NewForm partnered with Winterberry Group and other leaders in creative intelligence on this research.
Creative intelligence: the market maturity curve
Nearly every brand has adopted creative intelligence. Only 11% have made it work. Based on a survey of 200 US and UK brand marketers and expert interviews across the supply side, this report defines five stages of maturity and the specific disciplines that separate Leaders from everyone else.
- Published
- September 2026
- Sample
- 200 brand marketers, US and UK
- Length
- 32 pages, 13 charts
- Author
- Winterberry Group
use creative intelligence consistently at every stage they've adopted
can close the loop from measurement back to the next creative decision
get live performance data within a day but never adjust creative in-flight
expect their creative intelligence investment to increase in the next two years
A third of the market is stuck in the middle
Winterberry scored every respondent on what they actually do with creative data, not what they say about it. The result is one continuum with a heavy middle. Below Established the challenge is acquiring capabilities. Above it, the challenge is connecting them.
- Lagging9%Exploring creative intelligence, no solutions or concrete tests yet.
- Emerging21%Limited tests in specific campaigns or use cases.
- Progressing34%One or more solutions in place and used consistently.
- Established26%Used cross-functionally for pre-flight and in-flight optimization.
- Leading11%Embedded across pre-flight, in-flight and post-campaign measurement.
Source: Winterberry Group survey, N=200 (2026)
What Leaders do differently
The gap between Leaders and Laggards isn't the technology they own. It's the discipline they wrap around it.
Write it down
Every Leading organization has a formal, documented testing roadmap, against 12% of Lagging organizations.
Protect the money
96% of Leaders have a dedicated, consistently funded experimentation budget, against 18% of Lagging.
Prove the creative contribution
100% of Leaders consistently isolate creative lift from media and targeting lift. 0% of Lagging do.
Run a single process
96% of Leaders have a fully integrated cross-functional team. The difference isn't who's in the room, it's whether they share a workflow.
Own the thinking, rent the capacity
Leaders keep strategy in-house, and their main partner shifts from a generalist agency to a specialist creative intelligence vendor.
The full report covers the broken return path, operating models, partner mix, technology architecture and the two-year outlook.
Get the full reportWhy we partnered on this research
NewForm partnered with Winterberry Group and other leaders in creative intelligence to back this research. The report's central finding matches what we see with brands every week: measurement isn't the bottleneck. Most teams already have the data. What breaks is the return path, the step where a result turns into a changed brief or a new asset.
That's the loop Framework is built to close. NewForm produces high volumes of human-made ad creative, tests it in-market for statistical significance, and turns the results into structured creative intelligence that informs the next round of briefs. A written testing plan, a consistent taxonomy and a protected testing budget are the default, not the exception.