New data shows that while marketing spend has surged in recent years, the impact of creative work has continued to decline. According to the Impact Score (a proprietary metric for measuring the ROI of creative work), this disconnect is costing brands an estimated $18.9 billion in potential sales.
It’s a clear signal: the true power of creativity is being underused, and unlocking it could deliver significantly stronger marketing and business results.
A research initiative that quantifies the business value of creativity.
For more than two decades, Shutterstock has fueled some of the world’s most impactful creative work—powering brands, agencies, and storytellers across every major industry. Drawing on this unmatched foundation of data and insight, Shutterstock created the 2025 Creative Impact Report to quantify how creativity drives real business results.
This first-of-its-kind report leverages proprietary Shutterstock data, and is built on a multi-pronged analytical framework designed to uncover the true business value of creativity, as well as the levers that can help marketers increase the impact of their marketing investment.
Quantify the effect that creative assets have on a company’s marketing effectiveness like:
Measure how creative content influences:
Understand how new editing tools and technologies are influencing the business of creativity:
are more likely to share content that feels immersive or interactive.
Branded GIFs surpassed the GIPHY engagement rate benchmark by up to 4.8x.
Believability drops after just three campaign messages, meaning every message beyond that threshold actively works against building trust and connection.
The antidote to content fatigue and the catalyst for measurable ROI are waiting.