Coverage of the ANA In-House Agency Conference

How can my brand bring media or creative in-house?

A 93-year-old health insurer confronts uncomfortable truths to rebuild its brand around the individual member. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina approach to accessibility, skepticism, and in-house partnership may reshape how legacy brands modernize.

Bruce Bildsten, who led Best Buy's in-house agency to ANA In-House Agency of the Year honors, argues that culture — not tools or process — drives breakthrough creative work. His framework for recruiting talent, protecting craft, and building inspiration rituals may reshape how in-house leaders think about their role.

At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, Todd Miller shared a candid account of building The Cooler, Experian's in-house agency, from scratch into a high-performing creative operation — and what happened when it ultimately got shut down. His session offered practical lessons on culture, creativity, business integration, and the realities of operating inside complex organizations.

At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, Joshua Palau, VP of performance media and enablement at Pfizer, outlined how an in-house media model enables faster decision-making, stronger alignment with business goals, and improved outcomes across the patient journey.

Taylor Morrison CMO Stephanie McCarty turned a two-person marketing team into a full in-house agency over seven years. Her approach may redefine how home builders and marketers of all kinds think about brand as a business asset.

The Wolverine Worldwide in-house creative and production model now handles about 90 percent of campaign work across 11 footwear and apparel brands. The integrated structure — combining strategy, studio space, and embedded talent — could redefine how brand teams measure creative capacity.

Quinn O'Brien, CMO of Carnegie Learning, argues that in-house agencies built around cost savings may be losing ground to artificial intelligence (AI). His Lenovo experience shows how pursuing the work that matters most to the CEO could redefine an in-house team's value.

Whirlpool's in-house studio, WoW Studios, is rewriting how internal creative teams earn bold mandates — from immersive trade show environments to a Big Boi sweepstakes that drove measurable market share gains. The studio's "anti-manual" approach may signal a broader shift in what proximity to a brand could make possible.

At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, Lauren Evans and Adam Kleinberg of Traction shared how in-house teams can turn AI into a strategic advantage. Drawing from insights from the Futureproof Project community, they explained how to integrate AI into operations, redesign organizational structures, and build scalable systems that enhance both efficiency and creative output.

Disney and Lionsgate veteran Jessica Klein argues that smarter systems — not fewer constraints — may unlock better creative work. Her framework for workflow visibility and intake design could reshape how in-house teams approach capacity and output.

At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, Jared Martin, VP of creative and video at Fiserv, shared a practical framework for transforming in-house creative teams into value-driving organizations. By leading like entrepreneurs, measuring cost avoidance, and scaling through cross-training, internal agencies can shift from order-takers to strategic business partners.

As artificial intelligence floods the market with competent but forgettable content, brands face a new threat: invisibility by mediocrity. Jason Boyer of Aquent Studios argues that human judgment and creative scarcity may be the last true differentiators.

Candice Kersh of Frankfurt Kurnit explained how marketers can use artificial intelligence (AI) in advertising production while limiting legal, talent, vendor, and disclosure risk.

At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, David Link, chief creative officer at Saatva, explained how the brand built "Saatva House," a scalable in-house production system designed to support premium video content across channels. By shifting from campaign-based production to system-based execution — and combining senior talent with AI — Saatva is redefining how brands approach creative output at scale.

In this session, learn how Treasury Wines, purveyors of wine like Penfolds and Snoops 19 Crimes, went from no in-house capability to winning industry awards and being crowned APAC’s in-house agency of the year in just three years.

At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, Georgia-Pacific’s Javier Bustillos explained how the company built an in-house media capability that improved transparency, agility, efficiency, and business performance.

In-house agencies control an estimated $60 billion in annual spend, yet their reputations may not reflect that scale. Gully Flowers of Also Known As argues that adopting stronger language and operational systems could close the gap between what in-house teams produce and the credit they receive.

The ANA In-House Agency Fact Book explores some of the best client-side marketer in-house agencies in the world, highlighting the structure, capabilities, and operations of in-house agencies at ANA corporate member companies.

How are in-house agencies utilizing AI tools?