As brands increasingly seek cost efficiency, transparency in their advertising spend, and more control over creative, many are beginning to take capabilities in-house, spawning new ways of working with agency partners and experts. Meanwhile, marketers at brands are pushing their external agencies to provide differentiated services and increased value. According to a study by BannerFlow and Digiday, 91% of the brands have moved at least a part of their digital marketing in-house. Another study by the Association of National Advertisers says that 38% of brands are going in-house due to cost efficiencies where only 6% is for creative expertise and control. One significant driver to ‘in-house’ is building a strong internal digital capability, and being agile in adopting marketing and/or ad tech. Another is to align marketing activities more closely with sales and driving business outcomes - so that marketing is not operating at an arm’s length. The different stakeholders of this discussion will tackle the pros and cons of brands taking more of their advertising activities in-house.

 Speakers:

Alex Malouf, Corporate Communication Manager, Procter & Gamble
Emile Atallah, Managing Director, FP7
Jean Traboulsi, Head of Marketing and Communications, Bank Audi
Omar Nasredine, Managing Partner and CEO - Middle East, HopScotch
Moderator: Naji Boulos, Founder, Jicébé - Creative and Innovative Consultancy