Curiosity may well be the most overused buzzword in modern marketing, but it is universally agreed to be the most important ingredient for successful marketing leaders.

In fact, 100% of CMOs agree that curiosity is an essential trait for successful marketers. There is also unanimous agreement that curious marketing cultures lead to higher performing teams and more creative, innovative and effective marketing output. 

The research, undertaken by Creativebrief, was based on responses from over 50 Marketing Directors and CMOs at leading brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Bacardi, Sainsbury’s and Adidas. 

The study revealed an action gap in marketing teams, where leaders prize curiosity, but less than a third of marketing leaders consider themselves to be actively encouraging curious behaviours across their teams. A state of play which underlines that marketers are at risk of ignoring the important, because of the constant demands of the always-on, seemingly always-urgent marketing ecosystem. 

The research revealed that less than a third of marketing leaders consider themselves to be actively encouraging curious behaviours at all levels of their team

While only 22% of marketing teams are drawing inspiration from outside their brands regularly. Just 20% of marketing leaders are actively creating time and space for curiosity and learning outside of their own sectors

However, the research suggests that closing the ‘curiosity gap’ is rising up the marketing agenda. 83% of respondents say that cultivating a more curious marketing culture is a priority for them and their organisations in the next 12-24 months.

Charlie Carpenter, CEO at Creativebrief, explains: “The results of this research lay bare the challenges facing marketing leaders today. A lack of time and resource, competing organisational priorities and individual personal motivation are cited as the key barriers to enabling the conditions for curiosity to thrive, but marketing leadership teams must now begin to find a solution.”

He continues: “Failure to change this is a non-negotiable in a squeezed economic environment where all brands are under pressure to do more with less. In this climate, every marketer is expected to act smart, innovate and out-think (rather than out-spend) the competition. Curious cultures will be a key driver of any team’s ability to execute this.”

Carpenter believes that marketing leaders have the power to do things differently and make curiosity a driver of both creativity and commercial effectiveness.

“Senior marketing figureheads have a major opportunity now to drive competitive advantage through re-instilling the importance of curiosity into their teams at all levels and ensuring they are able to recognise what effective commercial creativity looks like today, and deliver it for their own brands,” he adds

He believes that CMOs also have a responsibility for being at the forefront of this change to ensure that  marketing functions do not retrench towards becoming more parochial and inward looking than ever before. 

Urging the industry to drive a more outward facing and curious approach, he adds: “This must be a reset bred from the very top. Anything less would be a failure of leadership that our industry will suffer keenly for generations to come.”

Download Creativebrief's curiosity report