External V/S In-House Ad Agency

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External V/S In-House Ad Agency
This year, Byjus' in-house creative agency won
silver at Cannes, reigniting the long-running
debate between external ad agencies and in-house
ad agencies. While we must celebrate Byju's
creative team's victory, I think its an
opportune time to share my views on the
same. When deciding how to source your
advertising needs, it's important to understand
the distinction between an external advertising
agency and in-house assistance. In-house teams
are immersed in the brand's culture and knowledge
every day. This level of immersion is difficult
to match and produces game-changing results (like
the ad film Masterjee from Byjus). While an
external ad agency may be able to bring a fresh
perspective, they will need time to gain brand
and domain knowledge and experience, if they are
not an expert already. External advertising
agencies are mostly results-oriented, innovative,
and time-saving. External ad agencies assist you
in removing roadblocks and problems that your
in-house ad agency may not be able to spot as
they cant exit from the insider mindset to see
things from the outside to get a new or unknown
perspective. While brands can focus on other
important tasks while refining all aspects of
their business, the multi-domain expertise of
external ad agencies is a big draw. Lets
understand why brands go for an in-house ad
agency. Enhanced transparency When a company
hires or outsources to an agency, it may lose
transparency about the steps or procedures taken
to deliver results as well as the progress
of specific projects. Your company requires
transparency to ensure that all projects are
progressing as planned and they are meeting your
short and long-term objectives. More faith
Outsourcing can jeopardize your company's
confidentiality. Furthermore, some content
creation processes necessitate the disclosure of
consumer information. Although the use of
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information available is frequently done with
consent, unconsented third-party access via
outsourcing or data leaks can jeopardize the
integrity of your brand. Increased
effectiveness The main advantage of forming an
in-house marketing team is that it allows
business leaders to manage communication. While
working with external agencies, the manager has
to deal with miscommunications and other issues
between departments. By handling these internal
issues internally, managers can focus on their
tasks while increasing their chances of
achieving desired results.
In-House Ad Agencies Advantages over an external
Ad Agency Internalizes the business You can keep
company operations internal by having a marketing
team that is a part of the company's staff
rather than outsourcing to other agencies. It
allows any revenue generated by an advertisement
to be reinvested directly into the company. It
also enables a company to experience internal
growth by adding new marketing team members. A
greater understanding of the brand and product
If you have an in-house marketing and
design team, your employees will gain a better
understanding of your brand, products, customers,
and target audience. Effective marketing
necessitates strong research and comprehension
abilities. Keeping this knowledge within your
organization can help you improve your product
offerings and brand image. Now, lets understand
the advantages of an external ad agency over an
in-house one. A dynamic and different perspective
on a problem and solution Unlike in most of the
cases, talents in an In-House Ad Agency are
strongly aligned to their leaderships
viewpoints. Whereas, talents of an external Ad
Agencies are not under any hierarchical pressure
and assumptions and hence they think differently
without bound by viewpoint of client's
leadership, bringing in innovative perspective
and solution to the problem.
Greater skill sets An external agency provides
you with the ability to use their team and
resources to achieve your goals whether it's a
single project or a more complex long-term
marketing strategy. A strong marketing team must
have a diverse skillset, including digital
marketing, social media management, Print / TV/
Radio / Digital advertising campaign management,
and much more. Increased adaptability Content
creation and marketing require extensive
planning. You can avoid all that stress by hiring
a company to do what they do best. Furthermore,
agencies frequently provide short-term and/or
on-demand assistance for specific topics. This
assistance allows your team to improve
flexibility and focus on more productive tasks
within your areas of expertise of brands and
businesses. Increased creativity The main
advantage of external agencies over in-house ones
is the increased creativity. As the external ad
agency team is not under the immediate shadow of
big bosses from the brand, they experiment and
express themselves more freely, and hence get
more creative solutions than what an in-house ad
agency team gets you. Furthermore, because they
can find their own star(s) among their artists
and writers, agencies can focus on the end-user
experience rather than getting bogged down by BS
from their internal marketing team. Multi-domain
expertise This is one of the biggest draws for
external ad agencies, as innovation and changing
the game steaks come from such a repertoire of
knowledge and expertise. Cross product fit,
opportunities, and understanding of consumer
behavior in various other industries other than
the very domain of the brand becomes a big
advantage
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Cost effective In case of low or no performance,
you can change your external Ad Agencies a lot
more swiftly as compared to that of changing the
entire team of the In-House Agency. You hire an
external ad agency when you need it and save the
cost when you dont. Divide and Conquer A brand
can divide its various specialist functions of
marketing and advertising amongst the best
external Ad Agencies from the industry, to ensure
they get the best one can ask for. If one of the
ad agencies is not performing well enough, you as
a brand can replace the one with the next bets
possible. It lets you juggle between the best
talents without any guilt, ensuring the brand
gets what it needs. Competitive Edge The
external ad agency displays a better competitive
edge as their business is dependent on it.
Unfortunately, for an external ad agency, they
are only as good as their last work, and hence
they deliver the best it can get. The brand
doesnt need to ignite the passion in the teams
of the external ad agency, as the pressure of
business is enough to do so. What do I recommend
and why? When it comes to determining what is
best for your company, there is no right or wrong
answer. Whether you hire an ad agency or depend
on your in-house ad agency, it's critical to do
what works best for you and your goals. A hybrid
approach may be a good option for businesses with
a good marketing budget but limited internal
resources. So, what is a hybrid approach and how
does it function? Hybrid marketing is a fairly
new term, but it's used interchangeably with
other approaches to marketing, like in-house and
outsourced. The definition of hybrid marketing is
that you use both the company's resources and
outside experts. Larger and higher-stakes work,
such as marketing strategy, planning, and
campaign development, can be outsourced to an
external ad agency, while medium and adaptation
jobs can be handled by in-house ad
agencies. Source Business consultant Ranjan
Das Talks