A recent survey by the Project Management Institute (PMI) has revealed that nearly all creative agencies are grappling with significant challenges in delivering impactful campaigns. According to the report, 97% of agencies are under growing pressure to craft innovative experiences that strengthen brand visibility and maintain audience interest in today’s highly competitive market.
The survey, carried out by PSB Insights between April 28 and May 6, 2025, targeted creative professionals in advertising, marketing, PR agencies, and in-house creative teams across the United States.
Releasing the findings at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025, PMI disclosed that the biggest hurdles agencies faced over the past year included budget overruns (55%), missed deadlines (54%), and creative limitations (47%).
The survey, conducted among 130 U.S. marketing and advertising agency professionals, also found that a third of campaigns – 34% do not resonate with their target audience or generate new leads – 35%.
Speaking on the survey, Menaka Gopinath, Chief Marketing Officer at PMI stated that “In a tough marketing climate, with rising demands, tighter budgets, and shorter timelines, the execution side of creativity has never been more critical. The survey reveals that in 10 (90%) creative professionals agree: “Great creative campaigns do not happen without great project management.”
Creative leaders also say project management professionals: allow the organisation’s leaders to focus on driving growth (52%), ensure campaigns contribute positively to the brand over time (52%), get all the different parts of the campaign working together (50%), manage increasingly complex campaigns (45%) and ensure campaigns are long-lasting (45%)
By keeping teams aligned, stakeholders engaged, timelines on track, and encouraging creative momentum, project management helps strong ideas grow into powerful brand activations, Gopinath stated.
“Today’s CMOs are juggling more platforms, priorities, and pressure than ever before—and it’s easy for even the strongest campaigns to lose focus and veer off-track,” she said adding that “Effective project management provides the structure and clarity creative teams need to drive momentum, work collaboratively, and deliver results that align with business goals. By bringing order to complexity, project management empowers marketing leaders to stay focused on strategy and turn complexity into opportunity.”
According to Pierre Le Manh, President and CEO of PMI “Marketing matters more than ever, but it also has to perform, in spite of its increasing complexity”.
“Every dollar must drive measurable impact, and every great idea must scale. That’s where project professionals become a force multiplier. They don’t constrain creativity, they operationalise it. They fight waste, play an essential role in managing complex assets, teams, cultures, tech stacks – and turn ideas into results. Ultimately, they drive more execution efficiency and speed, which translates into more profit for both agencies and clients,” PMI CEO added.
Project management professionals are no longer viewed as back-office schedulers—they’re emerging as team motivators and strategic leaders. While most agencies rely on them to keep projects on track (60%), more than half (52%) say their greatest impact lies in energising creative teams.
As creative work grows more complex, expectations for project managers are shifting. In-house marketing teams and agencies now prize strategic skills like innovative thinking (67%), growth strategy (60%), and adaptability (57%) over budget and resource management (49%). Project managers today aren’t just delivering campaigns—they’re helping teams evolve.
Le Manh said, “This is why, despite the rise of AI and automation, agencies are doubling down on people. Nearly all (98%) say they’re growing their project management capabilities—primarily through talent, not tools. 32% are training current staff, and 28% are hiring—reinforcing the belief that successful campaigns begin with skilled, empowered professionals.”
Yet their contributions often go unnoticed. Nearly half (48%) of creative leaders say project managers are the unsung heroes of campaigns – delivering critical, behind-the-scenes value, from steering complex activations, to aligning teams and keeping everything on track.
The survey also found that sharpening project management skills gives marketing teams the edge. Teams led by certified project managers outperform those without certification, delivering stronger results and audience-aligned campaigns.
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