To In-House or Not to In-House: Inside the Mind of an Agency Search Consultant

So why the sudden shift from outsourcing to bringing work inhouseamp160 To get an insider39s perspective I asked leading agency search consultant and President of AAR Partners Lisa Colantuono pictured above to explain what she is seeing and hearing about the advantages and disadvantages of bringing work inhouseErynn LaFlammeamp160 What benefits do inhouse agencies have that external agencies lack Lisa Colantuonoamp160 This really depends on who you are askingamp160 If you39re asking the employees themselves they might say better work hours and less of a grind or the fact that there are potentially fewer approval processesamp160 If you39re asking an executive they39d probably tell you it39s more costeffective and there is a 100 focus on the brandLaFlammeamp160 With costeffectiveness being said to be the primary benefit of moving agency services inhouse are brands actually saving much after calculating the cost of people equipment and trainingColantuonoamp160 The truth is a typical brand corporation doesn39t have the infrastructure to truly run an inhouse agencyamp160 There are multiple and increasing layers needed to properly communicate crosschannel accounting for complexities among content production digital and moreamp160 Plus what will the brand do if advertising goes dark for a period of timeamp160 While an external agency has the ability to halt fees an inhouse agency has continued costsamp160 In addition agencies have the ability to get bestinclass expertise by taking percentages of time from the best people for the brand39s needsamp160 Agencies also get efficiencies on resources and tools since they39re purchasing needed services in bulk andor consistentlyLaFlammeamp160 A major positive for brands bringing work inhouse is that they eliminate the learning curve and have an abundance of institutional knowledgeamp160 Is this a benefit for every brand that wishes to build an inhouse agency Colantuonoamp160 Unfortunately noamp160 Unless the internal advertising team consists of people who have worked at the company for a number of years there will still be a learning curveamp160 I understand wanting to have 100 focus on the brand but I also think being too close to the brand has the ability to hinder creativityamp160 Some of the best ideas come from quotout of the boxquot thinking but one needs to be outside of the box to benefit from itLaFlammeamp160 What does an agency bring to the table that inhouse agencies seem to struggle with Colantuonoamp160 Agencies have the ability to crossreference experiences fromamp160other brands categories and especially consumer behaviors and purchase journeys they can then apply those learned experiences to add value to their other clientsamp160 When you work inhouse and are solely focused on the brand at hand you don39t get the chance to see what other brands are doing and you don39t have anyone else39s insights eitherTalent is also a tough one for inhouse agenciesamp160 I39ve never seen an agency creative run to the client side of the businessamp160 Whyamp160 Because they would be bored out of their mindsamp160 They want to keep their creative juices flowing by having their hands deep in a diverse portfolio of workLaFlammeamp160 In your opinion why are so many marketers bringing their work inhouseColantuonoamp160 Transparency issues have caused marketers to pull accounts inhouse Every agency has an ethical responsibility for having an quotopen bookquot policy that clearly explains operations and finances and this has been abused in the pastLaFlammeamp160 How are marketers supposed to forgive these transparency issues Colantuonoamp160 Well to be honest most agencies are not unethical so I don39t think marketers should be looking at every agency with a crooked eye Instead of throwing the idea of an agency out the window I think marketers just need to hold agencies more accountableamp160 I suggest they establish simple financial relationships with transparent principles and a set of guidelines backed by a thirdparty monitoring serviceamp160 This will easily exemplify that an agency is being ethical and transparent and marketers can still benefit from the external and diverse expertise agencies bring to the tableLaFlammeamp160 There is somewhat of an quotus vs themquot stigma going on against inhouse versus external agenciesamp160 Why do you think this is Colantuonoamp160 There have always been inhouse agencies and always will be amp8230 in fact it is a better set up for some brandsamp160 But no man is an islandamp160and instead of thinking of quotus vs themquot I think agencies should embrace the shift and not fight itamp160 They can offer consulting services or project work to help fill the void for inhouse agenciesamp160 With that said it may even be more rewarding and lucrative for agenciesamp160LaFlammeamp160 According to Forrester Research 64 of corporate America has inhouse agenciesamp160 What are agencies doing to compete with this increasing number and where is their opportunity to stay relevantColantuonoamp160 As mentioned agencies should embrace project workamp160 In fact agencies should reach out to marketers with inhouse agencies offering their production services or ideation services to help themamp160 An agency never knows if a marketer is having a tough time with itsamp160inhouse agency which could turn into something more if they reach out at the right timeamp160 I recently heard a story in which the marketer called in a consultant to helpamp160fix itsamp160inhouse agency ecosystem which wasn39t being run effectively or efficiently whatsoeverLaFlammeamp160 As a search consultant has the rise of inhouse changed the way you do business at allColantuonoamp160 I39ve done more projectoriented reviews in the past year and I believe that will be more common for a whileamp160 I39ve also seen this rise of the inhouse agencies as a cyclical pattern over the past two decadesamp160 In time you will see the shift from inhouse to external againIf you are a marketer there will be pros and cons of outsourcing versus bringing work inhouseamp160 When making a decision keep Lisa39s thoughts in mind as she has been closely working with both brands and agencies for over 18 yearsamp160 Who knows maybe you could get the best of both worlds and decide to do bothClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers amp160

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To In-House or Not to In-House: Inside the Mind of an Agency Search Consultant

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Erynn LaFlamme

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To In-House or Not to In-House: Inside the Mind of an Agency Search Consultant

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Erynn LaFlamme

Tomorrow Will Be Televised: “Buy It Now”, ZipWave TV & Quincy Jones Tribute Episode - Listen Live Today at 2pm - By Simon Applebaum

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