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I get where you’re coming from, but I’d push back on the idea that agency thinking is just “brand theater.” Agencies don’t survive by being disconnected from business realities—we’re trained to sell ideas that win over the toughest rooms, work within constraints, and still move the needle. Decks and pitches aren’t fluff; they’re a way of aligning vision and rallying teams. And branding isn’t theater—it’s what builds pricing power, attracts talent, and keeps a company relevant in culture long-term. In-house and agency aren’t about a skill gap, they’re about orientation: one leans efficiency, the other leans growth. The real value comes when you bridge the two—translating bold brand thinking into operational impact. That’s not a disconnect, it’s the advantage you just hired.
Having been both in-house and at an agency, just like with everything depends on the team in question and whether they’re truly capable of listening and learning to understand the client, their business, their goals, the market, etc., and then pitch opportunities that make sense and land.
I’ve had some (wildly reputable and posh) agencies pitch and totally bomb as they put on a cringe worthy meaningless performance and others that just nailed it.
As far as “giving” any agency (or consultant for that matter) a chance — it’s like dating. If they gave us their number and said yes to the date — that’s the chance.
I could NOT disagree more that in house leans on efficiency instead of growth and agency leans on growth instead of efficiency or vice versa. That statement demonstrates a lack of business and organizational understanding and sounds like the cliché bla bla quips agencies and consultants throw at their audiences to demonstrate know how and justify $. Along with “move the needle” consultant speak doesn’t win over the tough audience. It just gives us all a bad rep imho and sends eyes rolling.
Value comes in creating a true partnership and relationship as a trusted advisor as both sides need to balance and achieve growth and efficiency and frankly whatever supports the business strategy and objectives.
As someone who worked long term on an in house team and then went agency side - I agree that a lot of it is theater. Agency life is about selling ideas, and if you can get your client to do something outside of their declared budget, you just won the game. In house creatives are going to be grounded in the realities of the business, and delivering something awesome within the budgetary and logistic constraints of the business is how you win. Sure both have something to contribute, but there is a big learning curve for anyone moving between these sides of doing business. I feel like leadership always think they are going to get some awesome big picture thinking by bringing agency people onto their team, but it often leads to the existing team having to carry the slack of all the things that person does not understand about the business and how it functions. Often that leads to churn because it is a frustrating position to be put in, and leadership will always protect their investment in the agency person over the existing team.
Give them a chance. You can do a lot with incoming excitement and a station of respect. Also, if you’re frustrated with your perception of the realities of your org, leverage his built in power and pov to pitch things you’ve not felt empowered to previously.
Or her built in power and POV
I’ve never not been annoyed by agencies and consultants.