Your brand and marketing materials are important, so compromising on them can be detrimental to your business. While you may consider the possibility of hosting an in-house creative team, this internalization of the creative process can often come at the expense of innovation for your company’s visual identity. Hiring an agency of record provides your organization with a constant creative stimulus, which allows you to focus on what you do best, and leaves the creative up to those who are most equipped to handle it.

The Downside of In-House Creative

It is clearly convenient, and can seem cost effective, to employ an in-house creative team. There are many obvious perks to having a team who knows their company inside and out, who intimately understands the inner workings of the company and brand, and most importantly, knows the people. In-house creative is the comfortable route; it breeds a familiar aesthetic, and familiarity is the enemy of progress.

An in-house creative team can only perform to a certain extent when they are so deeply engrained in an organization, and in the long run, this will eventually negate the cost savings, as your brand suffers. The expectation of relying on this team to time and again come up with brilliantly creative ideas is simply too much to ask any internal creative team. It’s like the small community who never has to go far to get their groceries and only has one movie theatre. Everyone eats the same food and watches the same movies. Inertia sets in.

The Case for an Agency of Record

The primary reason why it’s important to hire outside resources to bring fresh ideas and introduce new technologies, is that the creative industry evolves so quickly, especially in the digital age. It is requisite for good ads and branding to push the limits of technology and thought. Keeping informed and active in these circles is too much to ask for anyone also undertaking the task of running a business, which is why many organizations contract an Agency of Record. Having an Agency of Record gives you a creative partner without disrupting your organization’s internal processes. An in-house creative team is fine for the execution and development of smaller brand elements, but when it comes time to plan a campaign to give that boost of creativity when your market is hard to reach and your creative team just can’t seem to penetrate it, an Agency of Record will guide you down the road of design to whatever destination you desire.