Everyone seems to have one. And why not? It makes sense. In a world where authenticity is key, having your creatives embedded with your product guys makes sense. As Ogilvy said ( in paraphrase) ‘you only get to know the loudest thing in a Rolls at 60 is the ticking clock if you’ve sat with the engineers building the thing.’

Yes the industry has changed and internal agencies are here to stay.  The investment is made, the designers are sat there, the licences for creative suite have been bought. The idea that brands don’t need agencies for much of the work they need doing is accepted. But there’s a problem.

Freshness.

Creatives can get too close. They see all the shades of grey by nature. And they like to please. The committee takes over. If internal agencies are to outpunch external agencies they need to stay fresh in their thinking. If they are going to prove the commitment in them they need to see themselves like an agency, not an art department. If they are to take on more strategic projects and be a trusted ally, they need to build confidence.

Here’s what you can do.

Get a creative director in on contract.  We’ve done it before. Raising the creative bar, winning awards, building confidence, inspiring the team. And because creative directors can be expensive, have them in just a couple of days a week, have them on call, have them only on specific projects. But have them there getting your internal agency thinking like an external agency, delivering creative concepts, overseeing delivery,  writing the content strategies your  people can run with and bringing creative thinking earlier into the strategic process.

Contact me for more information on how we have supported internal agencies