Marketers struggle to prove creative ROI, report

The findings also suggest that many marketing teams struggle to justify creative investment.

Despite high confidence in creative performance, many senior marketing leaders lack the evidence needed to demonstrate its business impact, according to a global survey published by Gain Theory.

The consultancy's report, Creative Effectiveness Decoded: The Global CMO Survey, found that while 89 percent of respondents believe their creative has been effective or very effective over the past 12 months, many organisations still rely on indirect metrics that do not measure commercial outcomes.

Creative and media measured differently

The survey found that 81 percent of marketing leaders believe creative and media contribute equally to business performance. However, only 36 percent apply the same level of measurement to both disciplines.

Instead, 80 percent assess creative performance using media metrics such as reach and impressions, rather than measures that demonstrate whether advertising contributes to sales. As a result, 62 percent acknowledge they are investing media budgets behind creative assets without knowing their full business value.

The findings also suggest that many marketing teams struggle to justify creative investment. Nearly half (49 percent) of respondents are not confident they have sufficient data to defend or increase creative budgets in discussions with finance leaders. One in four (25 percent) said their creative budget had been reduced during the past 12 to 24 months because they could not build a data-informed business case.

Data and technology remain key obstacles

According to the survey, inadequate data remains the biggest barrier to measuring creative effectiveness, cited by 68 percent of respondents. A further 56 percent pointed to a lack of tools and technology.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to address some of these challenges. The research found that 87 percent of respondents are using or piloting AI for creative production, while 56 percent are already using AI to measure creative effectiveness.

Russell Nuzzo, Global Head of New Media Measurement, Gain Theory: "For too long, advertising creative has remained a comparative blind spot, while media buying has been subjected to intense scrutiny and sophisticated analytical models. Our research shows marketing leaders feel good about their creative, but can't prove it's working, and CFOs are starting to notice. At the end of the day, If you can't measure it, you can't defend it. Closing that gap is now the single biggest opportunity in marketing measurement."

North America reports lower confidence

The research also identified regional differences. In North America, 60 percent of respondents described their measurement capability as advanced, compared with 70 percent elsewhere. North American marketers were also more likely to rely on copy testing and pre-testing (64 percent versus 42 percent) and were less likely to identify human and cultural barriers to measurement (50 percent versus 31 percent).

The survey builds on Gain Theory's 2025 report, Creative Effectiveness Decoded, which concluded that creativity can account for between 50 and 70 percent of a campaign's sales uplift while many brands continue to lack robust methods for measuring its contribution.

Gain Theory surveyed 115 senior marketing leaders from Fortune 500 companies across North America, Europe, Asia and other regions during May and June 2026. Respondents represented sectors including financial services, retail, technology, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, professional services and manufacturing.

www.gaintheory.com

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