The mood was chipper and collegiate yesterday among the 200-plus marketing teams and brands at the In-house Agency Council’s national conference and there was consensus – all their core KPIs are on the rise after bringing creative and production capabilities inside the tent. Those that had built media functions were equally emphatic. 

Recently appointed Media Partner at Lution and former media agency boss Mike Worden revealed highlights from an incoming report covering 40 bluechip advertisers with in-housed media functions – mostly hybrid models where they still work with media agencies – with fist-biting findings for some. Many advertisers are moving well beyond the typical entry point of social, search and digital media buying to all media, and investing in more strategic and planning resource. Worden said a key priority for those brands expanding their media remit is to forge closer direct ties with media owners – the traditional domain of the agency sector – and invest in data and measurement, AI and automation and new channels.

Youi CMO Angela Greenwood said in a keynote the insurer has managed a full service in-house creative and media operation for a decade – currently with 15 in the media team and 14 in creative – and countered one of the key historical reasons why many brands had not pushed further into building media resource in-house: price. 

“Our rates don’t suffer as much as the holdcos would like you to believe,” she said.

Worden’s research broadly concurred – 63 per cent of Australian brands with in-housed media functions are “paying less for their media”. Just over 10 per cent said they were paying more compared to their previous agency partners. “That’s phenomenal and actually quite frightening for agency holding companies,” he said. 

Worden cited an unnamed advertiser in the report on why moving in-house was better: “Higher staff churn at agencies, their teams not understanding the business world and how this should translate to performance and traditional media channels,” is what they reportedly said.

Another CMO has told Worden directly “you can throw a blanket over price” between any agency groups and “it is no longer a differentiator”. 

Deeper and down

Worden said the updated market study – last conducted in 2023 – showed in-housed media units are maturing quickly in breadth and depth of capabilities. Digital channels, tactical buying and core services are moving to all channels, strategy and full service media resource. Those in the survey included Myer, Bupa, Asahi, KraftHeinz, Westpac, Commbank, Woolworths, Officeworks, Koala, Tourism Australia and News Corp. 

Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of brands with some media resource plan to broaden their media capabilities, Worden said. He echoed Youi’s Greenwood on the media agency pricing myth but said if brands want more depth and flexibility, they need to engage media owners directly.  Commercial Radio Australia CEO Lizzy Young and execs from Nova and Southern Cross Austereo were present and were called out by Worden as a case in point. 

“There's been a real step shift in the mentality and attitude of media partners to direct clients,” he said. “It's reciprocating. Sometimes it feels like you don't have the relationship with a media owner and I think that's a massive mistake. You build those relationships – when you need to get out of a hole, they'll be there for you.” Publishers, he said, remain "a huge part of the ecosystem”. 

Four models prevail

Worden said four media models are predominant – external agencies only, brands with a media lead, hybrid agency models, and fully in-house. 

“The big headline is [in-house media] is growing in confidence and maturity. I don’t have any brands with in-house media [in the report] who said ‘actually this isn’t a model that doesn’t work for us’. It’s really clear that some of the best work in the industry now is happening in-house.”

But Worden acknowledged there are challenges facing in-house teams – staying across trends and innovation was cited by 56 per cent of in-house media operations, followed by the cost of tech and tools (47 per cent), recruiting talent (42 per cent), scaling resources (37 per cent) and talent training and development (36 per cent).

Ultimately Worden said those challenges are addressable – and easily outweighed by the benefits brands are achieving by taking media inside. 

Does the in-house model always win? "Certainly seems so,” per Worden.

But that's his job.