In-house creative leaders are all too familiar with the unhelpful myths and pushbacks around design, creativity, and in-house creative teams. We also know that if leaders are going to influence and persuade the naysayers it is always worthwhile being armed with the facts.
THAT’S WHY WE PARTNERED WITH ALEX STEELE AND GEORGE PORTEOUS FROM AAR FOR A ONE-OFF VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE TO HELP US DO JUST THAT.
Hosted by Emma Sexton, we invited in-house creative leaders from across our community to share industry insights and experiences to help bust some common misconceptions around in-house creative teams.
As always, our community had a lot of insight and experience to share, so here are just a few of those insights that we hope will help others lead with more influence and impact.
MYTH 1
NO GREAT CREATIVE WORK GETS MADE IN-HOUSE – THESE TEAMS ARE BEST USED FOR TEMPLATED WORK AND PRODUCTION.
As we know, this is just not the case. In-house creative capabilities go further than templates and producing pretty things.
- Self-promotion and showcasing the team’s work has had a real impact on how we are viewed and utilised on more strategic work.
- Building relationships with stakeholders is key, shaping their understanding of the team’s work and skill set.
- We work on a one team approach, important that we co-create the work that comes from the brand and that the in-house team can lead on the creative.
- Pick your projects and pitch on projects you know you can achieve.
- Demonstrate your commercial value.
MYTH 2
IN-HOUSE CREATIVE TEAMS STRUGGLE TO RECRUIT – AND RETAIN THEIR CREATIVE TALENT
Recruiting and retaining staff are not the main challenges. In fact more candidates are actively seeking in-house roles.
- People like to be able to work for brands/teams who are doing good, making an impact, doing things differently. The ability to tell the brand story is key.
- Strong leadership is critical. Leading from the front, bringing in people who will adopt and share the team’s vision. There is also an element of “team fit” here too.
- Robust on-boarding process is crucial. Give new starters the time to get embedded in the business, in the brand.
- Retention and training have been really key for us, putting the focus on ensuring people want to work for us and are proud of the work they do.
MYTH 3
IN-HOUSE CREATIVES BECOME STALE WHEN WORKING FOR ONE BRAND
Again, a common misconception, some would argue the opposite is true.
- We work on multiple projects and have multiple opportunities, so our team is rarely bored.
- If the variety isn’t there, create project briefs for people to work on to allow them to think out of the box and get inspired.
- Bringing in new talent keeps the team fresh. Finding opportunities to second staff across the business allows people to gain new perspectives, learn new skills that can be brought back to the team.
For more insights, tune into the event recording on our Digital Library.
ABOUT OUR PARTNERS.
“AAR’s partnership with Inside Out Awards enables us to hear the latest trends, innovations and frustrations from people at the coal face of in-housing, an area of the marketing ecosystem that we are passionate about and take those insights out to the marketplace so that we can define best practice and keep Clients focussed on the biggest differentiator – creativity.”
Alex Steele, Lead Consultant, Drive, AAR
Alex Steele, Lead Consultant, Drive, AAR
Alex has 20 years of Advertising and Marketing experience. He spent 12 years working agency side at JWT, McCann-Erickson and BBH in Client service, international production, and resource management roles before moving Client-side, successfully setting up and leading an in-house agency for a FTSE250 business. After working in several client roles, latterly as Head of International Marketing, he joined AAR in December 2021. He brings a proven track record of tackling operational challenges and succeeding in making difficult change land; crucial as clients implement increasingly complex transformations within their marketing ecosystem and demand excellence in delivery working at a punchy pace.
George Porteous, Chief Strategy Officer, AAR
George has enjoyed over twenty years at leading agencies, brands and consultancies including St. Luke’s, TBWA, Google, Sapient, Ladbrokes, Accenture, and Tag.
He’s worked in a range of disciplines: advertising, marketing transformation and technology and content production, for brands such as BBC, Sky, Mars, Unilever, and the Football Association.
He developed strategy, transformed marketing functions for several blue-chip brands and delivered marketing to make brands famous with very strong ROI – up to 800%. Along the way he’s created several new marketing methodologies & agency offerings. George works with brands to build back better, advising on the design of their marketing ecosystems and driving their effectiveness.
