Speed vs. Efficiency: Why Creative Teams Need Both

You have a great (and time-sensitive) idea but no way to execute it. Quelle nightmare.

When Superside asked Enterprise marketers and creatives about their most pressing enterprise design challenges, 25% said “speed and efficiency.”

Why? Because in-house teams are overwhelmed and overscheduled. Hiring takes time and doesn't solve every problem. Outsourcing to agencies often means longer lead times, while freelancers can work quickly but aren't always available.

The laundry list goes on... But, what if you could brighten your whites, remove even the toughest stains and easily rinse and repeat, getting quality creative quickly and efficiently?

First, let’s cover a crucial difference between the meanings of “speed” and “efficiency.” Then we’ll show you how Superside helped boost productivity at IPG, National Gas and Synthego (and many others).

The Difference Between Speed and Efficiency (And Why It Matters)

Completing a project faster doesn’t automatically mean it’s more efficient. Let us explain.

Both speed and efficiency can refer to how quickly you can work. But speed is only about how quickly you can work. Efficiency also includes the impact a campaign has, the number of revisions required, productivity gains or savings of both time and money, among many other effects.

A cheap campaign that doesn’t bring you results? Not efficient.

A high-quality campaign, which started from a clear brief so it didn’t need many revisions, that now produces reliable, scalable results? Mucho efficient.

That’s why you need to consider both the physical speed and operational efficiency of each project, and learn how to maximize that value each time.

Top Barriers to Speed and Efficiency in Creative Workflows

There are three main factors affecting the speed and efficiency of your creative time: high workloads, inefficient processes and not taking proper advantage of the power of AI.

Let’s examine each enterprise design challenge, and see if you recognize a bit of your situation in them, eh?

Slowness

The simplest problems are often the most frustrating: Missing socks in the dryer at home and long turnaround times at work.

Whether your internal team is already overwhelmed and unable to take on another task, your agency partner requires at least two weeks' notice to start a project or that new freelancer just missed a deadline, you’re tired of the bottlenecks and always feeling behind.

72% of creative teams struggle to keep up with design demands.
77% find increasingly quick turnaround times challenging.
90% of internal creative teams say their workload only continues to increase.

Structural and process inefficiencies

It’s one thing when your entire creative team doesn’t have time to start a new project, but what about when you need only one person, or one particular skill?

Many companies find themselves with specific skill bottlenecks: A few people on the creative team with specialized skills have overflowing to-do lists, but not often enough to justify hiring another person.

When outsourcing to freelancers or agencies: It’s inefficient to cobble together a team of various skill specialists and try to align their deadlines. As well, managing contractors also usually falls on the internal team, further adding to their already overflowing plates.

Some agencies require expensive retainers to maintain access or need to quote per project, slowing down the process. Freelancers have varied availability and often charge more for rush projects.

Put simply: You can’t hire individually for every single skill. Even if you did, the person with the skill you need still may not be available at the time you need it.

Not making the most of AI

You’ve heard it everywhere: AI has completely disrupted the creative industry. Well, that’s because it’s true.

The marketing and advertising industry is the leading adopter of AI technology.
71% of businesses are currently experimenting with generative AI.
A recent survey found companies that use AI report an average ROI of $3.50 for every $1 spent on AI, a.k.a. a 250% return on investment.
The global market value of generative AI will be almost $137 billion by 2030.
94% of business leaders say AI is “critical” to their success.

Despite all that, 24% of businesses don’t know where to start when it comes to implementing AI tools into their workflows.

Does it make sense to hire AI experts internally? How should you handle using AI for work, and can you even copyright AI art?

Or should you skip the steep learning curve and get support from a partner who truly understands how to help you make the most of your AI transformation?

(Spoiler alert: The answer next…)

Break Through Bottlenecks and Accelerate Efficiency

Superside helps mid-market and enterprise marketing and creative teams with as much or as little design, strategy and creative services as they need, including AI-Powered Creative that lets you seize tomorrow's efficiencies and possibilities on today's deadlines.

One monthly subscription gives you access to all our specialized creative services, and you get a dedicated account manager and creative team who understands your brand, becoming a true extension of your internal squad. Plus, turnaround times as fast as 12 hours.

New website? Got it.

Entirely new brand? Yup.

Social media ad set? Sure.

Print, presentations, motion, 3D animation, immersive experiences and more. Save time and budget while still delivering high-quality, on-brand, unique assets? You betcha.

Partnering with Superside is different than working with a traditional agency. We hire only the top 1% of global talent for all our creative services. And, if it's a fit for your brand and your project, we'll integrate AI to deliver creative up to 2X faster while still upholding the highest quality standards and maximizing ROI. We're more than half-way through 2024 and we're proud to say we've completed more than 500 AI-Powered Projects and counting, delivering incredible campaigns and saving millions in design costs.

Ready to see what Superside can do? Here’s proof from our most important people, our customers.

How IPG, National Gas and Synthego Got a Trifecta of Speed, Efficiency and Quality

IPG saved 90% on design costs compared to traditional methods, National Gas saved $11,000 thanks to our AI-Enhanced Creative Services and Synthego created a brand video in five days. Partnering with Superside gave these teams the flexibility to tackle creative requests and access specialized skills when they needed them.

How IPG saved 90% on design costs and got assets in less than 12 hours

Pet insurance and service company Independence Pet Group (IPG) came to Superside for help creating visual assets for their internal merchandise collection. Superside immediately jumped in to explore illustration styles, speeding up the process by using AI tools to conceptualize and present options to IPG.

After choosing a style, Superside leveraged the efficiency of AI to produce 14 unique illustrations, eight virtual backgrounds and four sticker designs. These were further refined in Photoshop and paired with copy.

IPG loved the results, approving the first round. Superside delivered the final assets a mere 11.5 hours after starting the project, thanks to the efficiency of using AI to quickly go from concept to production and having one creative handle all aspects of the project, cutting down on communication bottlenecks.

While generative AI design may not be the right fit for all projects, this campaign shows how using AI in the right way can result in huge speed and efficiency savings. In IPG’s case, saving 90% of design time compared to traditional illustration and approximately $15,000-$20,000 savings.

How National Gas saved $11,000 and got high-impact creative 85% faster

National Gas, the largest gas meter manager in the UK, wanted an interactive game for an upcoming industry convention. Creating a game from scratch can take months and typically, a large budget. Since budget was a limiting factor for this project, they turned to Superside for both a speedy and cost-effective solution using the best mix of AI tools and old-fashioned human creativity.

The game is a “Where’s Waldo?” style puzzle where participants had to find a National Gas engineer (dressed in orange coveralls) among busy scenes full of people.

We're wondering if the big guy issuing the challenge counts?

"Many thanks for sending these incredible designs over, and for sticking to the time and budget!"

National Gas MeteringCreative Lead

Superside started by creating two unique scenes, a beach and an office, with Midjourney. After filling the scenes with people and tweaking the designs manually to include a lot of orange clothing to make it harder to spot the engineer, the rest of the project’s time was spent creating the functionality of the game.

By saving so much time creating assets with AI, Superside was able to deliver a fully-functional interactive game 85% faster than traditional methods, representing a savings of $9,000-$11,000.

How Synthego made an explainer video in five days for 39% less

Pioneering DNA firm Synthego makes research more accessible to organizations with their CRISPR gene technology kits and engineered cells. To commemorate World CRISPR Day, Synthego wanted to create an animated video to build brand awareness and easily communicate what they do.

Sounds great, but the only problem was needing a turnaround within five days. That would be flat-out impossible with the traditional process of scriptwriting, storyboarding, concept art production, animation and refinement.

"It's fantastic—very nice job. I got goosebumps at the end with the last sentence! Thanks!"

SynthegoCreative Lead

But the Superside team achieved the impossible by intelligently using AI to speed up art creation with Photoshop’s generative fill to automatically complete scene backgrounds. Our team then used 3D cameras in After Effects to add a sense of depth and motion to the scenes (which is actually an old trick from classic Disney movies).

With AI and powerful software handling much of the production work, our human creatives further refined the artistic elements, including the story, composition and copy.

This project unlocks the potential for AI to revolutionize video and motion production by making it more cost-effective and accessible to more companies. Synthego’s video saved 39% of design hours vs. traditional production, totaling about $5,000 of direct savings. Plus, the project generated a library of over 1,500 images and assets Synthego can use in future projects to further brand recognition.

You Need Speed and Efficiency and a Partner Like Superside

Doing inefficient work faster—by hiring more internal staff or cobbling together freelancers—isn’t the answer. Instead, working with a fully managed partner like Superside gives you the best of both worlds: Quicker turnaround times and projects that actually move the needle for your business.

Whether you need a new ad campaign, want to enter a new market with localized content or want a full brand and website overhaul, Superside is ready to become the extension of your team you didn’t know you needed (but now can’t imagine living without).

And, instead of AI angst, you can experience AI joy with a partner that understands the best use cases and respects the specific needs of your brands. We even understand that depending on your industry and the nature of your brand, you may prefer to stick to traditional creative services.

To learn more about empowering your team with speed and efficiency, book a call to tell us more about your team and your needs.