When brands started building in-house creative agencies a decade ago, they were seen as a novelty. But today, what was once believed to be a flash in the pan has had lasting power beyond anyone’s expectation. In a 2023 ANA study, 82% of brands reported having an in-house agency, up from 58% a decade earlier and 42% in 2008.

I rode the in-house agency wave and created this function over time, but I have to admit, it was like building a plane on the runway. To say we learned a lot along the way is an understatement, so it's no surprise that brands have not always followed a straight line in their in-house agency pursuits. Vodafone, for example, put its in-house efforts on hiatus to regroup before rebooting, and Intel pulled back on its all-in approach after a decade of investment.

My advice for marketing leaders looking to build an in-house agency that drives business growth can be boiled down to overcoming three challenges:

Solving the talent puzzle

It’s not an insignificant undertaking to find and develop talented individuals who can take the brand to new heights and nail execution and production. This is ultimately what fuels a successful marketing engine, so you’ll need to secure the perfect pieces for the entire puzzle, entailing the right mix of designers, creatives and copywriters. Every in-house agency will have bespoke criteria for finding and vetting talent; here are key elements I’ve focused on:

Craft: Are they passionate about their craft and do they have artistic vision and creative chops?

Technical acumen: Are they technically savvy and adept with the digital tools your team uses?

Motivation: Does their experience demonstrate a growth mindset?

Fit: Do they fill a critical gap? Are their skills complementary to the rest of the team? 

A search strategy can go a long way in finding the talent, but you must do it at the right scale. While building without over-hiring can be tricky, the team should be led by an experienced leader who understands the personnel needed to accomplish inspiring work

Transforming individual performers into collaborators

Being on a team can be new territory for creatives working in-house for the first time, as many may be accustomed to working solo, or in more hierarchical environments. They may be top-notch at what they do, but they may not be used to operating with the level of openness, collaboration and agility required in these environments.

Being on an in-house team means you get to be closer to the rest of the product, marketing and sales teams. So, helping them evolve into more of a stakeholder-management mindset must be the first step:

Set expectations: Make your standards clear in the interview process and onboarding; ensure they know they’re joining a team and understand the differences between agency life versus in-house.

Paint a clear vision: Consider driving a vision deck or strategy that lays out your collective vision for the brand, as well as the key goals as a group. Visual storytelling is the language of creatives and will help establish a unified sense of purpose.

Implement the right tools: Ensure they have a technology stack and creative tools that make collaboration effortless. It’s important these tools don’t just power your agency but also bring everyone into the creative process.

The upshot: Individual performers need to be inspired and see your agency as a platform where their expertise will produce bigger, more exciting outcomes than what they can do on their own.

Cut ‘stale’ off at the pass with a tenacious mindset

An often-shared viewpoint is that it can be tough for in-house agency teams to keep staffers motivated while working on the same brand daily. It’s true that if someone’s attitude has gone stale, so will their creative work. The good news is tenacity tends to be the natural byproduct of creative individuals with the right skills and a collaborative inclination.

In fact, spending extensive time on the same brand with the same team and sharing the same vision can actually prevent ideas from feeling stale. Tenacious creatives instinctively want to stay focused on the vision and go deeper than they can when spread out among dozens of clients.

To ensure you’re nurturing tenacity, here are a couple of tips:

Foster a culture of celebration: Recognize top creative work and hard-fought wins as often as possible to bolster the team’s verve.

Stretch creatives to think bigger: Keep them motivated to achieve new things rather than leaning into older formulas just because they got the job done in the past.

After tenacity becomes part of your collaborative culture, it plays out in practice. Whether fashioning a digital ad campaign or a guerilla marketing stunt, it starts with your in-house team developing new and fresh thinking but is also anchored in methodical determination and follow-through.

With the plane built, it’s time to fly

The challenges to building your in-house agency are real but not insurmountable. While no single model is best for every brand, I hope leaders find the framework that can be adjusted to perform best for them.