Fortunately, we are an industry with many agency types. No business can ever be in a position in which there are no agencies suitable for their company. There are many versions of different agency combinations to take care of companies’ specific needs. Most companies have also learned how to match the competencies of the various agencies so that they complement each other instead of competing openly. However, it requires a great deal of administration and energy from companies to keep open lines between the different agencies and motivate the agencies to provide the optimal solutions for the companies while working in cooperation with each other. But this energy level is needed in order to secure proper focus and impact in the market. 

And in addition to the administration, there is the total cost management: How do you optimize a budget concerning the individual agencies’ efforts and the order of these efforts across agencies? Should you start with the media plan from the media agency or the campaign idea from the advertising agency? When is the right time to brief the PR agency or your friends at the SoMe agency? Plus, there’s the many questions when compiling the provider list of marketing services. Should you choose a so-called full-service agency or a design agency? A large media agency or smaller channel-specific agencies? An enterprise web agency or a smaller digital setup? Should the agency that provides the creative solution also complete the work? Can some of it be offshored?

Finally—how much of it all should be brought closer to home through in-housing it?

In our opinion, it is not a question of choosing between different types of agencies but choosing between the different layers of competencies that exist within all kinds of agencies. Not all agencies are equally knowledge-intensive or specialized all the way through their organization. And remember: companies pay for the overall setup of the agencies, whether it’s media agencies, creative agencies, design agencies, marketing automation agencies, web agencies or whatever label they may have.

For each of the agencies you use, you need to break down the competencies and services they offer into four tiers:

1.     Lead and Specialty agencies: On top you will find lead and Specialty agencies. The Lead Agencies are responsible for the fundamental brand positioning and strategic long-term perception building. Specialty agencies offer niche services in e.g., PR & PA, local media landscape and market intelligence.

2.     Creative: The creative layer in the win-win-house is where you develop novel concepts that build on and expand the overall brand position. 

3.     Project and content: The 3rd layer is about projects and content. Here we are talking about campaigns with some repetition elements, incl. product launches. But it could also include high-quality content definition and generation, incl. copy and visuals.

4.     Production: at the bottom of the win-win-house you will place production tasks. It is a bout scaling of content. E.g. turning one banner idea into multiple formats in numerous languages. But it is also production of 2D or 3D illustrations, publication layout and visuals versioning and tasks like photo, video, motion graphics. And translation and asset handling

The same applies to the roles of the people at the individual agencies.

Once you have done this exercise, you will have a clear overview of which services should be bought externally and which ones should be serviced out of your Win-Win-House. Knowing the latest trends in digital media, an outside-in perspective or being the specialist in a unique target audience falls under tier one. But that doesn’t mean that that very same agency is the best, cheapest, or fastest in converting that knowledge or concept into usable content. We often see that tier two-level work is more efficient developed somewhere else.

In our opinion, it is healthy to have a humble attitude to the opportunity to acquire new knowledge, new inspiration, and important advice in difficult situations. Therefore, we always recommend tier one-level services to be purchased by specialists from your external agencies; these are the best strategists and creatives to connect with in these situations—use them as high-level advisers. These are the specialists outside the house that you build a close relationship with; use them to develop the strategies, positioning, and concepts. You can ask for the best, and you can make it clear that once these tasks are in place, then they are not necessarily meant to complete the project and roll it out. You only need the agency’s tier one services. You do not have to pay for the rest of the machine if you have your win-win house in place. All you must do is receive the master plan or documents, and then your win-win house can take over the task, develop the various elements, and roll it out on the various platforms and channels. This happens at tiers two, three, and four. The skills within these levels are nurtured by proximity to the organization, easy access to input, discussions, and choices.

By building a Win-Win-House to provide competencies from tiers two and three, you get to put yourself in the driver’s seat throughout the value chain from strategy, creativity, technology, and production. The result is greater agility, flexibility, speed, and efficiency.

For tier four, depending on the number of tasks at this level, it can be a great advantage if your Win-Win-House is linked up with a low-cost offshore setup, which can provide the services at this level. The best offshore setups are experts in the same way as your business partners at tier one. Just for the development, completion, and implementation of both analog and digital assets. A lot of money and time is saved by having them affiliated with your Win-Win-House. If your amount of tier four-level tasks is not of such a scope that it pays to acquire an offshore setup, then tier four must also clearly be in your Win-Win-House because you pay premium price for the external agencies that do not specialize in the discipline of completing and implementing marketing assets quickly and at low cost.

So, turning that one great idea into a campaign with multiple touchpoints appears to be easier for companies where the creative forces are closer to the business and where minor adaptions can be implemented with greater agility and speed. Empirical evidence clearly shows that tier three-level work is often completed better in-house or by freelancers that know the business well. And when it comes to scalability, translation, and versioning, specialized offshore production agencies seem to be a better use of your time and money.