How do you truly know if your in-house agency is set up properly and has the right talent and capabilities?
Estigia Cruz
Flock recently hosted a breakfast event in NYC in collaboration with Grace Blue Partnership and welcomed nine marketing and tech thought leaders to discuss the hot topic that most marketing companies are whispering about (heck some are outright yelling about the topic but that’s neither here nor there…); Setting up an in-house agency.
“According to the In-House Agency Forum (IHAF) and Forrester Research, who co-fielded the new study, ‘State of In-House Agencies,’ a whopping 64% of corporate America have in-house agencies today”. Well then, doesn’t that make you think about your capabilities and if you should set up an in-house agency? And for those that have one already set up; how do you truly know if your in-house agency is set up properly with the right talent and capabilities? Those were some of the topics we discussed during our roundtable breakfast that Simon Francis, Mitchell Caplan and Claire Telling hosted.
What are the challenges with running an in-house agency?
Our great guests discussed their learnings, insight and some of their failures. We’ve boiled them back to the following eight key points.
Talent. Make sure you can hire, retain, and nurture great talent. Do they have career paths? Do your work place practices support great creativity (or media or design)?
Cultural. What is your corporate culture? How will that work with the in-house and the type of talent in it? How will the new in house agency impact relationships with external agencies?
Budget. Make sure you have a fully costed business plan that is built with the future in mind, and covers also the cost of reversibility.
Processes. Don’t just hire people and expect the organization to figure how to work, spend proper time documenting all processes required to set the agency up for success.
Data and Tech. Do you know what tech is available to run an in-house agency? Have you optimized the data and tech stack to allow the agency to succeed? How will your in-house tech work with external agencies?
Motivation. Are their bonus schemes that are relevant for an in-house agencies? What are the KPI’s for success? Do you have an agency appraisal or any audit?
Working habits. What are the ways of working? How will you handle differences of opinion? Do you have escalation processes etc?
Organization. How will the agency report? Does it have an independence, or not? Is independence important to it’s function and culture?
Contracts. Have you considered the legal implications of becoming an agency? Do you have all the legal check that an agency makes, in place? Are you ready to take on the liabilities and indemnities of an agency?
If you would like to see our guides and case histories for setting up in-house agencies, of all types, from around the World then do let us know.