Bisleri International’s vice-chairperson Jayanti Khan Chauhan says her company has decided to create all Indian Premier League (IPL) advertising campaigns and digital content with its in-house creative team. She says the team undestands the brand ethos “better than an outsider”.
Bisleri’s is not an isolated case. A growing number of large brands are creating ad campaigns with their internal teams instead of external ad agencies. Globally, more than 60% of advertisers have built some form of in-house creative capabilities, according to a 2025 report by the In-House Agency Forum. In India, industry estimates indicate at least 50-60% of the large brands currently use in-house capabilities for social media, creative content and digital advertising.
At its core, the rise of in-house advertising outfits is a response to a growing demand that the traditional agency model in increasingly unable to fulfill — speed. As social platforms, formats, and always-on marketing cycles thronged the content landscape, traditional agencies were strained to deliver more content, at a faster pace, and for less money. “Advertising is no longer driven solely by large, episodic campaigns. Instead, brands today operate in an ‘always-on’ ecosystem, where continuous engagement across digital platforms is critical,” says Pramod Pawar, quantitative research vice-president, Hansa Research Group.
For many brands, the workaround is to bring certain capabilities in-house — even if it means learning the process from scratch. What you get in return is greater creative control plus faster turnaround.
Therein lies the rub. As last fortnight’s kerfuffle around Godrej’s new “corporate group marker” showed, speed doesn’t necessarily mean efficiency. Nor does cost control denote creative prowess.
So how should brands navigate the inhousing pathway? More importantly, since many brands look at in-housing as not just a workaround but as a competitive advantage, is it a matter of time before ad agencies become redundant? In any case, the lack of industry standards leaves a lot room for interpretation, with analysts expressing mixed feelings about a system where recruits are expected to add value without much scope for peer recognition or reward.
Go hybrid
Vivek Srivatsa, chief commercial officer, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, says while today’s dynamic market necessitates having in-house capabilities, these cannot be in isolation. “Building strong in-house creative, advertising and content capabilities has allowed us to bring greater speed, sharper brand alignment, and a certain purity to our storytelling. We saw this come to life effectively with the Sierra launch,” he says. But the real advantage lies in a hybrid model, where in-house teams drive agility and brand intimacy and agency partners bring scale, objectivity and specialised expertise to the table, he adds.
Most experts bat for an integrated approach, where internal units handle day-to-day content needs, often serving as a bridge between internal marketing and external creative teams to accelerate turnaround. In any case, without a larger commitment to nurture creative talent — either internally or in partnership with the ecosystem that does — the new model will fail to do the job it was designed to do in the first place.
Put together, this implies the ad agency partner still remains relevant, but its role has now evolved. “While in-house teams have a deep understanding of the brand, its tone and business context, the challenge lies in maintaining creative freshness over time. Without external stimulus, there is a risk of content becoming repetitive or inward-looking,” says Ravanan N, CEO, Oneindia. He says the agency-brand relationship is becoming more specialised, with external partners playing a key role in strategic thinking, and platform and format innovations, while internal teams bring continuity.
Chetan Asher, founder & CEO, Tonic Worldwide, concurs, asserting that agencies offer great range and expertise, considering they work on brands across categories from auto and fintech to FMCG. That kind of learning or range cannot be replicated in internal teams. “The talent in an agency is also exposed to varied cultural trends and that cross pollination is the real advantage that a good agency brings to the table. An in-house team, however talented, lives inside one category, or one brand. They get sharper at execution but narrower in worldview, serving the marketer rather than the consumer,” he points out.
The future of the external agency, therefore, will evolve from pure execution partners to strategic growth architects, says Vikas Nowal, CEO, Interspace Communications. Mature brands across the globe are relying on a more collaborative structure, where internal teams manage everyday turnaround work, while agencies provide media strategy, market expansion planning and integrated communications. “For agencies, this requires adaptation. The future agency model is less about volume production and more about intellectual capital, strategic consulting and measurable business outcomes,” sums up Nowal.