Report:
The Forrester Wave™: Marketing Creative And Content Services, Q1 2025
How does Forrester define the Marketing Creative And Content Services market in 2025?
To address consumer's emotional, functional, and transactional needs, brands need a creative process powered by intelligence and enabled by algorithms. Audience data, content, digital shelf, channel intelligence, universal taxonomy, and atomic-level creative assets are now foundational for developing and producing persuasive marketing campaigns. Algorithmic expressions of marketing creativity have quickly become the new standard for creative development and delivery. Creative and content service providers have built marketing operating systems that use AI, data, and creativity to systematize, personalize, and scale marketing campaigns and customer experiences.
Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Marketing Creative And Content Services, Q1 2025 in 2025
- Publication Date: 12-Mar-2025
- Document ID:
- Summary: In our evaluation of marketing creative and content services providers, we identified the most significant ones and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps you select the right one for your needs.
- Authors: Jay Pattisall, Emily Collins, Katie Vincent, Christine Turley
How did the Marketing Creative And Content Services market evolve in 2025?
- Marketing creativity fully embraces the age of algorithms, with creative processes powered by intelligence and enabled by algorithms
- Advancing generative AI (genAI) capabilities is the top marketing priority for 2025 among marketing and advertising decision-makers
- Creative and content service providers have built marketing operating systems that use AI, data, and creativity to systematize, personalize, and scale marketing campaigns
- 38% of US online adults are more likely to purchase from brands that share content that interests them
- Providers use proprietary data, licensed data, synthetic personas, and LLMs to inform creative ideation, campaign execution, and optimization
- Agencies combine human creativity with agentic workflow to speed up and scale marketing outputs
- Cloud-based marketing operating systems powered by technology partners like Adobe, AWS, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI are now standard
- Universal taxonomies link production creation to media activation to track and optimize performance during asset creation and activation
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- A track record for delivering innovative marketing creative and content services. Providers offer full-service creative and content capabilities while leveraging a proprietary, SaaS-based marketing intelligence and content development platform.
- Enterprise capabilities across global markets. Providers deliver creative and content services in four of five global markets (APAC, China, EMEA, LATAM, NA).
- Substantial marketing creative and content services revenue. The providers produced at least US$1 billion in annual revenue from their marketing creative and content services in the last four quarters.
- Mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients. Forrester clients frequently mention the marketing creative and content services as one they are considering or shortlisting prior to a purchase.
What are the common features of top products in the Marketing Creative And Content Services space?
No common features specified.
Scope Exclusions
- Vendors that did not meet the US$1 billion revenue threshold
- Agencies that are part of consolidated networks evaluated under parent entity
- Vendors that declined to participate in the full evaluation process
- Vendors that only partially contributed to the evaluation
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- A track record for delivering innovative marketing creative and content services
- Offer full-service creative and content capabilities while leveraging a proprietary, SaaS-based marketing intelligence and content development platform
- Enterprise capabilities across global markets (deliver in four of five global markets: APAC, China, EMEA, LATAM, NA)
- Substantial marketing creative and content services revenue (at least US$1 billion in annual revenue from marketing creative and content services in the last four quarters)
- Mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients (frequently mentioned by clients in inquiries, advisories, consulting engagements)
Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting
- Brand strategy — 10%
- Creative and communications strategy — 10%
- Creative and content development — 10%
- Creative and content production — 10%
- Creative intelligence — 10%
- Emerging creative technology — 10%
- Performance creative — 10%
- Creative commerce — 5%
- Creative experience — 5%
- Brand advertising — 10%
- Influencer marketing — 10%
Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting
- Vision — 20%
- Innovation — 20%
- Partner ecosystem — 20%
- Pricing flexibility and transparency — 10%
- Talent strategy — 10%
- Global delivery strategy — 20%
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates 10 marketing creative and content services providers across three categories: current offering, strategy, and customer feedback. The evaluation assesses providers' capabilities in areas including brand strategy, creative and communications strategy, creative development and production, creative intelligence, emerging creative technology, performance creative, creative commerce, creative experience, brand advertising, and influencer marketing.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: CMOs and marketing executives looking to execute inspiring, effective, and scaled marketing creative and content should use this research. It is specifically valuable for enterprise brands seeking providers that inspire the creative process with intelligence, fuse human creativity with automation and genAI workflows, and scale production to meet the volume of media impressions required for modern marketing campaigns.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: Vendors must offer full-service creative and content capabilities including strategy, development, production, and optimization services. They must leverage a proprietary SaaS-based marketing intelligence and content development platform. Global delivery capabilities across at least four of five major markets (APAC, China, EMEA, LATAM, NA) are required. Annual revenue from marketing creative and content services must be at least US$1 billion.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Did not meet the US$1 billion revenue threshold (e.g., DEPT, Leo Burnett as standalone, BBDO as standalone, MullenLowe)
- Part of a consolidated network evaluated under a different entity (e.g., BBDO evaluated as part of Omnicom Advertising Group)
- Declined to participate in the full evaluation process (e.g., Havas and Publicis Worldwide declined full participation)
- Future consolidation pending (e.g., MullenLowe part of proposed Omnicom acquisition of IPG)
- Recent or pending merger/reorganization (e.g., Publicis Worldwide merging with Leo Burnett to form 'Leo')
Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?
A:
- Inspire the entire creative process with audience, cultural, and creative intelligence
- Fuse human creativity with automation and genAI workflows
- Scale production to meet the volume of media impressions
- Deploy insights in early stages of creative ideation, during campaign execution, and for optimization
- Combine creativity with technology to amplify brand appeal
- Use agentic workflow to speed up and scale marketing outputs
- Match appropriate assets to audiences with synergy between creative production and media activation
Q: How has the Marketing Creative And Content Services market evolved in 2025?
A:
- Advancing generative AI (genAI) capabilities is the top marketing priority for 2025
- Marketing creativity fully embraces the age of algorithms
- Algorithmic expressions of marketing creativity have become the new standard
- Providers are building marketing operating systems using AI, data, and creativity
- Cloud-based marketing operating systems powered by technology partners like Adobe, AWS, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI
- Universal taxonomies to link production creation to media activation
- Consolidation among agencies within the same agency holding company
Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?
A: Strength of Offering (vertical axis) evaluates current capabilities including brand strategy, creative development, content production, creative intelligence, emerging technologies, performance creative, commerce, experience, advertising, and influencer marketing services. Strength of Strategy (horizontal axis) evaluates future direction including vision, innovation approach, partner ecosystem, pricing models, talent development, and global delivery resources.
Reference
- Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Marketing Creative And Content Services, Q1 2025, 12-Mar-2025, ID
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