Ad Age is marking Women’s History Month with a series of contributions from guest essayists. Today, Dana Hork, founder and CEO of Beers With Friends, writes about why marketers don’t have to choose between a traditional agency or building everything in-house.
“Be brief. Be brilliant. Be gone.”
That was the best piece of advice my old boss ever gave me. And in today’s marketing landscape, ambitious brand leaders need to live by it—whether they’re crafting a breakthrough campaign, launching a new product with speed or capitalizing on a trending cultural moment.
But here’s the problem: They can’t.
Marketers have built a system that traps them in a cycle of inefficiency. Instead of agility, they’re stuck with a legacy agency of record (AOR) model that’s anything but brief, sometimes brilliant—and never moved fast enough.
As an entrepreneur and former brand leader (Walmart, Jet.com, Wonder), I’ve lived this challenge firsthand and have deep empathy for today’s marketers. They’re expected to deliver impactful growth, stay culturally relevant and do it all on shrinking budgets—all while stuck in agency structures built for a different era.
The reality? No in-house team can have deep expertise in every marketing challenge they face. And no agency, no matter how big, has all the right expertise available at the exact moment you need it. The AOR model wasn’t designed for speed or adaptability. Agencies juggle multiple clients, operate with rigid processes and lock brands into expensive retainers that don’t flex with evolving needs.
Let’s be honest: The AOR model works for global campaigns, large-scale media buys and enterprise-wide rebrands. But what about everything else? What about the urgent opportunities that pop up overnight, the quick-turn projects or the high-potential experiments that deserve a shot before a full investment?
I’m not saying every brand should ditch their AOR. But we need to acknowledge their limitations and embrace alternatives. Marketers don’t have to choose between a traditional agency or building everything in-house. There’s an option C: the agency on call.
This creativity-on-demand need I had as a marketing leader is precisely why I launched Beers With Friends. We apply a five-day sprint model to give brands what long-term retainers often can’t—undivided attention, senior talent, decisive action and immediate results.
The magic of this model isn’t just speed—it’s focus. Short timeframes force clarity, eliminate the luxury of overthinking and drive action. Great ideas don’t need months to develop. They need the right brief, the right expertise and a deadline.
And the results speak for themselves. We’ve helped brands launch campaigns in days instead of months, test concepts before committing significant spend and inject fresh thinking when internal teams hit creative roadblocks—all without disrupting their existing agency relationships.
So, marketers, if you feel stuck, break free.
Start with that project that’s been sitting on your wish list for months. Jump on that cultural trend you know is too big to ignore. Give it five focused days with the right team. You’ll accomplish more than months of meetings ever could.
What if your next great idea wasn’t the result of weeks and months of incremental back and forth? What if you could get to it in less than a week through focus and expertise?
The brands that win won’t be the ones clinging to outdated agency structures. They’ll be the ones bold enough to rethink how they get work done.
The future belongs to the marketers who question convention—and to the agencies nimble enough to meet them there.
