IHAC chair: ‘If you push against it, and don’t want to work with internal agencies, you’ll lose’

It may have sounded like an ominous warning, and perhaps the title of a Terminator film: ‘The Rise of the Hybrid: How In-House Agencies Can Partner With Externals to Get the Best of Both Worlds’, but Chris Maxwell, founder & CEO of Lution & executive chairman of the In-House Agency Council stressed it was all about everyone in the industry working together rather than against one another.

Maxwell said: “As an industry – whether you’re on the client side, or you’re on the agency side – you should know this is coming. The businesses that figure out how to partner well with in-house agencies with their clients will be the ones who’ll win. And if you’re an external agency and you’re pushing against this trend, it’s not going to be good for you, I can tell you that.”

He added: “Figure out how to partner with internal agencies and internal media teams, and internal creative teams, and give them what you’re really good at: creative diversity, great strategic thinking. Give them that, and they will love you for it. If you push against it, and say you don’t want to work with internal agencies, you’ll lose.”