In house vs agency. Full time employees vs contractors. Internal creative vs external. The devil you know vs... Well, you get the idea. If you are in the business of running an internal creative organization, you have either wrestled with the arguments for and against internal vs external creative. When to. When not to. How to staff for the peak times. How to retain good creative etc...
The following isn't a "10 things to know about" or other type of click bait listing, it is simply observations from someone that has solved these problems in different settings, got various organizations, with varying business needs.
When should you build?
Deciding to build an in house creative organization is a big step. You've come to this decision either because of the rising costs of agency fees, or you are tired of training the latest creative director to understand your business. In house makes sense if you have the following:
Are you trying to tell time, or build a clock?
Clock making takes extraordinary talent. It's a specialized skill. If you are trying to build a clock (have a long term strategy), having creative close at hand and invested in the long term outcome of your company's strategy is your best bet. Apple and Google both have internal design at the core of their company.
If you are simply trying to tell time, Design as a means to an end, an agency relationship may be your best choice. While design can become the competitive advantage you need, it isn't always strategically integrated into your core.
High quantity, fast turn production work.
This would be any work that is template driven, and the turn times are so fast (days, not weeks) that external communication with an agency wouldn't be fast enough. In the right environment, this could be outsourced, but I have found the work flows much more efficiently in house.
Fixed costs verses discretionary
Sometimes budgetary and financial strategy takes precedent. Do you have the budgetary flexibility to have fixed assets on the books, or do you need to keep headcount reduced and have more discretionary discretion?