In-house vs Agency
Out of context: Reply #6
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- DaveO2
I was at agencies for years and have been in house for the last three years. Here are my findings...
Agency good: getting experience and agility, working across categories, learning how to present, getting in the mix with different scales of clients. Process was great and organization of workflow, as well as having a studio manager that looked out for peoples welfare and resource allocation. Also, having strategy as a discipline and function is great.
Agency bad: for all the pitches, and the whole notion that we were always feeling like we were convincing clients to make things. Also felt like i met a load of people who'd worked at agencies for ages but never really made anything or been on a shoot in their lives. Also the second guessing that comes with trying to 'do something the client has never done before' rather than trying to be consistent and evolutionary for the clients business. Selling work that serves the agency more than the client. Lack of professionalism and toxic cultures.
In house good: Better hours and expectations for sure. No pitches – which turn people / owners into psychopaths. Better pay (so far) and good healthcare, stock, bonus that is less subjective and more quantifiable. Also being part of a big brand gives you backing so if people know and love the brand they treat you very differently. Checking into hotels for instance – i got a much better welcome when the booking is under Ralph Lauren than when it was a creative agency. Buying into the cult of the brand is also fun, to a point, and discounted product helps that right along. Making content consistently is way more creatively rewarding than having months spent pitching an idea and then watching it get diluted and ruined over time. In house we are making stuff all the time so getting better at the craft of it (photography / filmmaking etc).
In house bad: Same client / people all the time. The company's fortunes affect yours and there's no 'new business' push that you can do do get big new wins. Corporate red tape gets hard when it comes to IT / staffing etc.