Kapero reposted this
Co-Founder, Kapero - Re-Engineering Marketing and Media by optimising Processes, Organisation and Business effects.
In-house agency reality #2 Speed: “In-house agencies are faster than downtown agencies”. The lead time of working with city agencies can make it difficult to be agile and take advantage of marketing opportunities. Having the resources in-house can allow for quick and flexible action and suddenly these opportunities can be seized. However, the ability to initiate communications on the fly has its drawbacks: ⚠️ Quickly realised opportunities end up creating and producing a lot of unnecessary stuff. In other words, you waste resources and suddenly in-house is no longer as cost-effective. Does it sound good to be able to do more? Then you must understand that everything that is produced displaces something else. In other words, opportunities take precedence over strategic importance. More activity also means less creative power for each creation. And there are many other disadvantages of fragmentation. Read more here https://lnkd.in/dbb_An9p ⚠️ Being opportunistic takes your messaging away from the stamina, consistency and long-term focus that marcom needs to be effective. ⚠️ The ability to start quickly means that stakeholders brief later. And we all know how bad that is in terms of cost, creative output - and stress! Although having a fast-moving in-house agency – sticking to a long-term plan is a good idea for both communication results, cost efficiency and the staff's mental health. But that is, for many reasons, much harder for an internal department to do, and you need to implement a more structured set-up than a commercial agency downtown needs to do. 👉 Looking at shaping your in-house agency for the future? Here are some fundamental questions to help you enter that journey: https://lnkd.in/dPiaHyND Also, check out the other parts of this in-house reality show to grasp the pros and cons of in-housing: #1 - Cost savings https://lnkd.in/gbRmxVMJ #3 - Proximity https://lnkd.in/dBa5BcZR #4 - Control https://lnkd.in/dEBJxhFK #5 - Competence https://lnkd.in/d_Z6d-jq #6 - Focus https://lnkd.in/dYvm9dHy #marketing #inhouseagency #advertising #CMOinsights #CMO
This is a really relevant take (and quite surprising to be honest). Speed is so often lifted as one of the main reasons to run things inhouse but agree on your points here - there is an opportunity cost to it (that’s very rarely talked about). Also, I’d like to add, for an inhouse team most likely crowded with other tasks from various internal stakeholders, unless it’s an all-hands-on-deck from the ceo, there is always the risk of a sudden marketing opportunity getting added to the long list of other, sudden, marketing opportunities. This seldom happens with a (professional) downtown agency - because when the customer calls with an urgent task, you just make it work.