13-24 determined that this segment of users wants posts to be:

artfully presented;
thoughtfully composed;
beautiful and engaging; and
feature rich, authentic narratives.

In transforming the creative landscape, digital has made it easier for creatives to create and distribute meaningful content on a variety of platforms. And, automation and AI continue to advance and become more accessible, the possibilities for interactive engagements might just be endless. Most of all, it’s important to point out that creatives and their many talents are more in demand than ever before, and not much trumps thoughtful, personalized creative.

How Digital Has Transformed the Creative Landscape [Infographic]

Digital has revolutionized marketing and advertising creative in nearly every way imaginable, from how it’s made to how it is distributed. Today, creatives are working much differently than in the past and are developing radically different types of pieces. In this infographic you will learn: Why creatives are developing many more formats, How personalization and programmatic are driving more demand for creative, New tools that have changed the nature of creative, Why creative have started to rely on automation and AI How democratization of creative has made talent more important than ever.