Over the last five years I’ve noticed a quiet shift happening in the creative industry. Not the kind you can point to in a trend report or attribute to a single cause. Harder to name than that.
It's that the work has started to feel, well, more like work.
Brands are still being built. Agencies are still producing brilliant thinking under real pressure. But somewhere along the way, something is missing.
Joy.
We've become so focused on making the work that we've forgotten the joy of making it.
Not just because it makes work more enjoyable, but because it makes the work better.
This isn’t about office perks or ping pong tables. Instead, it’s about the reason many of us got into this industry in the first place: the thrill of a great idea, the curiosity to explore unexpected places, the satisfaction of crafting something beautiful, and the pride that comes from making work you truly believe in.
This is an industry built on that energy. And increasingly, it's an industry struggling to protect it.
Where has the joy gone?
Video credit: JKR
The last five years have reshaped our industry. A global pandemic changed how we work. Economic pressure tightened budgets. AI accelerated expectations around speed and output. Social media created instant feedback loops that can make bold ideas feel riskier than ever.
None of these things are inherently bad. Many have made us faster, smarter and more connected. But collectively they've changed how creativity gets made. Our industry has become increasingly optimised for efficiency. Exploration, experimentation and the messy parts of the creative process have become harder to justify, despite often being where the best ideas begin.
The value of joy
At JKR, we approach our work through ten creative principles. Our eighth principle is simple: Find the Joy.
Joy has never been a nice-to-have in creativity. It's where the best ideas begin. The bravest work comes from curiosity, play and passion – not a race towards the first acceptable answer. It comes from giving people the time and confidence to question assumptions, explore unexpected directions and push ideas further than the brief demands.
This isn't an argument against commercial pressure. It's an argument that joy and effectiveness are not opposites. More often than not, one creates the other.
We've become very good at measuring output and eliminating anything that looks inefficient. We've become far less good at protecting the environment where the best work actually gets made.
Creating the conditions for joy
Talking about joy is easy. Creating the conditions for it requires deliberate choices.
It's not just the responsibility of leadership, or something that lives as a value on a studio wall. It shows up in how work gets briefed, how teams are built, how feedback is given and how people are matched to projects.
At JKR, we've launched an internal platform that helps match briefs with people based not just on skillset, but on their passions, perspectives and dream projects. The thinking is simple: people do their best work when they genuinely care about what they're making.
I saw this play out on our recent redesign of Sporting Clube de Portugal. As a football fan, it was a dream brief for me. But what struck me most wasn't my own excitement – it was watching everyone else's passions come to the surface. A Portuguese colleague brought invaluable cultural insight. A logo obsessive agonised over every detail of the crest. A fashion enthusiast thought deeply about how the identity would live beyond football. Everyone brought something different because everyone genuinely cared. The energy was infectious, and I have no doubt the work was stronger because of it.
Reclaim the joy
How do we fall back in love with the process?
No faster system or smarter tool will solve a culture that has quietly stopped making space for curiosity, experimentation and the pleasure of making. Those things have to be chosen, protected and treated as foundational rather than optional, because the risk isn't simply lower morale or higher attrition. It's losing the very thing that made people want to be part of this industry in the first place.
Whenever I explain what I do to people outside our industry, they almost always tell me how fun it sounds.
They're right.
We really do have the privilege of working in an industry that shapes culture, influences how people see the world and allows us to solve problems creatively every single day.
Somewhere along the way, we've become very good at forgetting that.
I don't believe the future of branding will be built by the fastest or most efficient studios. It will be built by the ones that continue to protect curiosity, encourage experimentation and actively ignite people's passion for creativity.
Because joy isn't a distraction from great branding. It's fundamental in making it possible.
Jennie Potts is a judge at this year's Brand Impact Awards. If you have a standout branding project from the last year that you think deserves recognition, you need to enter the BIAs. You have until 16 July to enter and you can do so on the Brand Impact Awards website.
