Creatives in licensing feel undervalued, reveals Skew survey

A survey of the licensing industry’s creative community by Skew has found that creatives in the industry feel undervalued.

Skew’s ‘Not Just Colouring In’ survey investigated the perspectives, challenges, and needs of creatives within the brand licensing sector. The research aims to bridge the gap between creative professionals, their colleagues and industry leaders, enabling more effective collaboration and maximising the potential of creative work.

Only 20% of survey participants felt that the licensing industry adequately celebrated their work, and nearly one in three creatives reported feeling misunderstood and undervalued by non-creative colleagues.

The majority of respondents indicated a lack of tracking, measuring, and sharing of the impact of creative efforts within their companies, emphasising the need for quantifiable evidence of creative contributions to enable creatives to have greater input into the direction of the industry.

“During the pandemic, I interviewed 30 rights owners, and only one out of 30 companies started a project with an ROI target, then measured it,” said Oliver Dyer, Managing Director at Skew.

“Instead, they were usually focused entirely on improving the relationship with licensees. Even that is a valid objective, but it’s rarely made explicit from the start of a project. Historically, there’s just not been a push to get effective metrics – either at the point of briefing or following up after significant pieces of creative have landed to see what worked, what didn’t work, and why.

“What this means is that creative is treated as a cost. Imagine if we started actually measuring the value creativity drives. So instead of creative being a cost base to control, they’re recognised as a profit centre to celebrate.”

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