What it takes to run a successful in-house creative team

Companies and brands have a variety of motivations about why they want or need an internal creative team.?

Internal creative teams used to be the folks sitting next to the mailroom in the basement, creating business cards for hundreds if not thousands of employees, dabbling in a bit of CMS for the company website, or conjuring up a flyer for the next?Christmas?party. I might be exaggerating a little bit. But the fact is, it was the "hot shot”?agencies that were called in to do the amazing brand campaign work, not the basement team.?

Today, internal teams are often tasked with creating cutting-edge marketing and communications materials, content, events, UX/UI design, and even VR and AI-driven experiences to help build strong, long-term brand recognition that goes far beyond the refinement or update of a company logo or corporate colours.

My benchmark is always to build an internal team that can take on any hot agency or product design team worldwide – and win against them in a pitch, too.

Cheaper vs. right

On the other hand, the notion that internal creative teams and content production are cheaper and more cost effective – compared to external agencies – is tremendously misleading and at times the wrong approach, too.?

Here's why:

You can't stifle creativity, innovation and progressive ways to reach new audiences and get into more consumers' heads. After all,?“hunting" down more consumers,?excelling at better performance values and creating as much content as humanly possible are omnipresent in any organization (I'm not judging).?

For this, you need modern tools as well as the time and space for innovation — e.g., answering what creativity and design can do for us as a brand and a company. And you need talented people. All of this adds up and drives budgetary needs.?

Talented people vs. the right people

You need people who can define a forward-thinking creative strategy,?who feel comfortable welcoming difficult questions?in order to accelerate the process of innovation, who eagerly utilize the tools and space they’re given, and?– most importantly – you need people who know what it takes to build and revitalize a brand.?

This is a diverse group of people who:

• Have experience pushing quality,?changing ingrained behaviors, and fixing crusty,?antiquated ways of "doing things".
• Know that it often means taking two steps forward and one step backward to achieve results.
• Never fail in explaining to?naysayers or people who aren’t creative (because it's not their job)?why it's necessary to do this project, task or campaign.
• Need to be creative salespeople adept with all the tricks in the "how to sell" toolbox.
• Happily roll up their sleeves and are never above getting their hands dirty.
• Embrace new technologies and figure out how to use them for the benefit of the team, company, project and task.
• Often do things they've not been hired to do (and do it with swagger) or work on something difficult without giving up until it's delivered.

Not everyone is made for this.?

Granted. You could also argue that these are the types of people you'd want to have on any creative team, no matter what. True, but the reality is that this is not every creative or marketeer's cup of tea.

Cut from a different kind of cloth

The carefully selected people I've had the pleasure of working with throughout my career are cut from a different kind of cloth.?They come from all corners of the world, from different backgrounds, speak many different languages, and – most importantly – they know a lot about how creativity and design are perceived in other cultures. Because in our modern, 24/7 accessible world, cut-through content and hyper engaging campaigns know no boundaries.

These are the modern brand builders, the digital native change managers who act and behave more like an agile start-up (“Don't know how to do this, but we'll deliver an amazing project no matter what it takes.”) —?rather than a creative establishment with people who have tasks, do them, and then go home.

The key is, these people know and understand that being part of an internal team is never boring or a one-way street. The common perception of having to do the same thing over and over again, and that working for a single brand can be a bit mind-numbing, simply doesn’t reflect the truth.?

I've worked years at a time for single brands, and I honestly can say I've never spent a boring day at work:

• There's always something to improve.
• Doing things differently starts with you.
• Being a "creative detective" means you will suss out what needs to be done when it needs to be done.?
• You can take advantage of less hectic times to think about the next "big thing" that will push the brand further as well as innovate and progress your own abilities and creative thinking.
• You have the chance to truly mentor others.
• You are empowered to look for more likeminded, new people who could join your team.

A studio is not a family

Mind you, striving to move together in one direction (muting the noise of those who think "the old ways" are better) and running a marathon with the feeling that you all belong to a special group of likeminded people creates a strong bond among the team (something you need to achieve very quickly). But this is not a family. I never had a performance review with my nan (although my grandmother always told me like it was, instantly).

Run an in-house team like a sports team

My internal creative teams?need to run more like a sports team. Results oriented, focused on performance metrics that "move the needle" and being centered around achieving specific KPIs are just as important as they are for any other team or department within the rest of the organization.

Hence, why?I love a good sports team documentary. They're so revealing. I learn a lot from the dynamics, what it takes to manage a group of superstars, and the fact that you can't assemble the best talent and hope it'll all turn out well and run smoothly. It doesn't work like that.

What's the secret sauce, then?

Well, let's have a chat and get some of that magic going!

Visit: https://gmkruegel.info/