• Three Keys to Leading Strong Teams

    April 06, 2015

    On paper, leading a strong in-house team is easy. All you have to do is: 1) hire the right people, 2) establish processes that enable them to work efficiently and productively, and 3) keep everyone (your team and your clients) happy. Unfortunately, doing all three is difficult.

    What’s more, even …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Get Ready to Huddle!

    March 30, 2015

    • by IHAF Staff

    The IHAF Huddle is right around the corner with this year’s focus on internal/external agency collaboration. Agencies inside and out are invited to attend one (or all) of our six spring sessions in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, NYC, Richmond and San Francisco, where internal/external agency duos will …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Professional Development—Let’s Talk About It

    March 23, 2015

    Not long ago, I joined other members of our agency’s leadership team to celebrate the 30th work anniversary of one of our tenured art directors. We talked over lunch about how her career had evolved—from a call center position straight out of school to the agency’s secretarial staff and ultimately …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Hiring the Right Person(ality)

    March 16, 2015

    I was once interviewed by a Japanese magazine on the topic of managing creative personalities. Apparently the personal, emotional side of assessing unique personality traits, beyond the basics like trust and tangible skills, was a foreign concept in their business culture.

    For me, it’s the first …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Looking to Hire? Know Your Audience.

    March 06, 2015

    Know your audience. Every good marketer understands this. And it’s a principle that directly applies to hiring and retaining talent, as well. Every day, I speak with candidates looking for jobs and considering job offers. And I can attest that if you want to attract the best and brightest at all …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Three Cheers (and Chances) for Professional Development

    March 02, 2015

    • by Emily Foster, IHAF

    Professional development is an important part of increasing the contribution of your in-house team. That’s why IHAF’s online seminar series is focused on programming that can boost your effectiveness by teaching new skills. Over the next few months, IHAF is offering three professional development …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Boeing’s In-House Agency Soars to New Heights

    February 23, 2015

    While outside agencies host a revolving door of clients, we are perfectly happy with one. And it’s a big one. In fact, we have the coolest customer on the planet—The Boeing Company, designer and builder of some of the most important aerospace products in history.

    We are Creative & Information …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Setting Goals & Scoring Big with Team IDEA

    February 16, 2015

    One of the beauties of being an in-house creative agency is that you interact with your clients every day, even after a project is over. Building those relationships outside of a work product gives clients the opportunity to provide informal feedback on a daily basis, whether you’re meeting about …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Does Your In-House Agency Have a Mission?

    February 11, 2015

    Every workday, in-house agency teams are focused on tasks to punch their lists, complete their projects and move the needle. With dwindling resources and burgeoning workloads, it’s easy to get caught in the deadline-driven grind. Skilled management can elevate morale and keep employees motivated by …

    Read Moreright arrow

  • Your Mission? Value!

    February 09, 2015

    • by IHAF Staff

    IHAF is taking vision and mission one step further with this week’s webinar on proving the value of your in-house agency. The dawn of in-house agencies was prompted in large part by a desire for cost containment in the development of marketing communications. In recent years, business impact and …

    Read Moreright arrow