
Media, long-regarded as the area of overall
advertising and marketing strategy to be retained by outside agencies, is the one area global ad expects expect to move more in-house. That's one of the findings of a new "in-housing" study released
Tuesday by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
While less than a third (30%) of WFA member respondents said their media strategy currently is handled at least in part by an in-house
agency, it is expected to rise three percentage points to 33% in the near future.
That may not be a significant change, but it is the only area of advertising/brand strategy moving
increasingly in the in-house direction, with the exception of "other," which the WFA study did not define.
Creative strategy, which currently is handled by 52% of in-house agencies, is
projected to decline eight percentage points to 44%, while brand strategy is expected to drop 11 percentage points to 22%.
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In-house strategy trending aside, the study does not actually put a
dimension o the degree of strategic work handled in-house vs. through outside agencies.
"What isn’t clear from the research is whether 'strategic thinking' is unique to the in-house
offering, or has some relationship with creative or brand strategy from the external suppliers who are developing ‘big ideas'," the report notes, adding, "Not to align strategy across all touch
points is risky and likely to lead to consumer confusion and disengagement."
In terms of explicit media planning and buying services, the new WFA study shows a decrease currently in digital
media planning and buying handled in-house vs. a similar study conducted in 2020, but most of the current respondents expect the in-house servicing to increase soon.
In terms of traditional
media planning and buying, the current study shows in-house services have grown since 2020, but current respondents expect it them to move completely outside soon.
The percentage of respondents
saying none of their media is handled in-house has declined from 50% in 2020 to 44% currently to 0% expected soon.
