In-House Agency Committee, Midwest Chapter

The In-House Agency, Midwest Chapter Committee is for client-side marketers that manage the creative and/or operations of their in-house agency, including other in-house marketing work. Those interested in starting an in-house agency or learning more about in-house marketing are welcome to participate. While the external agency can be a crucial marketing partner, many client-side marketers look internally to solve their advertising needs. An in-house agency can consist of full creative and/or media abilities, or focus on a particular tactic, such as social media, programmatic, or video production. This committee provides a forum for education, networking, and discussion that helps elevate individuals in their respective organizations, as well as advance the role in-house agencies play throughout the industry as a whole.

The ANA In-House Agency Committee is currently meeting virtually every other month through August 2022. You can register to attend through the corresponding meeting links in the right sidebar. When it is safe to do so, we will have regional in-person meetings again.

Committee Chair:

ANA Staff:

• Barbie Romero, Senior Manager
• Greg Wright, Vice President

Resources:

• In-House Excellence Awards (2021 Winners List)
• 2022 ANA In-House Agency Conference on March 15-17, 2022 in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
• Presentations and recaps from the 2021 ANA In-House Agency Conference

 Discussion Topics:

• Developing and Retaining Talent (e.g. training, performance evaluations, sourcing talent)In-House agency management models
• Elements of a great creative/assignment brief
• Future of In-House Agencies (where do we see our agencies going, how to prepare, forward looking/future state)
• Getting great creative
• In-house agencies and bringing services in-house (creative, media, social media, communications, production, video, etc.)
• In-House Tools & Technology
• Managing Staff and Culture (e.g. DEI, staffing models, fostering innovation)
• Measuring performance
• Operations (capacity, utilization, process, transformation)
• Organization (team structures, org charts, define job roles, reskilling, etc.)
• Process (scope of work intake, tracking and billing, charge-back versus retainer)
• Selling your in-house agency internally
• The cost/value equation
• Working with external agencies

Leadership Initiatives

In-House Agency Fact Book
The ANA In-House Agency Fact Book is comprised of some of the best client-side marketer in-house agencies in the world. The ANA In-House Agency Fact Book highlights the structure, capabilities, and operations of in-house agencies at ANA client-side member companies. The fact book serves as a reference point for other in-house agencies and those looking to learn more or start their own in-house agency. Each fact sheet explores an in-house agency's capabilities, organizational chart (where provided), and other key data points. (Updated December 2020)

Managing In-House Agency Creative Content and Legal Concerns
ANA partnered with the Boston Consulting Group and Reed Smith to understand the top concerns in-house agencies have for both creative content development and legal issues.  This study identifies four primary issues in-house agencies have with creative content development: attracting top-tier in-house agency talent, keeping in-house agency talent energized, applying key marketing processes, and having healthy creative tension. Further, 16 legal issues were identified related to in-house agency work. This study also provides strategies to address the concerns.

The Continued Rise of the In-House Agency
A new ANA study concludes that the number of marketers with in-house agencies has grown substantially and workloads for those agencies are increasing. In-house agencies provide a range of services, including strategy, creative for traditional media, creative for digital media, and media planning/buying. Services that have grown significantly in recent years are content marketing, creative strategy, data/marketing analytics, media strategy, programmatic media and social media.