DEBATE: Inside Out: In-House or Agency?

Budgets are shrinking. AI is redistributing creative labour. Brand control has never felt more urgent. The conditions for in-housing have never been more favourable – and yet most of the best creative work of the last decade still came from outside. This debate puts leaders from both sides on the wrong side of the argument they know best, to find out what each model can do that the other genuinely cannot.

• Does brand-building actually require creative independence, or is that a myth agencies invented to protect their margins?
• As AI commoditizes executional creative work, what is the remaining differentiator that justifies external agency fees?
• Is the in-house vs. agency decision really about budget? or is it a proxy for how much creative risk leadership is willing to own?