If Your Creative Isn't Driving Impact, Your Relationships Might be the Problem

Feb. 20, 2026

When creative work fails to deliver results, the instinct is often to blame the idea, the agency, or the budget. But new research from D&AD and System1 suggests the issue is more fundamental: the quality of the relationship behind the work.

Drawing on analysis of D&AD award-winning campaigns from brands including Burger King, Renault, BBC, Essity, Doritos, and CeraVe, the research identifies a clear pattern. Creative excellence that drives impact consistently comes from teams built on strong, long-term creative and stakeholder relationships.

Based on six in-depth case studies and System1’s effectiveness testing, the findings show that creativity performs best when teams are aligned around shared ambition, able to challenge one another, and trusted to think long term, rather than optimizing for short-term metrics or speed of delivery.

The findings reinforce D&AD’s long-held belief that creative excellence is a critical driver of effectiveness. While D&AD judging remains focused on the quality, originality, and execution of creative ideas, the research helps deepen understanding of the conditions that allow outstanding creative work to deliver meaningful commercial and cultural impact.

The research also challenges a common assumption in modern marketing. When creative work fails to make an impact, it is rarely because teams lack talent or ideas. More often, it is because the working relationship behind the work is not strong enough to support bold thinking and execution.

In practice, this means creating environments where constructive challenges are encouraged, trust is built through consistent collaboration, and ambition is protected rather than diluted. The research suggests that brands ultimately get the creativity their relationships allow, not simply the creativity they ask for.

The findings underpin the launch of Brand & Creative Lab, a new learning program from D&AD. The program is designed to help marketing and in-house creative teams strengthen collaboration, improve decision-making, and build the conditions in which effective creative work can thrive, combining evidence-based insight with D&AD’s longstanding expertise in creative excellence.

A preview session of the program will be available at the D&AD Festival in May, offering attendees an opportunity to explore the research findings and experience elements of the framework in action.

Paul Drake, Foundation Director at D&AD, said: 

“Great creative work doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s built on trust that gives space for healthy tension, shared ambition, and the confidence to challenge one another. At D&AD, we’ve spent more than 60 years celebrating creative excellence; studying what enables it, and the Brand & Creative Lab is about giving teams the tools and frameworks to build those conditions in practice.”

 

Andrew Tindall, SVP Global Partnerships, System1, said: 

“Great creativity thrives when it is supported by trust, confidence, and a shared belief in long-term impact. Our partnership with D&AD and creative measurement platforms shows that emotionally effective work is rarely accidental. It comes from environments where strong relationships allow ambition to flourish and creativity to be challenged, and where clear emotional evidence empowers teams to back bold ideas earlier, make braver decisions with confidence, and deliver work that drives real, sustained growth.”