8 Tips on how to improve the relationship between your in-house agency and your external agency partner.

1. IN-HOUSE AGENCY
WORKING WITH EXTERNAL
PARTNERS
Tips on how to create a
healthy partnership

2. YOUR SHOES
≠
EASY

3. BENEFITS
F I N D I N G T H E R I G H T S O L U T I O N
I N T E R N A L A G E N C Y
B r a n d K n o w l e d g e
C o s t S a v i n g s
I n t e r n a l C u l t u r e
O w n e r s h i p o f A s s e t s
E X T E R N A L A G E N C Y
F r e s h T h i n k i n g
S p e c i a l i s t s / E x p e r t i s e
F l e x i b i l i t y o f R e s o u r c e s
P r o j e c t - B a s e d - A l a C a r t e

5. 8 TIPS

6. SET THE TONE
ONE
o Clearly define the objective of the
relationship for both sides
o Make working partnership part of
success goals
o Diffuse competitiveness
o Stress respect

7. OWNERSHIP
TWO
o Include internal agency on
decision making process for
external partner
o Have them layout what they are
looking in a partner and criteria
(what hasn’t worked in the past)
o Creates sense of ownership and
vested success

8. DEFINE ROLES
THREE
o What is the objective of each
group? Clearly define and
communicate
o Review purpose annually
o Layout the hand-off process, how
should files be transferred, when
o Avoid finger-pointing situations
at all costs (hard to recover)
o Have leaders of each group meet
to review and agree

9. WORKSHOP
FOUR
o Have the Internal agency host the
external agency for the day
o Ensure the teams are all meeting
face to face early on
o Walk through guidelines and
process
o Present ideas never approved and
explain why – leverage new
agency to sell in
o External agency to host internal
shortly after

10. BRIEFING
FIVE o Include the internal agency when
briefing the external agency
o They will own the concept moving
forward, ensure they buy-in on
the briefing goals and objectives
prior

11. CO-PRESENT
SIX
o Depending on type of agencies,
think about having them co-
present ideas (specifically second
round reviews)
o Have internal agency present how
they will manage across channels
in future, how this stands up to
historical fails
o This, again, will ensure ownership

12. GOVERNANCE
SEVEN o Include internal agency in weekly
status meetings with external
agency
o Have them set up separate status
meetings to discuss hand-offs and
timelines

13. NEVER SETTLE
EIGHT
o Do not set and forget – ever-
changing landscape requires
evolving models
o Ask agencies to present new
structures, pricing models, etc. –
Have them research how other
companies are set up
o Continuously review objectives of
agencies and review performance
against those objectives

14. SET THE TONE
OWNERSHIP
DEFINED ROLES
WORKSHOP
BRIEFING
CO-PRESENT
GOVERNANCE
NEVER SETTLE

15. GOOD LUCK