The next time in-house creative professionals are asked to justify their value, it may be useful to whip out the following equation to start the conversation:
(Productivity ÷ Accessibility) + Accuracy + Brand Compliance = Value
In other words, high productivity is what every manager of in-house creative teams strives to achieve on a daily basis. Unlike external agencies that may or may not be accessible depending on the competing priorities serving multiple clients on a 24/7 basis, in-house creative teams can develop workflow processes that efficiently and effectively triage and streamline their operations to meet the needs of internal clients. In-house creative teams can apply their state-of-the-art skills and expertise to execute deliverables with attention to accuracy and brand compliance. Metrics, more than bravado and fancy rhetoric, can make an objective case to document value. Most important, building strong relationships with people throughout the organization is the key to achieving value recognition in the corporate setting.
That’s the premise that brought together a total of 56 participants to attend the InSource Roundtable Event on the topic of The Value Equation: Creating, Promoting and Earning Value Recognition for In-House Creative Organizations, which was held in Boston, Chicago, and New York City on June 23, 2011.
These candid discussions took place in three different locations, and the challenges and concerns expressed by the participants were universal.
Some discussion topics from the three roundtables included:
- Ways to Describe the Role of In-House Creative Teams.
- Articulating the benefits of in-house creative teams.
- Best-case scenarios for working with outside agencies.
- Considerations for chargeback systems.
- Questions to Ask Ourselves about proving our value, changing perceptions of our worth, effective management of our teams, how to motivate our teams, and positioning our department.
- How to Promote/Market In-House Creative Teams
In New York and Chicago attendees were invited to continue the discussion afterwards off-site and network with other attendees, while in Boston attendees enjoyed a tour of Continuum.
Registered attendees also received contact information for everyone who registered for networking, and a PowerPoint deck of the presentations led by our moderators.
Special thanks to Getty Images, the Continuum, and the staff of the HOW Conference and Wunderland for their valuable assistance, as well as Brilliant Graphics andNeenah Paper for their generous donation in printing materials distributed at this InSource event!
