What’s the ideal balance between using external agencies and in-housing? According to Emma Turner, founder of In-House Agency Review and company director of Dahling, it’s about adopting a hybrid model.
In Turner’s view, the landscape has changed a lot over the past few years. Previously, going in-house was considered “the poor relation”, but now the “credibility of what in-housing is bringing into our industry is fantastic”.
Turner continued: “The in-house model gets closer to the brand and understands what the business is trying to solve, because the in-house agency works with the marketing function and is part of the brief development. This allows for a deeper understanding of the business and marketing objectives.”
However, Turner added that bringing in external agency partners with different perspectives is key. “Agency partners can also plug skill set gaps, especially where automated and content production is needed,” she said.
Building the right team
Specsavers Creative was initially only doing creative work for the UK, but has expanded into an integrated global agency in recent years. Julia Arenson, head of creative operations, said that when she joined Specsavers the agency was growing around the creative director: “It was super organic, and everybody was doing whatever the creative director needed them to do at that time, there weren't any specific roles or responsibilities.”
This approach had worked for a long time, but once the media mix grew and the agency had to create work for more channels, things needed to change. “The best operation is an invisible operation that people just get, and that's what we've tried to build at Specsavers,” said Arenson.
Asked about creating a resilient team, Michele Fry, creative studio lead at Ocado Retail, stated that resilience comes from “transparency, communication and creating psychological safety where people feel like they can speak up. That’s where the good ideas come from.”
Discussing diversity, Turner said she grew up in St Helens, Merseyside, and hadn’t known about the opportunities within the advertising industry or been advised on how to get into it. “It's important to bring grassroots talent into the industry, but also to future-proof it,” she said. “It doesn't matter where you are, what you look like, or where you've come from. It’s about whether you can do the job. We need to bring up the young talent and ensure we are providing them with the right opportunities.”
James Mathers, head of operations at Three Mobile, stated that being based in Reading can make it difficult to attract talent. “Being the best person for the job is at the heart of any recruitment we've done within the agency, but we're not in central London,” he said.
Similarly, Ocado is based in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and Fry agreed it was difficult to attract a variety of talent. She said: “We work with a lot of freelancers, and that’s where we try to be extra diverse to make up for it.”
Additionally, Arenson said she is involved in mentoring people from different backgrounds, and pointed to the importance of employing a diverse group of talent. “You need to reach your hand out and bring people in,” she said.
Optimising creative
Mathers said the most effective way of boosting his team’s creative output from an operational perspective is to give them the time and space to be creative: “This means managing workflow and resources and the people who are trying to get that work done.”
Turner added that it was about understanding the scope and volume for the IHA, and looking at ways of working. She said: “If you've not got that scope clarity, the team suffers because people go ‘It's in the house so it's fine, they can do it’. But it’s not an all you can eat buffet, the same principles apply as when you work with an external agency. We need scope the team can manage otherwise the creative suffers and credibility for the IHA is lost.”
She stated that it’s important to have a clear operating model and rigour to ensure the team doesn't get burnt out, adding: “The IHA needs to be a slick machine and be just as good if not better than an agency partner to drive trust with the brand team.”
Arenson further highlighted the importance of making sure that the brief is clear and well-considered. “If you've got great people in the room, give the creatives the right thing to work with, and you will get great work out of them,” she said.
Asked about reasons for going in-house, Turner said that it used to be about saving money. However, that has changed. “Now, brands are taking work in-house because the creative team can get to the exam question with the brand,” she said. “They don't have to go through the layers that you get in an agency. They understand the business and its challenges, and can solve the business problem with great creative work which shifts the dial.”
Mathers agreed, stating that in-house agencies are creating award-winning work. They also allow brands to be more reactive. He said: “If there's a cultural moment that you want to jump on the back of, we can react quickly and create something that's on-brand and get it out to consumers fast.”
Arenson said in-housing is an opportunity to do things in a less formal way. “If you've got the right people with you, you will create great work,” she said. “It’ll be easier in-house because they’ll be down the hallway and not a phone call and a big board meeting away.”
Letting creative breathe
Ocado labels its tasks gold, silver, or bronze so the creative team can prioritise and get the space they need to do their jobs. This also allows the retailer to forecast what it will need in terms of resources. “Christmas is gold, because that's where we make the most money,” said Fry. “So we know we have to throw 70% of the studio behind Christmas, and that has allowed us to plan for the year.”
Turner said technology and AI can enable agencies to execute some of their creative work in smarter ways, as well as help with improving sustainability. “We should create the big idea then look at smart production models, either offshore or through automation to localise work without having to incur the hard costs and the sustainability challenges with it, with creative origination in house, BAU out of house,” she said.