Adobe study reveals Aussie creatives are moving away from TV ads and finding inspiration online

Television may be losing its place as a primary source of inspiration for many creatives who are now looking online for ideas, new research from Adobe has revealed.

The study found that only 11% of creatives in Australia and New Zealand seek inspiration from television advertising, with a majority finding inspiration online – 41% from websites or online advertisements, 35% from social media and 38% from online creative communities like Behance.

The findings are detailed in Adobe APAC Creatives Pulse, a survey of more than 2,500 creative professionals across Asia Pacific comprising respondents from Australia and New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (Greater China), and India. The study provides insights into the beliefs, challenges and aspirations of the region’s creative vanguard, including graphic designers, illustrators, web designers, photographers and video professionals.

The study found creatives in Australia and New Zealand are moving with the changing face of the industry – 89% of creatives in ANZ feel that they are increasingly working across multiple mediums and disciplines and are mindful of the need to learn new tools and techniques. At the same time traditional measures of success such as industry awards (23%) are being replaced by feedback and views on social media (28%), with business impact (66%) and personal financial success (46%) tracking as leading success indicators for ANZ creatives.    

Says Paul Robson (pictured above), president Asia Pacific, Adobe: “It is worth noting the dominant role that social media has come to play in the lives of creatives, whether that’s as a source of inspiration or an important success metric. In fact, success in the socialverse is now considered an even more important indicator of success than industry awards, showing that the industry is undergoing a sea change.”

Interestingly, Australia and New Zealand creatives don’t view mobile as a large driver of change compared to the rest of APAC. Although 52% cite mobile as making their work accessible to a broader audience, only 33% are using mobile to capture inspiration on the go when compared to the rest of APAC (48%) as part of the creative process, and only 71% feel that mobile is transforming the face of creativity and design compared to the APAC average of 80%.

Says Robson: “Asia Pacific is home to half the world’s mobile devices. The rise of mobile brings with it plenty of opportunities and challenges for creatives to create content across platforms and devices at a pace that matches the growing economies of the region. We anticipate that mobile devices will become an important part of the creative process when integrated with existing desktop workflows.”

Key APAC findings include:

• 78% of respondents across APAC say the role of creatives is changing rapidly or very rapidly with 58% citing new technologies as the topmost catalyst for change, followed by the impact of social media (37%) and new responsibilities added to the creative function (35%). The impact of this upheaval in the industry can be seen in the 84% of respondents who feel they will fall behind if they don’t stay current with the industry.

• Some of the things that keep APAC creatives up at night are losing inspiration/motivation (50%), pressure to deliver more content faster than ever (47%) and not being trained sufficiently in new skills (46%). In ANZ, financial and job security were chief concerns at 52%.

• The desire to learn new things (54%), seeing their ideas brought to life (50%) and wanting to do great work (43%) were the top factors motivating creatives across the whole region. ANZ respondents (61%) feel most strongly about producing great work.

• APAC creatives identified app development (34%), followed by digital story-telling (12%) and web design (12%) as the skills that will be most in-demand over the next 12 months. In ANZ, graphic design was also listed as a key skill (12%).