Josie Merrifield.
It is undeniable that we have seen a shift in the media landscape, with some brands drawn to in-housing by the appeal of data ownership. While there are clear benefits to keeping digital activity consolidated with a media agency, it’s important that agency partners still play a role in supporting in-house teams to deliver results.
Through our experience working with clients who have either well-established in-house teams or are on the path to in-housing, we have learnt a thing or two about how to extract the best value from a media agency to supercharge an in-house team.
One team, one dream
A significant risk of in-housing a digital team is the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ dynamic, whereby they become siloed, not consulted, not considered and not brought into the fold of the broader media strategy and planning.
The best results for clients happen when agencies work in partnership with in-house specialists at every stage of media planning. Involving one another in the briefing and working together on the responses to the brief, with a collaborative approach presented back to broader marketing departments – a true hybrid media team.
Regular WIPs, augmented by shared business and media reporting, should be your bread and butter. Did you see a huge improvement in search engine marketing (SEM) performance week-on-week? Maybe it was because of that TV campaign launching.
Promoting one source of truth and a hive of shared knowledge means as digital buying options expand, in-house teams are up to speed on the broader campaign – ready to activate new channels at pace.
A finger on the digital pulse
Another concern clients may have is losing the ‘finger on the digital pulse.’
The digital media ecosystem is moving at pace, and having an expert able to share these updates as they happen with in-house teams is critical. Agency experts benefit from a vast range of experience across multiple clients, verticals and industries. This is fundamental to fuel creativity and lateral thinking, supporting in-house teams to think outside of the tunnel vision that can happen when exposed to one brand in one industry.
Clients looking to in-house or improve collaboration between their in-house teams and their agency should consider an agency digital consultant. Your agency consultant can be a sounding board for new ideas, bringing new product opportunities and sharing landscape and best practice updates.
It is also well-worth having a digital media champion in the team, employed by the agency but sitting day-to-day with digital specialists. This person is the custodian of the media strategy. It’s their job to bridge the gap between the two teams, ensuring all decisions align with the strategic vision for the media plan.
A gateway to the media
With in-housing, it is vital to ensure the service level from media and technology partners is maintained. Some have limited on ground support for lower spending clients, with client in-house teams working with chat support functions with slower response times.
Clients can mitigate this with escalation support via their agency contacts, sharing first-to-market opportunities and collaborating closely on technology partner joint business plans and digital roadmaps.
Foolproof ways of working
There’s no greater kindling for good partnerships than solid ways of working. Be sure to develop clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities to enable the two teams to work together cohesively as one. When everyone knows what is expected of them and when their input is needed, the campaign process works much more smoothly.
Incentivise silo-free planning
Finally, it is imperative that clients with in-house teams take a close look at their agency commercial models to ensure they are incentivising silo-free planning. If your media agency is the custodian of your media strategy, ensure they can make agnostic decisions about investment by channel.
Hybrid models with in-house digital teams can unlock data ownership, but the risk of silos, loss of innovation, and disjointed strategy is real. The key to success is not severing ties with media agencies, but evolving the partnership to be more integrated and strategic. The future of digital media isn’t agency vs. in-house; it’s about designing a collaborative ecosystem where both thrive.
Josie Merrifield, Group Digital Director at Spark Foundry Australia