The In-House Agency Council (IHAC) welcomed attendees to The Timber Yard in Melbourne for a day of discussion, insights, collaboration and networking at the 2024 summit.
Chris Maxwell, executive chairman of IHAC and founder and CEO of –lution, told Mediaweek: “We’re absolutely thrilled with the success of the event. The content was real thought leadership. I heard from people who took pages and pages of notes, and the turnout was amazing – almost triple the size of last year’s event.
“The in-house and hybrid agency community is growing in Australia and we’re so proud to play our role in supporting the community to thrive.”
Chris Maxwell
Mediaweek was on the ground to see what’s new and cooking in the in-house agency sector.
Maxwell kicked off the day with a keynote that noted the growth and changes in technology as the key driver in the sector’s development and driver of challenges and opportunities for marketers and advertisers. He noted that IHAC’s 2023 report found 78% of Australian businesses use in-house agencies, making it a leader in the space.
Maxwell rounded out his remarks by highlighting the council’s key values of generosity toward the in-house agency community, desire to learning, positivity toward the sector and growth for individuals and business.
“Being positive for the player means better results for brands”
Claire Nance, head of global gaming business success strategy at Activision Blizzard, joined the summit from New York to discuss how the brand’s in-house agency, Starcade Studios, drives growth in the competitive marketplace.
She noted that player-first approach was part of the main reason why the brand launched its agency
“As we thought about what it is that clients and partners needed, it really made sense for us to evolve that offering so that we can provide services and creative services to our partners and clients to help that activate in the best way,” she said.
“Our game studios have a very high bar for the types of ad and brand experiences they will allow us to put in the games. To be clear, that is very much a good thing because it means that any type of brand experience, we are going to put into our game is going to be positive for the player; being positive for the player means better results for brands.”
Nance noted that Starcade Studios helps brands unfamiliar with Activision Blizzard games through the ad partnership process and ensures the work is produced in a way that is “effective, creative and fits seamlessly into that environment.”
“Having that one thing that your brand stands for is powerful”
After a mid-morning break, attendees reconvened for a panel led by IHAC’s Abby Blackmore, featuring Commbank’s Sarah Hetherington, Youi’s Marcel Hashimoto and Canva’s Cat van der Werff on how to evolve in-house agencies and attract top talent.
The trio shared their in-house agency origin stories, anecdotes on how their services and offerings have evolved, and advice to brands building and growing their in-house agency.
Hetherington noted that having a clear goal and vision, as well as clarity on success metrics – such as stakeholder satisfaction, productivity and effectiveness of the work delivered – as important and simple lessons she’s learned.
Van der Werff highlighted empowerment as the core value and “guiding light” of the work produced by Canva’s in-house agency. She said: “Like Airbnb is about belonging and Patagonia is about the environment, having that one thing that your brand stands for and all of your creative team strives towards is powerful.”
Hashimoto built on the importance of having clarity for an in-house agency’s goals, resources and capabilities. He added that having conversations with stakeholders and the CEO’s interests, background and ideals for the brand and building that into the agency model and economics of the business.
Left to right: Marcel Hashimoto, Cat van der Werff, Sarah Hetherington and Abby Blackmore.
“It’s happening really fast… get stuck in”
Nick Thomas from -lution and Tim O’Neill from Time Under Tension presented how in-house agencies can leverage generative AI to help get ahead. Their discussion encouraged attendees to be “more dog” by getting stuck into AI platforms and giving it a go.
Thomas and O’Neill also noted multimodal AI model coming soon to market and how in-house agencies should get ready for it
“It’s happening really fast, there’s no shortage of avenues to keep abreast (with AI), but do because it’s happening quick. Get stuck in,” Thomas added.
Tim O’Neill and Nick Thomas
“Professionalism x intimacy ÷ ego”
Chris Maxwell returned on stage to moderate a discussion how brands can be taking better control of media with Treasury Wine’s Ben Oliver and Vinetha Manthena, IHAC consultant and former head of media of Optus and CBA.
Oliver and Manthena agreed cost savings were not always the point of a move in-house. Rather being able to test and learn, having agility, proximity to data and transparency were key reasons to in-house media capabilities
When asked about bringing people together and building a team, Oliver noted that he is big on collaboration and co-creation.
“This all comes down to trust and a really nice equation for what trust is: professionalism x intimacy ÷ ego.”
Chris Maxwell, Ben Oliver and Vinetha Manthena
“Having an outside-in view is super valuable”
Nick Thomas took to the stage again to discuss the hybrid agency model alongside Guy Sawrey-Cookson from Foxtel’s in-house Balboa, which oversees sport and entertainment content. The two discussed the process of setting up partnerships between in-house and external agency partnerships.
When asked about Balboa’s future and the potential to go all in-house, Sawrey-Cookson said that is their aspiration looking ahead.
“Our desire would be to do more of the full campaigns in-house. We do all of Foxtel, all of Fox Sports, and all of Kayo in-house. That’s an obvious cost-saving to bring that work in-house. It’s definitely on the cards and something we aspire to do, in the meantime, we love working with agencies, particularly for strategy; having an outside-in view is super valuable.”
Guy Sawrey-Cookson with Nick Thomas
“There are just as many challenges and opportunities”
The next panel was a group discussion of the challenges of recruiting and retaining top talent in-house. MYOB’s Emma Grant led the discussion, which was joined by Lea Walker from Ms Walker Creative Recruitment, Ryan Kelly from Creative Natives, and Georgie Bugelly from Asahi.
Bugelly said “there are just as many challenges and opportunities” when considering moving to an in-house agency for an external agency.
Kelly advised those considering joining an in-house agency if the brand is something they care passionately about. “One of the big benefits of working in an agency is the diversity of clients. If it’s not a brand you can see yourself in long term, I wouldn’t consider it.”
“We try and stay away from the logical way”
Phil van Bruchem and Tom Opie, creative directors at Splash, the in-house agency for Treasury Wines, shared their journey of growing and evolving the agency and creating award-winning work.
In their presentation, they highlighted the importance of going beyond the marketing department of the business to really understand it and listening to the different parts that make up the organisation.
“We try and stay away from the logical way of solving conventional problems,” they said.
Connecting and collaborating
Following the afternoon break, the attendees split up into four different groups to connect with specialist groups and peers from the industry.
The groups were leadership, creative and strategy, production and operations, and media, data and tech.
