In-House Excellence Awards: Grand Jury Insights with Warren Marenco Chase

In the run up to the grand jury judging for the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA’s) In House Excellence Awards, the organisation is partnering with Little Black Book on a series of features that dig a little deeper into how the jurors judge the work. 

The 2024 ANA In-House Excellence Award winners will be announced and celebrated at the In-House Excellence Awards Gala on May 15th during the 2024 ANA In-House Agency Conference, May 14-16th, at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. For programme details visit here. 

Up today is Warren Marenco Chase, VP, managing director, GRM US marketing at Liberty Mutual Insurance.

LBB> Every entrant wants to know what it will take to win – what are the elements you will be looking for in this year’s entries to garner a top score? 

Warren> I will be looking for strategy rooted in a powerful insight, originality in idea conception, beautiful execution and business impacting results.

LBB> How do you feel the role of the in-house agency will continue to evolve over the next 12 months?  What do you predict in-house agencies will look like in 3-5 years?

Warren> I see in-house agencies picking up more and more of the key strategic work from brands. Brands are moving away from the AOR model and moving towards a more nimble, flexible model where they work with multiple partners across skillsets and specialties on a project basis and anchoring key strategic and creative decisions around brand fundamentals within their in-house operations.

I also see in-house agencies adopting an external offering model like ours (Copper Giants) as a great way of attracting and keeping strong creative talent.

I strongly believe in-house agencies will rise to the calibre of creative impact and quality as external agencies. I see Cannes Lions creating a new category recognising In-House Agency of the Year within the next 3-5 years. That will be the ultimate recognition of our talent and impact.

LBB> Given the unique challenges and opportunities in-house agencies face, how do you weigh originality and innovation against strategic alignment and brand consistency?

Warren> They both can go perfectly together in sync. I’ve always believed that creativity is the most powerful effectiveness tool. You shouldn’t have to compromise.

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The 2024 ANA In-House Excellence Award winners will be announced and celebrated at the In-House Excellence Awards Gala on May 15th during the 2024 ANA In-House Agency Conference, May 14-16th, at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. For programme details visit here.