Cut Bureaucracy to Lead Cultural Shifts With Speed.
Brands that Streamline Decision-making Capture Culture Faster, Driving Confidence and Market hare.
Creativity Under Pressure
The State of Creativity 2025 report (LIONS Advisory, global survey of 1,000 marketers and creatives, 2025) uncovers an urgent problem: a widening culture lag. While cultural speed accelerates, many brands remain bogged down in processes that keep them from seizing opportunities. Fifty-seven percent of respondents admit they struggle to respond quickly to cultural moments, and only 12% consider themselves excellent at doing so.
This hesitation is more than an operational flaw, it erodes creative confidence and puts market share at risk.
Eliminate Red Tape to Unlock Speed
According to the report, 40% of brands and partners identify approval bureaucracy as the single greatest barrier to cultural agility. Long processes stall ideas until the moment has passed. As one respondent put it: “Our processes are too long and complicated, and don’t allow us to develop and launch at speed. Anything we launch is too late and misses the trend.”Agencies echo the same frustration, citing too many stakeholders slowing decisions.
The consequence of this bureaucracy is lost cultural relevance.
Coors Brewing Company shows the alternative. When baseball player Shohei Ohtani broke a Coors Light ad with a foul ball, the brand launched a reactive campaign within six days. Limited-edition cans sold out rapidly, and demand was so high Coors Light expanded distribution to Japan, Ohtani’s home country. The result was a cultural win and commercial boost, only possible because approvals were streamlined. The lesson is blunt: brands that cut bureaucracy can move at the speed of culture, while those that don’t get left behind.
Plan Ahead to React With Confidence
The 2025 survey revealed a shift toward short-term tactics: 63% of brands prioritize them, up from 53% in 2023. But agility cannot be built on short-termism alone. Strong long-term brand foundations provide the credibility needed to react quickly when the right cultural moment arises.
Arnaud Belloni, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Renault, states: “Planning is the best friend of creativity. The more you predict and prepare, the better you’re able to react in the short term.” This principle separates opportunistic campaigns that feel forced from those that resonate deeply. Without prior investment in brand equity, reactive plays risk coming across as opportunistic noise.
With foundations in place, reactive campaigns reinforce identity, enhance trust, and accelerate growth.
Anchor Creativity in Brand Truths
The report stresses the danger of beginning with culture and then retrofitting the brand. Mike Dubrick, Chief Creative Officer at Rethink, explains: “With Heinz, we start with the brand. Then when those moments pop up in culture, they’re easily identifiable.” This approach ensures agility is built on authenticity.
Heinz exemplifies this strategy. Its “It Has to Be Heinz” platform has fueled U.S. retail sales growth of nearly 50% over five years, adding $851 million and reclaiming 3.2% market share points. Globally, the brand grew sales 12%. The company also acted swiftly when Taylor Swift was seen eating its sauce mashup during a football game. Within 48 hours, Heinz rebranded a product to honor the star, causing a 320% sales spike.
As Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness Jury President Harjot Singh summarized: “The magic is you can be both current and enduring at the same time.” Brands that anchor in truths endure. Those that chase culture without grounding erode credibility.
Engage Communities to Earn Cultural Permission
Culture is fragmented, subjective, and laden with nuance. Brands cannot appeal to everyone, but they can earn cultural permission by deeply engaging with chosen communities. Dr. Marcus Collins, in For the Culture (2023), explains that when brand meaning is internalized by communities, it becomes shorthand, granting brands relevance beyond their products. But this requires participation, not observation. Brands must immerse in community values, shared experiences, and language. Those that only watch from the sidelines will always react late and appear inauthentic.
When brands embed themselves within communities, they anticipate cultural shifts rather than chase them. The consequence is faster, more resonant campaigns. Without community immersion, brands misfire, wasting resources and damaging reputation.
Leverage Creators and Technology For Edge
The creator economy is rapidly expanding. Forty-nine percent of brands plan to increase influencer spending in 2025, compared to 36% in 2024. Deloitte research (2024) shows 94% of brands working with creators are already using or plan to use generative AI. This shift combines the cultural instincts of creators with the scalability of technology.
L’Oréal exemplifies this approach with “social-first branding,” using creators and tech to stay atop trends. Maybelline’s 2024 viral CGI mascara campaign with independent artist Ian Padgham blurred reality and spectacle, sparking cultural buzz and confusion over whether the stunt was real. This engineered uncertainty generated massive visibility, proving how creators and technology amplify brand relevance.
The consequence: brands that invest in creator-tech partnerships dominate cultural conversations. Those that don’t fade into irrelevance.
Recommendations: CEO-Level Imperatives
Cut approval chains to under five steps. Anything longer guarantees missed opportunities.
Mandate pre-approved cultural response playbooks. Consensus models kill speed, replace them.
Redirect budgets to brand-building platforms. Short-term stunts must strengthen long-term equity.
Make community immersion a KPI. Cultural presence is earned through participation, not observation.
Allocate at least 10% of marketing spend to creator-tech collaborations. AI/CGI-enhanced content is now a baseline, not a bonus.
Bottom Line: Culture Moves Faster Than Brands Can React
Brands that fail to build speed, truth, and immersion into their creative systems will lose relevance and market share to those that can. Bureaucracy is no longer inefficiency, it is market suicide.
