Paul van den Berg | Executive Director | Oliver South Africa | mail me |
In-house agencies are returning to the inner sanctums of companies. In recent years, many major corporate brands have brought content and marketing agency capabilities back into the fold, which resulted in the development of an in-house agency as part of improving the delivery and speed of marketing efforts.
Importance
The in-house team exists to provide complete integration including:
- The same goals
- The same agenda
- The ability to solve problems very quickly
- Much greater learning across the organisation.
In turn, this leads to being more agile and responsive to the marketplace.
These agencies operate as their external namesakes would – they have their own structures, autonomies and reporting lines thus engaging with the parent company as an external agency would. However, there are major integrational benefits when doing so as an on-site agency.
An interview with Paul van den Berg, Executive Director, Oliver South Africa, and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing how in-house agencies are returning to the inner sanctums of companies.
Drawbacks
Internal agencies that are managed by the client themselves also have drawbacks, such as material overheads or managing staff. There can be obstacles to this approach to the model. It can be difficult to attract the right creative talent who will only want to work on ‘one brand’ indefinitely. Secondly, creative autonomy can be difficult, such as when defending ideas or decisions. If one is employed full time, they might feel under pressure from the person who is paying their salary, which can be a threat to objectivity and thus better creative work.
Managing the vagaries of creative staff is often at odds with other business cultures. External agencies offer this as their differentiator – they can ensure harmony. But there is a demand for high volumes of dynamic content, seen as the way to further personalise customer engagements hence the need for integration, a seat at the table. The ability to have a quick conversation at the watercooler is very useful, something only agencies located at the customer business can provide.
Fixing internal drawbacks
Today’s office bubbles with new technologies and workflows. Quick face-to-face chats and other frequent engagements grease the wheels. This is a creative catalyst for content and marketing agencies, where projects benefit immensely if their receiving parties are continually engaged without being inconvenienced.
Although making a switch back to internal agencies doesn’t automatically remove the challenges resolved by external providers, this has prompted a third approach: the on-site agency.
With the on-site agency working at the client’s premises and forming an integral part of the marketing team, the members of the onsite agency are always present and available. You can’t hide behind an email. The agency team is in the client’s workspace, ensuring they are always accessible. Moreover, the quality produced by the agency must be of the highest calibre with people on both sides caring about the brand, resulting in the co-creative space becoming more productive.
Benefits
Some benefits include…
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Read the full article by Paul van den Berg, Executive Director, Oliver South Africa, as well as a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics in the October/November 2019 edition of BusinessBrief.
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