Many of us are excited to put 2020 behind us, and hopeful that 2021 will begin a new chapter. We can be sure that 2021 will hold some big changes for how Creative teams work. Here are the top 5 trends to expect this year.

Creatives will take on a bigger strategic role within the organization

Many organizations had to completely pivot their normal operations in 2020. When faced with new challenges, it was the creative and marketing teams that stepped up to develop creative solutions. For years Creative Teams have been working to be taken seriously as strategic partners to the business. In our annual Creative Management Report, we’ve seen creative teams make incremental progress towards claiming their seat at the strategic table over the past 3 years, but 2020 was a sea change. Suddenly creative teams were not just there to “make it pretty”. They were learning new skills and pivoting quickly to keep up with a rapidly evolving change. 2021 will certainly bring more changes, and creative teams should expect to continue to be called on for their creative problem-solving skills.

Technology will be the key to keep collaboration thriving during remote work

For many creatives, our homes have become our workplaces, and that’s unlikely to change for a while. In fact, it’s likely that even in the long term we’ll be working remotely much more than we did prior to 2020. One of the biggest challenges that come with remote work is keeping up the strong collaboration that creative and marketing teams thrive on. The key to maintaining collaborative relationships is having the right technology. Whether that means video conferencing software, chat applications, or project management software that provides contextual, real-time collaboration, building the right tech stack will keep your team collaborating from anywhere.

In-house teams will partner with agencies and freelancers to flex their resources

Many creative teams faced serious reductions in their resources in 2020, including budget, technology, and talent. At the same time, creative teams have been asked to do more. To pivot and take on new projects for a virtual environment, to learn a wider range of skills, and to provide creative solutions to new problems. The secret to functioning as a lean, efficient creative team that can still handle all the work their stakeholders need from them is to find outside resources that allow you to flex bandwidth and bring on specialized skill sets as needed.

Comprehensive and collaborative request intake will help creatives streamline their process

The single biggest challenge that most creative teams face in their creative workflow is request intake. Stakeholders keep requests coming in fast and furious, and often don’t take the time to fill out briefs completely or provide the necessary context for the work. This is especially unfortunate because project kickoff set the tone for the entire project. Poorly done request intake will results in more rounds of review, missed deadlines, and general inefficiency at every stage of the project. If you’re looking to improve your creative process, start at the beginning.

Successful creative team will double down on metrics

Historically, creative teams have struggled to be data driven. In their defense, creative work is not often perceived as a metrics-oriented field, but as creative teams take on a bigger strategic role within their organizations they will need to be able to speak the language of the business and show with data how their work directly contributes to meeting key business objectives.

Ready to take on 2021? Learn how inMotion ignite can help your team achieve better content outcomes by scheduling a demo today!

Elise Hauser is a product and content marketer with a passion for telling brand stories. She has produced inMotionNow’s annual Creative Management Report for 4 years, webinars, content sessions for major industry events reaching audiences of 11,000+, and of course, countless blog posts. When Elise isn’t writing about the marketing and creative industry at inMotionNow she is teaching economics and hanging out with her cat, Tucker, at her home in Raleigh, NC.