Agencies that wish to grow existing client business or unlock new business opportunities should relinquish the idea that in-housing is a threat. Instead, they must understand the four shifts that are affecting the evolution of in-housing and adapt accordingly to ensure they continue to deliver brand growth. This is the rallying advice provided by a new IPA report which is being launched at the flagship IPA Business Growth Conference.
Authored by Rhona Glazebrook and Janet Markwick, the IPA report, Shift happens, draws on in-housing research and is informed by in-depth interviews with agencies, intermediaries, new entrants, in-house organisations, procurement specialists and clients, to outline the variety of in-housing models and approaches that are in place today. It also investigates why in-housing has matured to become so prevalent in marketing ecosystems today. The report concludes with what the evolution of in-housing means to agencies today and in the future and how to develop transformational strategies and solutions.
Agencies must focus where the growth is and align their agency ambition. Crucially, agencies need to transform digitally. They need to be able to work with, or plug-in, customer data using automated processes to ensure that their models keep pace with advances in technology and with the growing number of in-house agencies who already have many of these capabilities at their core. As such, they must build deep expertise in these fields.
Agencies must respect in-housing as an intrinsic part of the ecosystem that will help them succeed and should embrace and understand its value to clients. On this basis, agencies can replace trepidation with optimism.
Cost efficiencies and quicker processes that deliver speed to market were the original primary reasons cited for in-housing, now effectiveness is cited as a key benefit of in-housing, according to the report. Agencies must therefore clearly identify their role within the marketing ecosystem and define and measure the value they will deliver.
Agencies must shift from being suppliers of marketing services to becoming truly integrated partners, ones with an inside-out understanding of their clients’ businesses and look for ways to integrate and transform using the power of creativity and strategic thinking within the marketing ecosystem.
"In-housing has been with us for many years and has become an integral part of the marketing ecosystem. As this new report advises, for agencies to ensure they remain critical players in the marketing ecosystem of the future, they must continually assess the changing requirements and indeed capabilities of their clients - so as to better deliver complementary services, expertise and essentially incremental value."
"With evolution comes opportunities for growth. The old, linear processes are now dynamic, providing additional opportunities to deliver creative work. Agencies who embrace the power of technology to transform their businesses will be the ones who survive and thrive."
Download the free report 'Shift Happens'