In recent years, a surge of ad agencies has rebranded themselves under trendy labels like “purpose-driven,” “socially conscious,” or “culture-focused.” These positioning shifts aim to attract clients who prioritize specific values or causes. However, this trend seems less about true creativity and more about riding a hype wave—one that suggests advertising is less about groundbreaking ideas and more about fitting neatly into predefined boxes.
The issue here is that a strong agency identity, driven by a particular positioning, ultimately influences the type of creative work that gets produced. Creativity thrives in spaces that aren’t clearly mapped out, in areas where the unexpected can happen. But when an agency becomes too focused on fitting a specific mold—whether it’s “purpose-driven” or “culturally relevant”—it often stifles the very creativity it promises to deliver.
Agencies that are overly concerned with their positioning tend to produce work that feels too safe or too predictable. And when it’s predictable, it’s no longer creative. This shift towards more structured strategies and processes leaves less room for surprises, and great advertising has always been about surprising the audience.
Advertising’s time-tested principles—such as staying true to the product, avoiding borrowed interest, creating smart ads rather than relying on gimmicks, and respecting the consumer—are often sidelined in favor of chasing the latest buzzwords. At my agency, we’ve stuck to a motto: “We give clients what they want, but never what they expect.” It’s about pushing boundaries and surprising people, rather than offering them what they thought they were going to get.
Marketing today is increasingly dominated by performance metrics that prioritize stunts, clicks, and cultural buzz over genuine creativity. The industry has become enamored with gimmicks, while the true power of great advertising has been diminished.
Consultants, always eager to latch onto the latest trends, have played a key role in propagating this shift. Clients, in turn, have grown accustomed to hiring agencies based on their promises of clear, measurable outcomes. In the past, agencies introduced strategic planners to build deeper connections with their clients. Today, it’s simpler to just declare a single purpose or positioning from the outset, leaving little room for the creative exploration that once defined great advertising.
This has led to agencies adopting names and identities that reflect their positioning, rather than their creative abilities. The founders’ names are no longer the main attraction; the agency’s purpose has taken center stage.
As a result, clients are often more comfortable with the process than with the final creative product. They’ve bought into the agency’s positioning framework, and if the work doesn’t resonate, it’s easy for the agency to dismiss the critique by pointing to their strategic approach. In this model, creativity follows the lead of the agency’s “purpose” or “positioning,” and the essence of great advertising—surprise, originality, emotional connection—gets lost.
This hype-driven approach is, ironically, anti-creative. True success in advertising comes from evoking emotion, from creating that unquantifiable connection that resonates with people on a deeper level. But the reliance on performance-driven marketing has made it harder for clients to evaluate the true impact of creative work. Instead of feeling something powerful, they’re caught up in the metrics and processes that come with the latest trend.
The real challenge facing agencies today is that they’ve become their own worst enemy. Agencies and clients need to recognize the consequences of leaning too heavily into performance-based, purpose-driven creative strategies. The industry needs a return to balance—a return to valuing creativity as an essential, transformative force in marketing.
There are signs of change. A growing backlash against hyper-specialized agencies and an increased desire for more creativity and personality in the work suggests a shift is underway. Marketers are starting to realize that relying solely on data and measurable results isn’t enough for long-term brand success. Creativity, after all, is what gives advertising its power.
In a world where agencies have become risk-averse and focused on survival through campaign performance, it’s essential to remember that the most successful campaigns are the ones that generate real, emotional responses. If we’ve learned anything from advertising history, it’s that if the work doesn’t evoke real feelings, no one will remember it—and in the end, that’s the real danger.
