Agency vs. in-house roles—what to know before making a change

The denizens of adland move around quickly. That’s partly because, in an industry as dynamic as advertising, change is inevitable. “It’s the nature of the business. One day you’re up, the next you’re down,” said Sasha Martens, president of industry headhunting firm Sasha the Mensch. “It’s an industry where, at times, people feel they need to move up or jump to the next opportunity.” About six years ago, when tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple began hiring from more leading creative shops, it opened up the door for agency employees to move to the other side of the aisle, according to multiple recruiters interviewed by Ad Age. “Getting a job on the brand side is much easier than before,” said Serena Wolf, industry headhunter and founder of recruiting firm Wolf Creative Co. “It used to be virtually impossible, but so many people have made the transition. I think the main pathway was through tech, when they [started] building armies in-house.” Several executives have made the switch in recent years. Among them, Publicis Groupe’s Gail Hollander spent 20 years working on J.M. Smucker Co.’s account before joining the food maker as its chief marketing officer in March 2023. And industry veterans Pelle Sjoenell and Jenn Wong returned to agency life this year after stints with Activision Blizzard and SoundCloud, respectively. Agency Review Tracker Stay up to date with the latest account reviews Click here Each company is unique and each person has their own experience. To help those pondering a career change, Ad Age spoke with executives who have worked at agencies and brands, and with recruiters helping fill these roles, to get their perspectives on the differences they’ve experienced on each side of the industry. Managing more stakeholders Working in a senior role in-house means dealing with a wider variety of stakeholders, such as the C-suite and corporate board, according to several executives interviewed by Ad Age. “You get a closer understanding of decision making—where it happens and how it happens,” said Sjoenell, Droga5’s worldwide chief creative officer, who previously served as Activision Blizzard’s first-ever chief creative officer. “You have a small window into a big world from the agency side. To see the full world is incredibly helpful.” In-house executives must take the time to study these stakeholders and find a way to demonstrate how marketing aligns with their concerns and goals, said Wong, president at MullenLowe West, who was formerly head of global brand marketing at SoundCloud. Wong has also held lead marketing roles at Curaleaf, Beats by Dre and Gap, and worked at agencies including TBWA\Chiat\Day and Wieden+Kennedy. “When you’re on the client side, you don’t have the luxury of really thinking through and strategically beating up ideas,” said Wong. “You’re in a rush all the time, and you spend most of your time … re-forecasting budgets. You’re defending marketing to non-marketers.” Assessing feedback Learning how to manage the broad range of feedback is crucial, said Jason Sperling, Innocean USA’s chief creative officer, who was previously on the client side as global executive creative director of Meta Reality Labs. “Everybody had an opinion, and you had no idea, as a marketing team, which voice you needed to hear and which voice you could say, ‘Hey, thank you very much,’” he said, recalling his time at the tech giant. During his tenure at Meta, Sperling created a “Feedback 1-2-3” framework to help creative teams better discern between necessary change and opinion. Feedback 1-2-3 breaks input down into three actionable categories: Absolutely Change, Encourage to Change and In My Honest Opinion Change. Absolutely Change might refer to legal concerns or factual errors, while Encourage to Change encompasses brand best practices and consumer insights. In My Honest Opinion Change refers to the individual’s personal opinion—which is sometimes not essential. While feedback is intended to help, it can sometimes hurt the process and team morale, Sperling wrote on his website. Feedback 1-2-3 was designed not only to “control the cacophony of voices,” but also to “protect and insulate” the creative teams, he told Ad Age. Tackling mentorship challenges There’s sometimes less opportunity to hire and mentor younger employees when working within a brand, said Alex Bodman, former VP, global executive creative director at Spotify, who spent nearly a decade at the audio streamer before leaving in May. “You need people that are able, from day one, to build relationships, manage complicated projects and get the work out the door in a way that it’s really hard for a junior [employee] to do,” said Bodman, who spent a decade at agencies including Razorfish before Spotify. Building mentorship programs is an effective way to alleviate this issue, Bodman said. In partnership with the 4A’s and the UNCF, Spotify established the Spotify Pulse Fellowship Program in 2022. The one-year initiative is designed to support and create a pipeline for Black creatives with two to three years of experience. Also read: How ad leaders are learning from reverse mentoring Recognizing compensation options Compensation for many agency roles—outside of executive positions—is purely based on salary. Brand roles often offer multiple streams of income, such as restricted stock units, bonuses and more, said Owen Williams, founder and managing partner of ad recruiting firm Outside Lines. Agency employees mulling a move to in-house leadership roles should educate themselves on the different ways brands structure their compensation packages and how they can help build wealth, Williams said. “I think that’s a huge transition for a lot of people,” he told Ad Age. “If you aren’t familiar with the long-term ramifications of taking a full package … it could influence your decision in the wrong direction.” NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today Balancing work and life Many recruiters and executives told Ad Age that working in-house allows for a better work-life balance. “It is inherently a slower pace when you’re on the brand side, and the reason for that is because there’s so much cross-functional weigh-in,” Wong said. “There’s all these things that slow the work process down, versus an agency which is this tight-knit, collaborative group. The expectation is that people are firing on all cylinders at all times.” Not having to dedicate consistent time and energy to winning new business—especially as project-based work increases—makes a difference, said Drew Donatelle, an executive creative director at Keurig Dr Pepper. “I don’t necessarily shut down at 5 o’clock. … But I think [there] is better work-life balance, most definitely, because I removed new business,” said Donatelle, who was an executive creative director at Havas before joining the beverage marketer. While there are still going to be moments in-house where “you’re probably working late nights, that’s the exception, not the norm,” Williams said. “And on the agency side, it’s the norm.”

Agency vs. in-house roles—what to know before making a change

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