Canva plugs MagicBrief into the creative feedback loop

Canva's acquisition of MagicBrief signals a significant shift in how the $32 billion visual communications platform plans to serve enterprise clients. What began as an effort to solve internal scalability challenges has evolved into a broader ambition: bringing real-time performance insights directly into the design process for marketers, agencies, and brands. With this acquisition—its twelfth to date—Canva aims to marry data, insights and design more deeply across its Visual Suite.

"We met George Howes, MagicBrief’s CEO, while solving our own content-at-scale challenge," Cat van der Werff, executive creative director at Canva told Campaign at Cannes, recently. "Now, instead of long creative feedback loops, we’ll get fast, AI-generated insights—like headline tweaks or image suggestions—that our creatives can act on instantly. George’s background in advertising helps MagicBrief speak the language of creatives. It’s about moving from manual, time-intensive feedback cycles to real-time iteration—without losing the creative soul."

MagicBrief is already used by several marketers, agencies and brands, enabling them to track ad spend, measure engagement, and gain insight into competitor performance. Its integration into Canva’s ecosystem will allow creative professionals to go beyond templatised visuals and build iterative campaigns grounded in what actually works.

Keeping creativity in the crosshairs

As Canva scales, so do the challenges of retaining its hallmark design-centric and human-first ethos. "AI should actually give space to the creativity, by taking away different layers of manual data processing, briefs and other things that suck a lot of time and are big pain points," said van der Werff. "If AI can help creatives with these aspects, then they can focus on getting human-first ideas that stand out."

A growing majority of business leaders now see AI as a creativity catalyst rather than a constraint. Canva’s Marketing and AI Report reveals that 70% of decision-makers believe AI boosts creative output, while 75% consider generative AI a non-negotiable part of their workflow.

AI isn’t positioned as a creative substitute at the Canva—it’s a force multiplier. By streamlining routine tasks, AI enables teams to invest more energy in high-impact ideas. As part of the company’s broader mission to democratise design, its AI tools have already been used more than 7 billion times—evidence of a strong and growing appetite for AI-powered creativity.

This creative pragmatism is especially relevant as the design platform expands its enterprise offerings. India, for instance, is Canva’s fourth-largest market, with over 666 million designs created in 2024 alone.

The country also ranks third globally in use of Canva’s AI tools and video app, and is in the top five for Work Kit usage. The most popular feature? Photo Background Remover. Moreover, India features in the global top three for Canva Video and Canva Websites adoption.

"It’s been an exciting shift—from a decade of empowering individuals to now enabling entire organisations," said van der Werff. "What’s interesting is that enterprise adoption is often organic; many employees already use Canva personally before it’s officially adopted at scale."

She added that the challenges at the enterprise level are different. Decision-makers are focused on streamlining tools, saving time, and boosting efficiency. “Canva’s core promise—to empower people to design easily and achieve outcomes faster—remains constant, whether it’s for an individual or a CEO,” she claimed.

This human-first approach remains central to Canva’s internal ethos. "Absolutely—we have to. At its heart, Canva is about redesigning work by infusing creativity into the workplace. Creativity and productivity go hand in hand, and creative energy drives business results. You can’t be a brand championing creativity and show up in a dull, corporate way," said van der Werff.

The company’s in-house team, which produced the ‘Love Your Work’ campaign from ideation to execution, exemplifies this commitment to cohesive and culturally aligned creative. "Building our creative function in-house was a deliberate choice. As a fast-moving, product-led company, we needed a team embedded closely with the brand and innovation cycles," van der Werff said.

"That said, we do partner with local production teams—like in the US—to stay culturally grounded. In markets like India and Japan, where we don’t yet have in-house creative teams, we collaborate with agencies. These local campaigns inspire our global team in return, creating a virtuous loop."

Tempering growth with creative integrity

With Canva positioning itself for the long-term—and possibly an IPO—questions around scalability versus originality are expected to grow louder. But van der Werff is clear that growth must align with creative integrity.

"Real transformation requires us to embody the same creativity we promote. We’re also fortunate to have a founder like Melanie Perkins—she literally wrote and performed a rap at our enterprise summit in LA. Her creative spirit and commitment to community keep Canva grounded in the joy and humanity it was built on," she opined.

In a world increasingly shaped by automation, how does Canva reconcile technological innovation with human creativity?

"We’re in the midst of a major technological shift, so naturally AI is dominating the conversation," she noted. "But creativity and humanity remain central to what we do—there’s still so much that only people can bring to the table."

She cited Spotify Wrapped as a relatable example: "It’s AI-driven, yet it creates such a joyful, human experience. People don’t talk about the AI behind it—they share the list, the memories, the feelings. That emotional resonance, not the tech, is what really lands."

This same philosophy is applied to talent development. Canva encourages creative professionals to experiment with tools like Magic Write for scripting or Magic Media for storyboarding.

"We support teams in learning to use these tools effectively to elevate their ideas. But as a creative leader, I believe it's critical that creatives don’t lose the ability to think deeply, debate ideas and form strong, independent opinions—AI should enhance, not replace that," van der Werff stated.

It takes a village

Beyond its internal teams, Canva is investing in its wider community through Canvassadors—a global network of certified Canva experts. "Many of them run their own training platforms on YouTube or TikTok, creating Canva education content that also helps them earn a living," said van der Werff. "We often give them early access to new products via platforms like Facebook, so they can understand and test them—then pass that knowledge on to their own communities in their unique voice."

This blend of tech, community and purpose is central to Canva’s broader mission. "We have at Canva a two-step plan: first, to become one of the most valuable companies in the world; and second, to use that value to do the most good," said van der Werff.

"We already support 400,000 nonprofits and 45 million teachers and students with free access to Canva, and partner with GiveDirectly on a $30 million cash transfer program in Malawi. Our founder Melanie’s personal goal is to help lift Malawi out of poverty. At the heart of it all is empowerment—through design, access, and action. We know we’re only 1% of the way there."

With MagicBrief, Canva has found more than just a new tool for its Visual Suite. It has found a partner to fuel real-time creative iteration, while remaining committed to the principle that creativity, when empowered by insight, can scale without compromise.