Creativity: The Ultimate Differentiator

If one theme has defined this year, it’s change - and the growing expectation that agencies will help clients navigate it.

More than ever, clients aren’t just looking for an agency; they’re looking for a transformation partner. Every marketer I speak to is in some state of flux - rewiring their marketing operating model, embedding new technologies, or restructuring their teams. Behind almost every pitch now lies a hidden brief: help me deliver this change successfully.

Agencies are being chosen not just for their ideas, but for how they work - how they transition, collaborate, and bring clarity to complexity.

At the same time, I can’t help but notice how AI, for all its promise, is making many agency decks look the same. Hyper-polished visuals can impress, but they often strip away the imagination that once made early creative work so powerful. There’s a kind of magic in a rough sketch - that unfinished scamp that invites the client to imagine the idea for themselves. When everything looks fully formed from slide one, we risk losing that spark.

And that, really, is the bigger point. When everyone has access to the same tools, data, and AI, creativity becomes the ultimate differentiator.

In a year defined by transformation, creativity remains the constant - the most valuable, human thing our industry has to offer.