Surf’s Up

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) released a report that’s a little frightening for agency people like me: it says 57% of global companies have brought creative in-house.

The report also finds that three-fourths of internal studios were created within the past five years, which means the in-housing trend is accelerating.

What’s an agency to do?

Well, we can fight the wave—or we can ride it.

Truth is, VSA has been riding the wave for a while. That’s probably because we work with so many big tech companies. Google, Salesforce and LinkedIn each launched their own in-house agencies more than a decade ago.

Here are a few ways we plug in:

An in-house creative studio of 50 to 100 people is a lot of firepower—but some of these global tech companies have 200,000+ employees. Developing brand ideas is one thing; making sure the brand scales consistently across every global business unit is quite another.

We partner with our clients to design brand systems and develop guidelines that help practitioners of all skill levels, ensuring the brand shows up in a consistent and compelling way.

Most of our big tech partners have absurd amounts of user data. When it comes time to deliver a product offering to a new audience, they need a fast way to understand an entirely different group of people.

VSA has an in-house analytics team dedicated to helping companies find their highest value target, deeply understand their needs and deliver products and messages that authentically fill those needs. Our team of data scientists and brand strategists work as a blended team, so our research outputs are actionable for creative development.

Ask any writer: sometimes, you just get stuck. For many of our clients, we function as a supplementary idea engine. When they’re having trouble cracking a problem, they know they can bring in VSA for a rapid collaborative, creative sprint. The fact that we’re not in-house means we’re better positioned to deliver outside-the-box thinking. In these instances, we like to say we’re a “fresh arm out of the bullpen.”

One more stat from that WFA study that I keep thinking about: 40% of companies allow external agencies to pitch against their internal agency.

That means at least 40% of these companies are inviting agencies to fight the tidal wave of creative in-housing.

We don’t see any reason to pick a fight. Instead, we’ve designed an agency (and a west coast presence) custom-built to collaborate, iterate and solve problems together.

Why resist the wave when we can have more success—and fun—riding it?

• Listen hard. Seek to understand the challenge. Ask a ton of questions.
• Align on the problem. A problem well-defined is a problem half-solved.
• **Check egos at the door.**It’s about the work. Every idea is a shared idea.
• Know when to divide and conquer. Solutions rarely happen in a crowded Zoom.
• Generate from abundance. Bring lots of ideas. Edit later.
• Build before breaking down. Find what’s right about it and add to it.
• Check in a lot. Have tough conversations. Go on the journey together.
• Practice radical empathy. Give the benefit of the doubt. Assume the best.
• Learn as you go. Mistakes are helpful if you recognize them. Debriefs matter.
• Make time for fun. Get personal. The best teams know and like each other.