Articles

You lead or work as a member of an in-house creative team. Business is good. You definitely see the need for help in the near future. So, what do you do next?

The penetration of in-house agencies has increased 16 percentage points since 2008 to a surprising 58%. That’s not a slight movement, more like a quantum leap.

You might assume, as a member of an in-house agency, you might be afforded a measure of trust from your clients that is hard to come by for outside agency folk. After all, you are all on the same team and you are dedicated to the products and services of your company and none other.

Here’s a tricky one. A client (or your boss) comes to you asking if you can handle a certain type of work that you’ve never done before. Sure, you know about it, and have been around other people doing it, but you, yourself, have never practiced that particular skill.

There are so many reasons why it makes sense to always call for and follow a creative brief. And we’ll hit on some of those in just a second. But, from a creative person’s perspective, none might be more important than this: You’ll never know if you hit the mark if you don’t know what you are aiming for.

It seems we’ve all worked for the tyrant Creative Director who came up with the “winning” ideas and then doled them out to the staff to implement—only to leave them feeling deflated, dispirited, and minimized. Don’t be that CD.

If your company’s in-house creative department isn’t as productive as it needs to be, or you have a creative member falling short on performance, check your expectations.