In-House Agency

WELCOME (11:00 – 11:15 am)

I. AETNA: THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION (11:15 – 11:55 am)
A speed boat of an organization, Aetna's in-house agency has gone from 12 employees to 175 diverse creatives, strategists, digital specialists, and more across 18 different disciplines – all in just 3 years. In short, the Agency @ Aetna is both the poster child for all an in-house agency can be and also the case study for why those who've been championing in-house agencies, should be careful about what they ask for!

Speaker:
Melissa Slade, Executive Director, Head of In-House Agency - Aetna

II. DESIGNING A SUSTAINABLE, SCALABLE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE (11:55 am – 12:25 pm)
Low staff attrition, high tenure, and limited growth in headcount create challenges for in-house teams that want to evolve their offerings and value proposition. Valerie Fedun and Andy Epstein, senior consultants with Cella, will share the best practices that Cella has enacted. The discussion will include ways to scale your organization as workload fluctuates, easy-entry models for introducing new capabilities, and methods that mitigate roadblocks to talent access.

Speakers:
Andy Epstein, Senior Director Studio Operations – Cella Consulting

III. FINANCE ALTERNATIVES FOR IN-HOUSE AGENCIES (12:25 – 1:00 pm)
Many in-house agencies know all too well what it means to work within a limited budget. In this session, the American Express team will share other options in-house agencies have available to them when it comes to advertising related payments in order to optimize marketing budgets. These new payment strategies could help generate cost efficiencies, extend the marketing budget, and help your in-house agency realize additional cost savings.

Speakers:
Griff Dudley, Director - American Express Company
Leila Garcia, Senior Manager - American Express Company