Blending of Media and Creative: The Challenge and Opportunity

The ability for media and creative to work together effectively is now critical - the key to both strategic alignment and tactical execution. In AAR’s Evolution of the Marketing Operating Model report, 52% of CMOs predicted that the seamless integration of creative and media would be their biggest challenge in 2025, and this comes as no surprise.

The Challenge: Integration matters more than ever

The proliferation of channels and the need to deliver content at scale in multichannel campaigns that move (to paraphrase Margaret Jobling, CMO of NatWest Group) “at the speed of life, rather than our internal processes” has placed huge pressure on CMOs and their teams. 

The relentless demand for ‘more, faster, better’ (with platform-specific optimisation that ladders up to that big, brand-defining idea) means that even with great creative and a strong media plan, a lack of integration can hamper campaigns right from the start. 

The traditional “transactional” relationship between media and creative agencies, with silos both agency and client side, is no longer fit for purpose. Creative and media must work together to make sure every piece of creative is fit for purpose and will land with the most impact. Where creative and media are aligned from the beginning, brands achieve the right message, right person, right place, right time - and the benefits can be seen in increased marketing, and ultimately business, performance. 

Impact on the marketing model

With CMOs navigating issues from organisational silos and misaligned teams to difficulties regarding measurement and attribution, our research has revealed that a desire to take content production and/or performance media in-house has become a key motivation behind undertaking an agency model review. Yet with 41% of CMOs planning to re-outsource their IHA, it’s clear that simply leaning on in-housing is not a silver bullet. 

Marketing leaders still value external perspectives. Agencies - across both creative and media - can bring a diversity of talent, greater exposure to innovation, and learnings from cross-sector work. They often operate closer to the front lines of market evolution and technological change. Increasingly, we’re seeing integrated media-creative briefs as a result, with clients seeking the benefits of cross-disciplinary insight and execution.

Enabling Seamless Media-Creative Collaboration

Seamless media-creative collaboration requires a shake-up to the traditional model, where media and creative work hand in glove. Integration allows agencies and brands to produce content with the media plan in mind from the outset - making it adaptable, format-ready, and strategically aligned across all touchpoints. Gone are the days where the performance team can dial off when the discussion turns to brand, and vice versa. 

For media and creative teams, working closely together is vital for platform adaptability, from taking the big, beautiful creative and breaking it down into something that would go viral on TikTok, to understanding which 5 of 20 creative ideas are really connecting with audiences and pulling that insight through to inform later creative ideas. This is creative that’s data-informed, facilitating a dial-turning blend of brand-building with performance outcomes.

There has been movement in the market in response to this need, with creative and media agencies both increasingly hiring personnel from the other discipline, and clients sometimes recognising the integrated offerings of certain agencies to consolidate their agency roster.

But must media and creative be under the same roof to make integration possible? We think not. Clients who have set up brains trusts and planning forums (so that they are in the mix together and genuinely close to the detail) can get media and creative in an “incredible rhythm”. No matter what the model architecture ends up being, the important thing is that the two are working in lockstep.

A key watch out, however, is that change is never done. Speaking at our Evolution of the Marketing Operating Model preview event, Tesco’s Becky Brock discussed the need for marketers to accept that “there's not going to be a place where you've got one beautiful creative and a really stable media deployment or media buying. It's going to be much more dynamic.” 

The Part Where We Inevitably Discuss GenAI 

Generative AI is fast becoming a crucial driver of this evolution. Used effectively, it can support the production of content at scale - particularly for Tier 2 and Tier 3 assets - while also helping to streamline campaign optimisation in real time. When Generative AI is used as a connective thread, it can help to facilitate a feedback loop where creative informs media and vice versa, enhancing overall campaign performance - helping to enable creative thinking and strategic decision making, rather than replacing it. 

Opportunity for Agencies: Leveraging the ‘How’ with the ‘What’

As CMOs reconsider their agency models - looking for not just brilliance but repeatable, integrated systems for achieving it - agencies now have an opportunity to demonstrate their value not only in the ‘what’ but the ‘how’. We are moving away from the time when presenting a strong media strategy or standout creative idea is enough. Clients need to understand exactly how it will be delivered and how agencies will bring creative and media closer together.

That means more scrutiny on ways of working, team structure, and operational approach. In the past, the work alone might have won through, but now, agencies that can show a simple and repeatable process of getting to great work and can hold the client's hand through that process, are standing out.

Clients are looking for efficiency that isn’t just about cost-cutting, but bringing about increased operational effectiveness. They want:

• Simpler agency models that provide clearer value.
• Fewer silos and more collaboration, internally and externally.
• A consistent creative thread from brand building to performance marketing.
• Reusable assets that can flow through the funnel, empowered by AI.
• Cross-functional teams that understand both performance metrics and brand equity.

Naturally, brand teams are also responsible for bringing this about. It’s never going to be a case of engaging a creative agency and media agency and saying, “off you go”. The internal marketing team needs to be plugged into the model to drive results, and this isn’t just about right-first-time work, saving time and money, but creating a virtuous circle of better insight → better content → better media → better business results.

When creative and media work together, supported by smart processes and enabled by AI, campaigns don’t just run, they evolve - fuelled by feedback, insight, and real-time optimisation - to deliver better campaigns and better customer experiences. This is what we are all striving for: a dynamic, responsive marketing model where insight drives action, where creative brilliance meets media precision, and where every touchpoint is informed, intentional, and impactful. 

By Hannah Astill and Rebecca Nunneley