Thoughts
& News
This is where we share what’s on our minds — observations from the field, perspectives on the industry, and the occasional strongly held opinion. Just honest thinking from a team that’s been on both sides of the client-agency relationship and has a few things to say about it.
The most experienced person in your in-house marketing team might be doing the wrong work.
A concerning pattern has emerged across almost all marketing organizations: highly experienced, talented, and well-compensated leaders are spending too much valuable time on efforts they did 20 years ago: chasing production schedules, tweaking copy, or managing operational quicksand.
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Are studios the new agencies?
For years, the default move for brands needing scale, creative strategy, and/or high-end production was to sign a healthy agency retainer. But the landscape is different now.
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Your Team Doesn't Need Another Agency. It Needs Reinforcements.
There's a common misconception that as in-house agencies become more capable, they'll rely less on outside partners. The data suggests the opposite. While 82% of brands now operate an in-house agency, 92% of those organizations continue to rely on external creative and production partners to supplement their capabilities.
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The In-House Agency Paradox Nobody Talks About
The corporate playbook is settled. The evidence is overwhelming. Cost efficiency, speed to market, brand consistency, first-party data ownership, the shortest path from insight to execution all points the same direction. In-house works. That’s why 70% of surveyed brands now hold these core functions in-house and are not planning to change.
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