Cella by Randstad Digital, the award-winning leader in consulting, staffing and managed solutions for digital, marketing and creative teams, announced the release of its 15th industry benchmarking evaluation today, the Cella Intelligence Report. It offers a look into the state of in-house creative operations, incorporating the survey responses of hundreds of creative and marketing professionals across 25 industries. The 2025 report highlights a pivotal year for AI experimentation, in-house agency transformation and operational strategy shifts.
AI’s Promise—and Its Plateau
While AI has dominated headlines, sparking curiosity and limited adoption, creative organizations are still playing catch-up in terms of mastery and integration. The majority of creative professionals (63%) view AI as a productivity enhancer, but only 5% report strong proficiency in its use. While automation is taking hold—especially in asset creation and idea generation—many organizations have yet to capitalize on AI’s potential for strategic impact.
“Creative teams are starting to treat AI as a co-pilot, not a disruptor,” said Steve Bevilacqua, senior consultant at Cella by Randstad Digital. “But we’re also seeing that meaningful transformation still hinges on people. They are the strategic thinkers, analysts and storytellers who understand how to pair martech with business outcomes.”
Data-Driven Creativity Meets Structural Shifts
The 2025 report reveals that while the need for high-volume, high-performing content continues to surge, many creative teams are struggling to keep pace with the strategic infrastructure required to support it. Despite growing investments in martech and AI tools, data fluency and insight-driven planning remain significant gaps.
More than half of respondents (54%) report a lack of in-house analytics expertise, and 42% struggle to define performance KPIs—hindering their ability to measure and optimize campaign impact. Compounding the issue, only 28% conduct regular project retrospectives to evaluate outcomes and refine strategy, while just 39% feel their team is seen as a strategic partner within the business.
“As personalization, cross-channel engagement, and customer expectations grow more complex, organizations that fail to evolve beyond execution risk falling behind. The teams that marry speed with strategy—and creativity with data—are the ones poised to lead,” Nickole Brown, senior consultant for Cella by Randstad Digital.
Key Highlights from the 2025 Report:
- 49% use AI for ideation, yet only 25% trust it for research, highlighting a potential missed opportunity.
- 54% of respondents lack in-house expertise to make the most of analytics tools.
- 55% of teams are moving toward in-house agency models, up more than 15% from 2024.
- 61% of creative teams use flexible staffing to scale output.
- 58% identified ROI as the most challenging metric to capture and report on.
To explore the full 2025 Cella Intelligence Report and discover the insights shaping tomorrow’s creative landscape, visit https://www.cellainc.com/insights/cella-intelligence-report.
Study Methodology
Hundreds of marketing and creative professionals took the 2025 Cella Intelligence survey, representing a healthy spectrum of roles, tiers of responsibility, experience levels, industries and company sizes. More than half of this year’s respondents are C-suite level, heads of creative departments or team leaders (52%), followed by creative ops professionals and individual contributors with different areas of responsibility. This year’s survey takers represent 25 industries or service areas. The spread of industries ranges from construction and engineering to consumer products to health care to travel, hospitality and leisure.
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