One of the most important trends we have seen among brands in recent years is the creation of in-house agencies, and the gradual incorporation of creative processes into their marketing teams.
According to a survey conducted among the members of the National Association of Advertisers in the United States, 78% of its members already had an in-house agency by 2018, and these agencies today provide the services of creativity, generation of content, strategy and media buying as well as the management of social networks, can even attend requests from a growing number of internal clients, not only from the marketing or advertising areas.
Among the benefits mentioned in the survey are cost efficiency, transparency, a deeper understanding of brands, better knowledge management, as well as having dedicated staff and a considerable increase in response speed.
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In Mexico, companies such as Grupo Modelo, Bimbo, Lala, Kellogg’s, Soriana, Bacardí, Aeroméxico, among many others, have already embarked on the path of forging an in-house agency, and are increasingly integrated into their daily operations.
However, the path to adopting an operating model with an in-house agency is not easy as it involves the need for leadership and decision-making in various aspects that go beyond hiring personnel.
Rejection by the team
We have seen that at the beginning, marketing teams in companies, especially higher-level positions, tend to prefer interactions with external agencies since internal ones are perceived as “less creative” or of lower quality. However, this is something that can be resolved if the structure, processes and talent are successfully resolved in the first months of the project.
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Structure and Processes
In conjunction with the start-up of the in-house agency, it is essential to clearly define the roles, operation processes as well as the committed response times, since being internal teams there is the possibility that some of the steps may be omitted o requirements that external agencies mark as mandatory for the execution of any project, for example there should be brief formats, internal work orders and budgets for the execution of the processes, even when the brand manager is sitting next to the person that will run the job.
Talent Management
Beyond being able to attract the right talent with a good compensation scheme, the crucial point is how to maintain it, this due to the corporate culture that could tend to decrease the flexibility and freedom granted by external agencies, as well as contact with points of interest. external view. That is why it is essential to achieve a balance between what is corporately necessary and the freedom that a creative team must have within the company.
Internal customer prioritization
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It is common for in-house agencies to gradually increase the number of internal clients and, for example, start with the marketing or advertising area and later also attend the Human Resources area, Research and Development or even the Sales area, Therefore, it is highly recommended to have a clear prioritization of projects according to the client structure and the service times established with each one of them.
In addition to this, there are other areas where CMOs must focus to successfully lead their in-house agencies, such as leadership, definition of roles, competencies and growth plans, financial management and the continuous delivery of value to each of them. Your clients.
Having helped several companies on this path, it is clear that investing in an in-house agency will bring great benefits to companies. The key is to design the correct adoption strategy for each company, because depending on the essence of the business, it will be necessary to evaluate a complete in-house structure, or perhaps a hybrid scheme where you work together as a team with suppliers that can complement each of them. the processes.
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Alejandro Alemán Castilla, Consultant in Digital Transformation *
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Mexico.