Marketers Most Wanted: November 2026
October's briefs on StudioSpace leaned towards making rather than planning. Video Production took the top spot from Creative Campaign, but the bigger change sits underneath: requests for creative concepts and for customer and market strategy eased after a busy August, while video, campaign execution and product and proposition work held up or grew.
Here is how the top 10 moved from September to October, with each category's change in share.
From concepts to production
Creative Campaign slipped from first to second, falling from 14.3% to 11.0% of capabilities requested. Customer & Market Strategy fell further, from 7.1% to 3.3%, and left the top 10. Both falls trace back to the same thing: August was an unusually busy month for early-stage thinking. Most creative briefs placed that month asked for concept and strategy work, and customer and market strategy briefs peaked at the same time. The creative briefs that arrived in October were mostly about developing and running campaigns rather than coming up with them.
Our read is that this is the planning cycle at work. Several of the financial services brands that briefed concept work in August went on to brief video and production in September and October, which suggests campaigns developed over the summer are now being made. The wider market points the same way: the IPA's Q3 Bellwether Report found UK marketers revising video budgets up at the fastest rate in two years, and main media budgets at the fastest rate in nine.
Video leads, and most of it is animation
Video Production's share rose from 10.7% to 12.1%, enough for first place. New video briefs held steady rather than surging, so it moved up mainly because concept work fell away. What sits inside the category is more telling. Around three-quarters of video briefs asked for animation and motion graphics, and every brand behind them this month was in financial services.
Our read: animation gives financial brands a clear, flexible way to explain products and keep content current without reshooting. Production Management's place in the top five comes almost entirely from editing bundled into those same video briefs.
Product and proposition keeps climbing
Product & Proposition rose from 5.4% to 7.7% and into joint third, its second consecutive rise. Unlike most categories, it has grown steadily since the summer and across a broad mix of brands, led by financial services. Innovation Strategy, new to the top 10 at 4.4%, is part of the same story: every brief that asked for innovation strategy also asked for product and proposition work.
The services chosen were prototyping, proposition design and product strategy, and some briefs went as far as MVP and pilot delivery. By value, product and proposition work was the second-largest category in October. Our read is that brands are investing in what they sell as well as in how they promote it.
Elsewhere in the table
Marketing Campaign Execution also rose from 5.4% to 7.7%, in line with the move into production, with digital and TV advertising the most requested services. Marketing Planning fell from 6.3% to 4.4%, a change driven by a small number of briefs rather than a broad shift. Brand Design and Photography join the top 10 on 3.3%, a level shared by several categories, so their arrival is a tie rather than a breakthrough. Social Media and Research & Insight drop out on the same tie.
What it means for marketers
Production is where the activity is. If you are commissioning video, brief animation and editing together: almost half of video briefs bundled editing in, which keeps one team accountable for the finished asset.
Product and proposition work is taking a growing share of budgets and never arrived on its own in October. These briefs came bundled, most often with innovation strategy or UX design, so look for agencies that can cover both rather than splitting the work.
Strategy and research briefs were scarce in October but large, typically several times the size of an average brief. If you have one planned, allow time to scope it properly.
These shares come from a modest sample of capabilities requested, so a couple of briefs can move a category a place or two. We have focused on the changes that several brands share rather than one-offs.
Looking for a specialist agency in any of these categories? Browse the StudioSpace marketplace to find vetted independent agencies.
