Expanding Brand Bandwidth

By Kelly Pensell
Guest Columnist

Many businesses and corporations have a team of in-house designers that are an integral component of their marketing team. Their designers are able to create great work, but they often get stretched thin with daily projects and tactical emergencies. Ongoing work with a compatible, outside agency provides extra bandwidth for longer term and larger scale projects, as well as valuable outside perspective on new products and campaigns.

Done the wrong way, relationships between agencies and in-house design teams can be poisoned by fights over control, hurt feelings and resentment. But with a little sensitivity and forethought, teams can work together successfully to keep company messaging fresh and completion rates high for both daily and long-term initiatives.

When to bring in an agency

Being focused on one company and one industry all the time, even the most creative in-house team sometimes loses perspective. If your brand starts to feel a little stale, an agency can deliver new ideas for pushing the envelope within existing brand standards. If you’re looking to refresh or completely reinvent your brand identity, the neutral outside perspective of an agency is even more beneficial.

Agencies are a great option for product launches and other large stand-alone projects that require multiple components across several disciplines. In-house designers may not have the time or mind-space to devote to such projects – or they may simply lack the necessary skill sets.

Agencies can also be called on to develop tools that streamline work for busy in-house designers – such as collateral templates.

How to get great work out of your agency

The key to building a strong ongoing relationship is to get everyone in the room up front and encourage a dialogue, while also making sure that there’s a designated decision maker going forward. This delicate balance ensures that all creative perspectives are heard, but avoids dilution of work to the lowest common denominator.

Work under development both in-house and out of house should be shown and shared to keep thinking current and inspire results. This also encourages ongoing dialogue. The agency needs to stay up to speed on current events in the company – what’s working and what’s not – and the in-house team needs to see how agency projects are progressing. Each side should push the other to excel.

When it comes time to present work, the agency should meet directly with the internal client. Face-to-face communication helps the agency understand internal client personalities and possible political motivations. In addition, outside consultants often have more impact and a better chance of getting buy-off on innovative ideas.

It’s all about respect

No matter how much creative firepower an agency brings in, respecting the knowledge of the in-house team is critical. They are the experts on the service or product. They are also the ones that can help an outside agency work through the internal system and rally new ideas. They use the brand tools every day, so they provide the ultimate feedback on what’s working and what can be improved.


Kelly Pensell is the founder of Graphiti, a design studio located in the Fremont neighborhood. She can be contacted at kelly@graphiti.com or 206-770-5726.

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