This article was originally published in Campaign Asia @ campaignasia.com

In marketing and advertising, the only thing we know for certain is that things always change. And in today’s world where we’ve learned that everything can change on a moment’s notice, brands are starving for working models that allow them more control of their narrative and the content they create. 

We know that the traditional brand-agency relationships are limited—the growing trend of companies moving to in-house teams is proof of that. In August 2020, a Gartner spend survey of CMOs found that 32% of external agency work had shifted to in-house teams over the previous 12 months. But while in-housing can offer brands major benefits—like cost savings, faster speed to market, and consistency over the brand narrative—purely in-house teams can lack elements of innovation and inspiration that the cross-pollination of diverse business categories and verticals affords agency creatives and marketers. Not to mention that adapting to the discomfort and inconvenience of quickly changing landscapes—something external agencies thrive on—may be difficult for brand teams.

The embedded partnership offers brands the best of both worlds. For some companies that have relied heavily on external agency partners, the embedded partnership allows them to quickly adapt to change while continuing to serve their audiences. For others, an embedded agency partnership serves as a hybrid first step toward full in-housing. And there are many, many brands we work with—large companies and start-ups alike—that maintain embedded agency staffers long term to help manage the ebbs and flows of marketing needs.

Enter the embedded partnership

In the embedded partnership model, brand and agency teams brainstorm together, edit each other’s work, talk daily, and often sit in the same offices. The most common misconception about the embedded model, however, is that simply putting people together in the same space—either virtually or on site—is the solution. “Embedded” means teams are involved in strategic conversations much further upstream than traditional agencies and openly collaborating on assignments to the point that ideas flow more naturally and decisions are made faster. Much more than a model, an embedded partnership is a mindset. This deep engagement based on teamwork and mutual trust yields results that exceed expectations, integrate fully with a brand’s existing infrastructure, and align with the latest go-to-market strategies. 

Keeping it fresh

Once thought appropriate only for content production needs, embedded agency engagements have expanded to cover end-to-end solutions spanning many areas: data, strategy, creative, production, platform development, optimization, and media, among others. And given the recent focus on privacy and preparing for a world without cookies, embedded digital marketing staff would be the ideal resource for managing a brand’s first-party data. 

Why are brands turning to embedded teams? Acquiring and energizing creative talent has historically been a challenge for in-house agencies—a challenge that can intensify when budgets are tight but marketing needs necessitate new skill sets. Plus, there’s always the risk that wholly internal teams turn into echo chambers for internal assumptions and company speak or, even worse, become insulated from emerging trends. An independent contractor or boutique agency can serve as a means of outsourcing small tasks but an embedded partner has immediate and greater access to talent and specialized skills, as well as external ties that can help introduce innovation. And given its proximity internally, the partner agency can become an extension of the company’s marketing team to seamlessly amplify the team’s power. 

Staying nimble

One of the main drawbacks to fully in-housed teams is their limited ability to handle sudden increases of work or reduce costs during periods of lower demand. And one of the key elements of the embedded model is that it provides flexibility in scale and skills sets available on demand as needs dictate. In large companies, for example, internal marketing teams can hum along until an unforeseen opportunity presents itself and a massive program needs to be executed—fast. Hiring full-time employees for a three- to six-month program is hard to justify, but so is signing on with an agency (even for minimum contracts) or hiring and then managing individual contractors. With the embedded model, a middle way emerges—a team of experts from a single agency can be brought in to leverage insights and execute quickly and smoothly. 

Covering all the bases

Building and maintaining a full in-house team is not for the faint of heart. In-housing requires a major commitment of time and money that can be a difficult pill for an organization to swallow—especially when striking the perfect balance between capacity and utilization is nearly impossible in today’s changing marketing environment. In smaller companies—like technology start-ups where most early resources are funneled to engineering and go-to-market timing is a moving target—there may not be the right staff on hand to handle the next phase of growth. But hiring quality employees takes time, and bringing in a full-on agency is costly and time-consuming. With the embedded model, interim senior marketers with the support of a full agency behind them can be quickly enlisted to execute everything from consumer tests to full marketing programs, without a major long-term commitment. This flexibility provides for support in tackling everything from operational problems to pilot testing new ideas and products to full go-to-market strategies—with companies only expending associated costs, rather than ramping overhead.

The many flavors of the embedded model

At its core, the embedded approach blends internal and agency teams working side by side with full transparency and higher accountability. That said, for as many different companies there are in this world, there are likely just as many different embedded combinations possible! Personnel models span fully embedded models with agency individuals and teams on site, hybrid models with some combination of on-site and off-site support, and fully off-site models supported by local or remote staff. And financial models that are retained, based on time and materials, project- or work stream-based, or a combination.  

To best determine whether an embedded partnership is right for your organization, you must consider short-term needs and long-term goals, and then evaluate your capabilities to determine where (and potentially when) you’d need to shore up resources. To put you in the partnership mindset, here are just a few areas where an embedded agency model can help:

• Consultancy to handle strategic work or restructuring, such as developing new operating models or in-house studios
• Plug-and-play project support with individuals or teams delivering part of a project or dropping into an existing workflow on a project
• Ongoing work streams with dedicated individuals or teams for everything from onboarding to in-market delivery
• End-to-end teams and solutions working as an extension of your team to absorb a higher volume of work for an extended period

Bridging the gap

As brands search for a model that provides them more control, a key challenge many of them face is a lack of resources that allow them to meet their fullest potential—whether it’s the need for all hands on deck to produce always-on content, or specialized skill sets for quick and one-off projects. The embedded model is what allows brands to bridge the time, skills, and needs gap to deliver results in an always-on world with speed, quality, and value. In its purest sense, the embedded model boils down to true partnership—a relationship based on shared goals, teamwork, and trust. And at the end of the day, relationships are what make the difference.

Localization is a key challenge for any brand targeting several geographic markets, whether they be multinational or domestic. The way you’ll talk to a New Yorker about pizza, after all, might resonate differently with an audience in Italy. This gets at the heart of what good localization really is: it’s not just a matter of translation, but of paying special care to include the smaller details and nuances that appeal to a specific market.

Pulling off this level of transcreation can be tough due to the sheer volume of assets needed per market, the knowledge required about what markets respond to, and complex processes that hamper brands’ abilities to push this content out efficiently. For organizations struggling with any of these challenges, an integrated production partnership can help optimize transcreation workflows and implement local to infuse campaigns with a high level of local relevance around the globe.

An integrated production partnership is a team custom-built for your brand and its specific needs. Rather than brief an agency on a project, an integrated partnership focuses on the long-term and can scale up or down according to your need, whether it be through growth in consistent, daily responsibilities or sudden one-off projects. Working partially in-house, an integrated team provides access to a varied talent base across the globe, making the model a practical solution for brands seeking to provide local relevancy to always-on content.

Streamline Production for Growth

Inefficient transcreation isn’t just a matter of audience reach; it can impede growth as well. For example, one of our integrated partners is a digital brand that’s experienced very rapid growth through the acquisition of local businesses. With every new acquisition and market came a new need for assets, burying their in-house studio with an ever-increasing workload. An integrated partnership enabled the brand to offload lower complexity tasks and speed up the production process to match the rate of growth.

For some brands, a social media presence or their chosen industry might require an ever-quickening pace of asset production. This challenge rises exponentially for those catering to different local markets. An entertainment brand, for example, must react to current events across markets with speed, understanding how a given story’s relevance might differ among those markets. Because integrated partnerships thrive on long-term relationships and provide organizations with teams that are dedicated to their brands, they can streamline the production process by enabling daily deliverables rather than use a project-oriented approach. When brands feel increased pressure to develop always-on content ecosystems targeting different markets and cultures, an integrated partnership with access to a global talent base is ideal for offering the right message at the right time.

Improve Consistency Across Markets with New Creative Frameworks

Offloading tasks is simple enough, though the true potential of an integrated partnership is to optimize workflows across levels of the production process. A common challenge for large, global organizations is that they juggle several vendors per market, which can complicate the production process or threaten quality and consistency.

Through the guidance or talent resources provided by an integrated partnership, brands can provide local markets with autonomy to tailor messaging without having to worry about inconsistent style or messaging. While it might seem as though such a partnership is inviting yet another outside vendor into the process, this model is developed for the long term around a sense of shared responsibility. Custom-built and engrained within your organization’s culture, integrated partnerships have deep knowledge of a brand and can therefore serve as a safeguard.

Let’s consider another partner as an example. Its US team controlled asset production in other markets including Asia, which resulted in messaging that wasn’t necessarily relevant to them. This prompted local markets to work with their own vendors to develop assets with more cultural relevance. While they succeeded in that effort, the new materials lacked consistency. As the adage says, “too many cooks spoil the broth.” In this case, inviting several voices and vendors in the mix resulted in an inconsistent brand experience.

Our solution was to find a way to give room for freedom and autonomy to local markets while still allowing for a centralized work stream. At MediaMonks, we’re well-experienced in producing assets at scale through a unique creative framework that allows for several variations with little rework or added cost. We adapted this process for our partner by producing a series of master templates which would ensure a consistent visual style, while also being easy for local markets to adapt. This approach maintained flexibility while also quickening the time to market. “What sets this process apart is that transcreation is kept at front-of-mind and engrained into the process rather than being treated as an afterthought,” says Louise Martens, Executive Producer at MediaMonks LA.

A Talent Studio That Knows Your Brand—And Your Local Audience

Finally, our integrated partnerships provide brands with access to an always-on, global talent studio that can easily place a brand in any market. When a brand sees an opportunity in a new market, we can tap into a local talent pool with an awareness of what resonates there. “This flexibility in matching organizations to the larger MediaMonks network whenever needed is one of the key capabilities of integrated partnerships,” says Martens, “and is especially helpful for organizations that know no borders.”

Whether your organization is eyeing opportunities in new markets, is dealing with an unmanageable workload or simply needs to ensure a greater level of consistency across markets, an integrated partnership makes for a versatile, scalable model designed to fit those needs. Once in place, your team is equipped to adapt to new opportunities and challenges that can help your organization work faster and more efficiently, resulting in better ways to meet the needs of your audience no matter where they call home.

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