Blended working is the future

Blended working is the future

In last week’s newsletter, I talked about doing more with less and introduced the idea of blending in-house and agency teams to make marketing more effective. This week, I’m going to explore blending teams in a little more detail, and I’ll argue why I think it’s the model of the future.

Before I do that I’d like to thank two people who have helped nudge my thinking on this subject. I started this newsletter to encourage interaction, so I was delighted to receive positive criticism.

Marianne Withers persuaded me that ‘hybrid’ is an ugly word. I agree. It describes working practise in a way that implies it has to be a mix of two (or more things); that it’s an agreed pattern. ‘Flexible’ is a better word and a better approach because it doesn’t imply that you have to work in one place or other, or agree a fixed pattern. You can be flexible and do what’s most effective. Similarly, the phrase ‘hybrid team’ carries implications, so ‘blended’ or ‘flexible’ would be better. I’m choosing ‘blended’ for today’s piece.

Annabel Dunstan (she/her) MPRCA posted a LinkedIn article developing so of the thoughts I’d outlined in the same blog titled ‘Is Hybrid Working Working?’. “… it is essential to remember that work is not merely about output.”, she wrote. “The pandemic taught us the value of work-life balance and employee satisfaction.” I concur. So, when reading today’s piece, please note that, while I may not refer specifically to employee happiness all the time, it’s always in the top one of my top five considerations.

The Future is History

Blending agency and in-house marketing teams isn’t new. I’d better get that out of the way right up front. I myself worked in a blended client team as a part-time implant from my agency in the late 1990s. I’ve seen first-hand exactly how effective blended can be. My client and I achieved huge amounts in a short space of time. I’ll talk more about how that operated later.

Then of course, there’s Oliver. An agency that has built a whole (big) business around building in-house and blended teams.

So, my conjecture here isn’t that anything new is happening, it’s that it’s the future. So why do I even need to make that point if it’s already happening? The obvious answer is that it’s not happening enough.

Who does what?

Over the last few years marketing has become a lot more complicated. There are more channels, more technology, more audiences and more issues for us all to think about if we are going to create value properly for our businesses. The practice of marketing is simply too broad, now, to sit in the marketing department alone. Price, Product and Place are often looked after by other functions, but even the promotional piece – which still sits in marketing is hugely complicated now. So who does what? What’s the best approach? A flexible and blended in-house / agency model obvs.

Here's the theory

Under a new flexible working model – the real flexible working model – the in-house marketer assumes accountability for value creation and leadership. With broad-based generalist knowledge about the method, but specialist knowledge in how to align and enlist the client organisation’s resources to optimal effect, the in-house marketing team becomes the bridge between today’s reality and tomorrow’s possibility.

Supporting the client marketing team, the agency embeds appropriately skilled and specialist supporting executives to deliver the promise inside the client. And it operates lower-cost production, project management and administrative support off-site. In doing so, the agency accepts responsibility for value creation and is remunerated accordingly.

The client marketing team manages complexity by keeping their focus simple; resolutely on the business’s objectives. The team includes sales, marketing, customer success, product marketing and more. They all market the company. They all own accountability for creating value. One team.

Agencies with requisite deep sector and technical experience work through complexity by efficient deployment of resources. Both teams are aligned by shared risk and reward. Theirs is a true partnership to deliver future wins.

The reality

Taking Marianne Withers’ advice, a model should never be unchanging, flexible is best. But, what works for you will depend on how your marketing organisation is set up, what your business objectives are, and how much budget you have to involve external specialists.

A little earlier in this article, I mentioned that I had been implanted in a client team in the late 90s. My client, who is now a friend, led marketing communications for a global data provider to the pharmaceutical. She had a department of one, a huge workload and ambitious plans to create real distinctiveness in the company’s external communication. My engagement started with a couple of hours a week in her offices, where my role was to use our specialist resources to amplify and accelerate her work.

Within a month, I was there two days a week and within two months was also actively involved with sales, strategy, internal communications and many other departments. Our specialists, later fronted by account managers who also operated as part of the blended team ended up bridging gaps between siloed departments and the whole work cycle accelerated.

The trust between us all was strong. We achieved some extraordinary things together.

We were all aligned in creating value for the business and because we were so deeply embedded, but also outside eyes, we were able to see things our clients often couldn’t.

A way forward?

My advice to those wanting to experiment with a blended model is to start small and test. I think the first agency implant needs to be account director level and she or he will need a good account manager back at base to support them. Being embedded won’t suit all personality types, but if you choice loves pitching and presenting, they’ll do just fine.

We’re all facing pressure because of the uncertainty we’re seeing in the market. So, while we’re all tasked with delivering more for less and becoming more objective-oriented (next week’s newsletter), blended seems an obvious way to go. Now seems a good time to test.

Why not get in touch?

What’s your experience of blending agency and in-house teams?

I’d love to hear from you.