As AI accelerates and marketing budgets tighten, creativity is thriving in chaos, but only when guided by clarity. The boldest ideas are coming from brands that turn evidence into conviction and use data to bring creative freedom.
By Ryan Frost, Executive Creative Director, Landor
Uncertainty has become the new normal. Markets are volatile, growth is harder to find, and CMOs are being asked to deliver creativity with precision; ideas that move people and the numbers. In this environment, the temptation is to look down and focus on quick, tactical and repeatable wins. But, sooner rather than later, this approach runs out of road.
The most powerful creative work isn’t driven by instinct alone, but by certainty as well. But certainty doesn’t mean being safe. It means having clarity about the bigger picture of where and how a brand creates value, and the confidence to make bold choices because the strategic direction of travel is clear.
When creativity and evidence work in partnership, brands unlock freedom — the freedom to invest behind bigger and bolder ideas. The old assumption that data stifles creativity no longer holds true. In reality, the more clearly you understand what your brand stands for and how it drives performance, the more confidently you can stretch it.
Data gives creative leaders the permission to be ambitious. It turns the conversation with the CEO and CFO from “trust us” to “back us.”
Volvo Group wanted to update its brand promise and its corporate identity in order to reposition itself to be ready for the push towards electrification. The starting point of the Board was “We can see the costs, but we can’t see the benefits”. By treating brand as a business asset, we were able to demonstrate the ability of the brand to drive incremental sales and therefore generate a positive ROI from the change. This helped convince the board to approve the plan to move forward, which has subsequently taken place and enabled Volvo Group to be a leader in the electrification of commercial vehicles.
In financial services, BBVA demonstrated how data can make bravery possible. The bank’s decision to unify its global identity was high-risk, particularly in Mexico, its largest business. It was only made possible by modelling the financial outcomes and demonstrating that there was upside in the short term as well as the long term. On this basis, the business was able to make its confident creative leap forward. Three years later, brand equity has increased significantly and the share price has more than doubled, proving that creative transformation can be a measurable growth strategy when guided by evidence.
Even in fast-moving categories, certainty gives creativity direction. When wearable brand Amazfit looked to expand beyond China, insight revealed an opportunity to shift from functional messaging to emotional relevance. The resulting platform, “The Science of Self,” reframed the brand around personal empowerment and delivered an increase in revenue of over 40%. It wasn’t a safer idea, it was a smarter one.
Across these examples, the common factor isn’t format or category, but conviction. When brands know where their strength lies, they can create with more focus and less fear. Certainty turns creativity from a leap of faith into a disciplined pursuit of value.
For marketing leaders, that’s the new competitive advantage. Certainty builds alignment between creative ambition and commercial logic. It ensures that great ideas not only move audiences but also move markets. It gives creativity credibility in the boardroom and turns brand into a business asset that can be forecast, measured and managed.
The future of creativity won’t be defined by who can take the biggest risk, but by who can take the right one — confidently, consistently and with clarity of purpose. In an age of constant disruption, that kind of certainty isn’t a constraint. It’s a catalyst.
