The IHAC Connect Summit: A Focus on Efficiency

The IHAC (In-House Agency Council) Connect Summit serves as a networking event for in-house creatives to meet, talk and learn from each other. Housed at The Timber Yard in Melbourne, the summit felt much more like a huge team meeting rather than a conference. 

The summit was hosted by Chris Maxwell, founder of Lution, an organisation designed to enhance in-house agencies on their marketing journey. Proceedings began with Claire Nance from Activision beaming in from New York. 

Claire spoke on the hidden opportunities for brands and advertisers within the gaming realms. With 3.4 billion global gamers, she made a point of noting that gaming isn’t ‘niche’ like some people might expect. 

She explored the notion that no one likes to be disrupted when enjoying their gaming experience, and yet that shouldn’t put brands off from trying to advertise in games. “It has to be authentic and immersive,” she said. 

Session two saw a panel discussion from Sarah Hetherington from Commbank, Marcel Hashimoto from Youi and Cat van der Werff from Canva talking about how best to evolve your in-house agency. 

Sarah shared Commbank’s experience of organically growing their in-house agency, while Cat discussed Canva’s in-house first approach to marketing and Marcel commented on Youi’s hybrid model. The discussion touched on almost all aspects of what it is like to run an in-house agency, with the takeaway being the importance of having a clear vision for the brand. Each individual spoke on their in-house experience of working with efficiency and saving cost when they can. 

Session three touched on everyone’s favourite subject, AI with Tim O’Neill and Nick Thomas from Lution. They both acknowledged the hot topic and explored how brands can use AI to be more efficient within their working practices. They urged the audience not to wait, but to get practice now when it comes to AI as they believe it will not only save time but money also. 

Following the AI panel came Guy Sawrey-Cookson from Foxtel’s in-house agency, Balboa. Guy spoke on having a hybrid agency model with Lution’s Nick Thomas. Guy touched on the need to have clear expectations and trust when it comes to the outsourcing process. He spoke in instances where Balboa has out-sourced creativity, for example, when VFX are needed, this is something that Balboa doesn’t yet have the capability to archive, therefore it is given to an external company. 

Lea Walker from Mrs Walker, Ryan Kelly from Creative Natives, Emma Grant from MYOB and Georgie Bugelly from Asahi all spoke on a panel about recruiting and retaining top talent. With many of the talking points being focused on how in-house agencies are more time and cost efficient than outsourcing creativity, this panel saw a tension rise between whether or not in-house agencies can achieve the same level of creativity as a creative agency can. 

Lea Walker encouraged the audience not to promote the speed and cost effectiveness of the in-house system if they are looking to recruit ‘world class talent’, as this is something that may turn those talents away. 

The last panel of the day was done by Splash, Treasury Wine’s in-house agency. Together, Phil Vanbruchem and Tom Opie explored the creative process of Splash and showcased creative work that rivals that of a creative agency. 

The day ended with a statement from Splash, ‘from little things, big things grow. It takes time,” and the encouragement to keep pushing the creative envelope within an in-house agency.