It seems TV may be losing it’s grip as a primary source of inspiration, with creatives turning to the interwebs for new ideas, a recent study has found.
The research, undertaken by Adobe, 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.
An online survey was conducted late last year, with 2,557 creative professionals from across the Asia Pacific region taking part. Respondents from Singapore, South Korea, Greater China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), India, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), were asked questions such as: What motivates them? What are their aspirations? What are the challenges they face every day? How do they view the industry they work in?
Findings were detailed in the APAC Creatives Pulse, providing insights into the beliefs, challenges and aspirations of the region’s creative vanguard, including film and video professionals, graphic designers, illustrators, web designers, and photographers.
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.
“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,” said Paul Robson, President Asia Pacific, Adobe.
Interestingly, Korean creatives (46%) are more likely to believe that mobile devices make the job of creatives more challenging by increasing the number of output mediums while creatives in Greater China (56%) appreciate the fact that mobility has made creative work accessible to a broader audience. They are also more likely to report that they are using mobile devices to present creative concepts (53%). India (42%) and Singapore (41%) are more likely to state that mobile allows them to create content anywhere, making them significantly more likely to be inspired outside the office or studio than the APAC average, which was 32%.
Whereas, Australia and New Zealand creatives don’t view mobile as a large driver of change, 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%.
“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,” added Mr. Robson.
KEY FINDINGS:
- 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%).
To access the completed APAC findings (as a pdf download), click here.
Feature Image: Filmmaker For A Cause shooting with Miller’s Arrow Tripod System (image: supplied).
