In 2013, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in the US reported an interesting trend. It noted that, for those surveyed, the use of in-house creative agencies had increased 16% in five years to a figure of 58%. While it’s easy to pass off the trend as US-based, in Australia, in August this year the ABC announced that it has established its own creative agency for campaigns across its traditional and digital mediums. Channel Ten and Foxtel are said to be already utilising in-house studios to create campaigns for some of their advertising streams.
Let’s look at some of benefits of bringing creative teams back in-house.
1. The ABCs decision to invest in an in-house creative agency was reportedly driven by cost. With tighter budgets, businesses are discovering that if they cut out the middle man – external ad agencies that charge high fees – they the can make some very decent cost savings with employing waged staff instead.
2. A creative studio can often turnaround work in less time than an external agency as its sole focus is on the brand. With multi-channel marketing are must these days, in-house teams offer the flexibility and expediency required for the fast-paced digital channels.
3. With external agencies, it’s not until you see the completed concepts that you realise the idea is not on brand. With in-built creative agencies, a brand has more control over its campaigns and creative ideas with teams who are aligned with the organisation’s philosophies and objectives.
4. A creative team who works directly for the brand will, by osmosis, have a deeper understanding of the brand, its products and the industry. The team will also understand the company culture, and so can better leverage the marketing brand message.
5. Having a creative team in-house may enable more direct face-to-face contact so that any challenges or issues can potentially be identified and rectified sooner rather than later.
Of course, there is also the other side of the argument, and in-house agencies do experience a range of challenges.
This post was originally posted on the Admation Blog.