It’s Nice That launches new research-driven Insights department

It won’t be news to anyone in our community of readers that the past few years have been a tumultuous time for creativity. Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, the creative industries have encountered a dizzying range of obstacles. Increased layoffs have been coupled with a slow-moving jobs market, and those in the studio have been met with a working culture that fails to invest in creative inspiration. According to a recent survey conducted by It’s Nice That, 70 per cent of respondents noticed that their teams are struggling to develop ideas or to maintain the confidence to take creative risks. It seems that the importance of creativity has been sidelined, replaced by a focus on efficiency and homogenous outputs. Meanwhile, the threatening spectre of AI is lurking around every corner.

This unfortunate shift is concerning for It’s Nice That, a platform built for creatives, by creatives, with a mission to inspire creativity. This is why we’ve launched a brand new department within It’s Nice That: Insights. You might have already seen a number of articles published by this team in the form of POV, a new fortnightly column created to share perspectives currently stirring conversation and setting trends across the industry. Since its launch in February, we’ve evaluated the process of unpaid pitching, questioned the addictive nature of app design and reported on creatives’ unanimous disdain for timesheets. Each of these perspectives has been developed in close collaboration with the working creatives we write about and published by our Insights team.

Insights is a research-driven team, combining It’s Nice That’s creative awareness, authoritative voice and the unparalleled network of talent we’ve been lucky enough to connect with over the past 17 years. Outwardly, this comes to life through editorial series like POV, but also larger bodies of research with data provided by our audience, such as 2023’s The Lazy Report, and our comprehensive investigation into AI, Shades of Intelligence. Behind the scenes, however, our Insights team also works closely with internal creative teams at brands and agencies, providing select partners with opinions and perspectives direct from the global creative community.

Our Insights offer has been defined by a body of independent research we conducted in 2023. Interviewing a focus group of creative leaders from leading global brands, agencies and studios, we discovered growing concern around the role of inspiration within these businesses, and how this is ultimately affecting work culture, and in turn, creative output.

For example, 75 per cent of creative workers interviewed stated that they’re running out of places to unearth original ideas – especially struggling to find the necessary time to discover new sources of inspiration. Initiatives to combat this are also difficult to organise. Over 80 per cent of interviewees said that while they encourage teams to engage in inspiration trips or workshops, almost all admitted that such plans are dependent on ad-hoc budget and often have little to no considered strategy. As one of our interviewees succinctly pointed out: “If you know where to look, ideas can blossom, but sometimes this can be counterintuitive if you’re looking in the same places.”

With this in mind, there are three core ways in which our Insights department supports teams with our research-driven offering. We connect brands to the creative world through visual trend analysis; through discipline- or demographic-focused talent recommendations; and by providing insights from our community, which involves our team curating panels of relevant practitioners who offer their understanding and experiences. Connecting with strategy and creative teams to foster growth, Insights has a genuine understanding of how creativity connects to audiences and has supported the likes of WhatsApp, Nike, Google Brand Studio, Spotify and Mubi, informing campaigns and collaborations with visual edge.

Across 2024, our Insights team will be continuing to research and report on industry discussions and trends through POV, and will be publishing a larger, industry-wide report in the coming months as well. If you’re looking to learn more about Insights head here, or get in touch directly with our team to discuss bespoke partnerships.