Brands’ appetite wanes for creative risk-taking, per Lions research

• Only 13% of name marketers and creatives view their corporations as “risk-friendly” in the case of creativity, while 29% are highly risk averse, in keeping with the 2025 State of Creativity report from Lions, which produces the annual Cannes Lions creativity festival.
• The report, now in its fifth 12 months, surveys greater than 1,000 marketers and creatives all over the world and includes qualitative information from one-on-one industry leaders. More than half of respondents (51%) said their customer insights are too weak to develop daring creative, and 57% said they struggle to react quickly to cultural moments. 
• The survey also revealed that brands are increasingly specializing in short-term marketing activities, fairly than long-term brand constructing. In the 2025 survey, nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents said their brands were specializing in such tactics, up from 53% in 2023. 

Brand and agency executives have gotten more risk-averse in the case of marketing creative, which could negatively impact growth, in keeping with the most important creativity festival. Outside data cited within the report backs up the assertion that stronger creativity leads to raised business results. Brands that take creative risks generate 4 times higher profit margins than those who don’t, per WARC and Kantar. Additionally, brands with an appetite for creative risk are 33% more prone to see long-term revenue growth, in keeping with Deloitte.

The aversion to “creative risk-taking,” defined by the survey as “daring, unconventional ideas that challenge norms and have interaction audiences in unexpected ways,” boils right down to issues marketers face like poor insights and an inability to answer cultural moments quickly, per the report. 

With regard to insights, 51% of respondents said their ability to develop high-quality insights was poor or very poor. Conversely, only 13% said their ability was superb or excellent. The principal barriers to developing quality insights were a lack of awareness and clarity as to what makes an excellent insight, not enough priority on insight development and insufficient time allocated to insight exploration. 

The report noted that strong agency-brand relationships and more diverse teams and methods yielded higher, more actionable insights. Additionally, AI use also increased efficiency and reduced bias.

A insecurity in consumer insights can also be resulting in brands’ inability to answer cultural moments. According to the report, 57% of brands struggle to react quickly when something happens, and only 12% rate their ability to achieve this as “excellent.” Other challenges include too many layers within the approval process and limited resources and investment. Recommendations include streamlining internal processes and shaping culture fairly than chasing it.