Latest Study Reveals 75% of Creative Collaboration Happens Remotely
In recent years, organizations have transitioned from in-office to remote and then to hybrid working models. Which of these models makes marketers and creative teams more productive and what slows them down in the creative process? To understand this, Filestage recently conducted a study.
In the past three years, the way teams work together creatively has changed significantly. People went remote first due to the pandemic and resulting shutdowns. As they got used to it, many organizations called their employees back to the physical workplace. Today, many work in a hybrid environment.
To understand how people, particularly marketers and creative teams, work together and how the pandemic is affecting how they work together, Filestage recently surveyed marketers and creatives across a range of agencies, brands and production companies. The study tried to understand which working model makes teams most productive and what slows them down in the creative process. The study also made some predictions about creative collaboration for this year.
Below are some findings from the study.
Hybrid work is the new normal
When the pandemic-related lockdowns were lifted, there was much debate over whether people should be called back to physical space or continue working remotely. While many companies resumed face-to-face operations, many of them went remote permanently. Ultimately, most companies opted for the hybrid model. Today, about 65% of respondents have a hybrid work environment, while only 19% work fully remotely and 16% work from the physical office.
Additionally, the percentage of people working in the hybrid model has increased this year compared to 2022, while the percentage of people working remotely has decreased significantly.
Change of people who work in different work constellations
Source: The state of creative collaboration in 2023
See more: How to seamlessly communicate and collaborate in the work-from-anywhere world
Brands, agencies and production companies prefer hybrid
The study found that 72% of internal brand and marketing teams work from a hybrid setup, 15% work full-time from the office, and 13% work entirely remotely. This compares to agencies, where 62% of teams work in a hybrid environment, and manufacturing companies, where 69% work in a hybrid environment. The only exception seems to be startups, where 48% work remotely, 28% in a hybrid environment, and 24% in the office. This may be because startups see it as a more cost-effective option, while others believe they need to see what they’re building to make a real impact.
Only a quarter of creative collaboration happens face-to-face
Aside from productivity, one of the top reasons organizations want employees to return to the physical workplace is for effective collaboration. However, the study found that the assumption could be wrong. According to the study, 75% of creative collaboration happens remotely.
When it came to the speed of creative collaboration, about 34% of fully remote workers reported it as fast or very fast, compared to only about 23% of full-office workers and 27% of workers working in a hybrid environment. Additionally, full-time office workers were the only category that said collaboration was very slow.
It takes over a week for content to be approved
How many versions do creative teams have to share for a work to be approved? The study found that agencies need an average of 3.3 versions to get their work approved, while brands need an average of 3.2 versions. Likewise, a startup needs an average of 3.7 versions to get a play approved, while a production company needs 3.4 versions.
In terms of the average number of days it takes to get the piece approved, freelancers only take around four days, while it takes brands ten days to get a piece approved. Similarly, startups take nine days and production companies six days to get their work approved.
Marketers spend 20 minutes reviewing a job
When marketers or account managers review a work, various elements and activities such as writing emails, highlighting text, and commenting on drafts are involved in the process. So how long does it take to review each work? According to the study, marketers take an average of 20 minutes, while account managers take 37 minutes to review each work. Likewise, it takes 33 minutes for the design and creative team and 25 minutes for the project management and production team to review each work.
Additionally, account managers devote about 14 hours a month — most of the time to providing feedback. Interestingly, marketers spend the least amount of time providing feedback, still getting up to eight hours a month.
Waiting for feedback is the biggest problem that slows marketers down
There are a few factors that slow teams down. Among them, the biggest challenge is waiting for feedback, with 71% of marketers and 89% of account managers naming this challenge. This is followed by chasing people for approval, with 69% of marketers, 52% of creative and design teams, and 57% of project management and production teams naming this challenge. Other challenges include too many meetings, waiting for more context, and aligning non-communicating stakeholders, all of which indicate poor and slow communication.
Which of these is slowing down the team?
Source: The state of creative collaboration in 2023
Collaboration is getting faster thanks to technology
We can predict some key trends in creative collaboration this year. Here are three important ones.
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Hybrid and fully remote work will become more important
While many companies were keen to return to the physical workplace following the easing of lockdown restrictions, many quickly transitioned to a hybrid environment due to pressure from employees. In fact, 64% of employees said they would quit if asked to return to the office full-time, according to a ADP Research Institute report. Now we have a few other factors, most notably economic uncertainty, which will prompt many companies to cut costs. All of these factors could force more companies to go fully remote or hybrid this year.
See more: Four trends for content collaboration in 2022
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Collaboration gets faster as more teams rely on technology
As the pandemic began, the use of collaboration and communication tools like Slack and Zoom skyrocketed. And even as companies brought their employees back into the office, those tools and technologies stayed. As more businesses move to remote and hybrid, and with technological advancesExpect more teams to invest in collaboration and productivity tools to do more with less.
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Teams get better at asynchronous collaboration
The study shows that 26% of creative collaborations over the past year have been asynchronous. Here, team members bring their ideas, feedback, and other input at a time that suits them on a given workday, rather than having a real-time meeting. Although this trend is relatively new in the marketing world, it may become more common as more people work from different regions and time zones.
Find new ways to increase productivity
As the study shows, hybrid and in-house working models may not make creative collaboration faster or more effective. On the contrary, many people working in a remote environment find collaboration faster. As more companies work remotely or hybrid, teams need to find better ways to collaborate effectively. Businesses should identify the inefficiencies and challenges and use technology to overcome them and deliver better work in less time.
How do you overcome the collaboration challenges your creative teams face? Share with us Facebook, TwitterAnd LinkedIn.
Image source: Shutterstock
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