Every now and then you read something that gives language to what you have thought about for years. Save The Creatives by Brandon Triola did that for me. Not because it was surprising, but because it named a pattern I have seen across decades of working with CMOs, founders, educators, and in-house teams.

The biggest constraint inside most marketing groups is not talent, budget, or technology.

It’s perception.

Triola calls it the Value Ceiling. It is the point where creative contribution is capped not by ability but by how leadership sees the function itself. An expense rather than a driver of momentum or growth.

Most creatives feel this ceiling. What’s less obvious is how often marketing leaders feel it as well.

When Creative Hits a Ceiling, Marketing Leaders Do Too

In many organizations, creatives stay locked in implementation mode. They execute. They react. They respond. What they seldom get is the invitation or permission to shape, question, or steer.

When creative is confined to production, marketing becomes reactive.

When marketing becomes reactive, strategy gets thin.

When strategy gets thin, the CMO becomes the bridge holding everything together.

It’s exhausting. It’s also unnecessary.

Triola’s book reminded me how widespread this pattern is. Creative work gets faster but not more valued. Deliverables overshadow outcomes. Soft skills are dismissed even though they determine the quality of every engagement. AI accelerates all of this for teams who operate only at the execution layer.

These are not new problems. They are structural and cultural. And they quietly set the limits on what a marketing team can accomplish.

What Lives Above the Value Ceiling

The most valuable creative partners I have worked with, and the kind I have always aimed to be myself, operate differently. They move fluidly between thinking and doing. They translate business goals into creative direction without needing layers of interpretation. They ask better questions. They reduce friction instead of adding to it. They create clarity rather than waiting for it.

This is the essence of the T shaped creative: broad strategic understanding supported by deep craft. It’s not a trend. It’s the requirement for modern marketing teams navigating complexity, pace, and pressure.

Every major report from SXSW’s conversations on AI and human ingenuity to Dentsu’s CMO Navigator points to the same conclusion. The organizations that win are the ones that connect strategic intelligence with creative execution.

That’s where differentiation happens. That’s where momentum comes from.

Anti-Commodity Work in a Commoditized World

AI has made production easy. Faster. Cheaper. More automated. And too often, more forgettable. Yawn.

Production alone no longer differentiates a brand. Perspective does. Clarity does.

The ability to connect business, brand, and customer insight does.

CMOs feel this pressure every day. They are expected to scale content without losing meaning. Blend brand and performance without diluting either. Build teams that can flex, adapt, and still deliver consistent quality. Stay culturally relevant without chasing noise.

AI will accelerate every one of these pressures. It will not replace the work that matters most: The work that sees the throughline from purpose to customer need to execution and delivery. The work that aligns teams and removes friction. The work that turns marketing into a growth engine rather than a production shop.

This is the work I have always believed in. And it’s the foundation Fifth Letter is built on:

• Strategy and creative in one place.

• Senior experience applied directly to the work.

• Clarity before production.

• Partnership that elevates teams instead of overwhelming them.

It is an anti-commodity model because the value lives in the thinking, listening, translating, and deciding rather than in the tools.

Why This Matters for Marketing Leaders

If you lead a team, here’s the truth: You don’t have a creative problem. You have a Value Ceiling problem.

The ceiling lowers when creative is seen simply as output. It breaks when creative becomes a strategic partner.

Here are a few ways to move in that direction:

1. Bring in hybrid thinker-doers.
   They collapse layers, shorten cycles, and make teams more effective.

2. Define creative value as strategic value.
   Great design is not decoration. It is alignment made visible.

3. Prioritize clarity before production.
   Strong briefs and shared understanding are force multipliers.

4. Avoid commodity partnerships.
   If a partner is interchangeable, they will not help you move the organization forward.

5. Work with partners who remove friction.
   Good creative solves problems. Great creative clears the path ahead.

At Fifth Letter, this is the level at which we work. Helping teams uncover opportunities, align around purpose, and produce strategic and creative work that moves the business.

If this resonates, I'm always interested in conversations about how teams can work smarter and with more momentum. Let me know if you want to talk. Coffee’s on me.