The annual report identifies shifts occurring in in-house agencies as businesses return to a new normal post pandemic.

Cella by Randstad, a leading creative, marketing and digital staffing agency, today released its 2023 Creative & Marketing In-House Industry Report revealing that in-house agencies have now reached a point where they need to meet talent demands by offering more diverse services such as growth marketing, video operations, strategy and more. The 13th edition of the company’s annual report noted that between 2022 and 2023, there has been a shift in thinking between CEOs and CMOs which has led to more integration of marketing and creative departments. Now 62% of creative teams are reporting to marketing leaders – a 20% jump from last year.

“All of us at Cella are dedicated to helping companies and creative job seekers find the solutions they need,” said Rob Ganjon, president of Cella. “This report is crucial to the success of our efforts by giving us the necessary insights and tools to best suit our clients.”

Cella surveyed approximately 400 respondents that consisted of Fortune 1000 leaders across more than 25 industries such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, financial services and retail manufacturing. Businesses are not strangers to consolidating creative work internally, but many have struggled with how to properly and effectively build out in-house agencies to meet business goals. Research suggests that there is a disconnect between strategy, goals and execution when it comes to creative teams, and there tends to be a lack of autonomy needed for businesses to fully benefit from their skills and institutional knowledge.

“All of us at Cella are dedicated to helping companies and creative job seekers find the solutions they need,” said Rob Ganjon, president of Cella. “This report is crucial to the success of our efforts by giving us the necessary insights and tools to best suit our clients.”

Creative and marketing teams are moving toward more centrally-funded shared cost centers, hinting at a more collaborative approach. Respondents indicated a more than 10% decrease in charge-back and partial chargeback, moving toward what seems like an all-for-one-and-one-for-all mindset. This means businesses are using funds from a central budget versus breaking out into multiple ones. Instead of silos, shared funding supports the collaborative approach between creative and marketing that is key to delivering omnichannel results.

Additionally, this trend may also be seen as a response to the current economic environment and finding ways to be more financially responsible. This appears to go hand in hand with the increase in organizations providing their services at service-specific hourly rates rather than a blended rate.
As teams’ and their funding models become more centralized, prioritization of marketing operations becomes more important.

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The talent strategy is seeing a major shift from full-time employees to contingent workers as businesses take the current economic climate into consideration when planning hiring needs. The survey showed that 2 out of 3 respondents stated that they either always or at least occasionally use flexible staffing options such as freelancers and temporary/contract workers throughout the year. With this in mind, teams who use the flexible staffing approach are looking for individuals who bring a broad range of skills rather than specialization.

Some of the additional findings from the report include:

65% of respondents plan to continue to invest in creative technology
Video production, video shooting and editing, motion graphics, digital design, and creative strategy are the services that are expected to grow within marketing departments in the next year
65% of teams say that deadline is the primary driver of prioritization of their projects
70% of IHAs and marketing departments are offering formal training and development opportunities – and more than 80% are spending the same or more than last year on them
40% of respondents say they are not adequately staffed to meet clients needs

This annual survey provides key insights about the creative industry and reveals that right now businesses are looking to more closely align their creative and marketing departments – a welcome change as the industry begins to live its new normal.

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