Isobar rolls out global in-housing service

Dentsu Aegis Network agency Isobar has launched an in-housing solution that will strive to help brands "fast-track" their marketing service capabilities internally.

The service, called Accelerate, will offer clients a partnership that can quickly respond to business challenges and deliver custom solutions. 

Accelerate will provide brands with a specialist Isobar team based at the client's office. Isobar said it has already delivered in-house projects for global clients including the International Air Transport Association (based in Switzerland) and gas and oil company OK (based in Denmark). 

There are four specific services that Accelerate will offer:

• "Turnkey solutions" to incubate and bootstrap in-house teams;
• Talent that can extend clients' existing teams;
• Consulting services on the processes, training and insights needed for clients to effectively in-house teams;
• "Accelerators and products" to enable clients to carry out their digital transformation journey more quickly in-house.

In-house teams will be able to draw on Isobar's global network of 6,500 people across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, the agency added.

Isobar global chief client officer Sue McCusker warned that industry "hysteria over in-housing has reached fever pitch", but argued that the trend is enabling agencies and clients to partner better than ever before.

"In-housing has become a strategic imperative for clients who need to move away from traditional marketing department models to ones leveraging digital at their core," McCusker said. "As the requirements of the chief marketing officer change, in-housing can balance talent continuity and flexibility to keep up with their needs."

McCusker cited a 2018 report by Forrester and in-house agency Forum that found 64% of chief marketing officers have in-house agencies, up from 42% a decade ago. Meanwhile, Dentsu Aegis' 2019 CMO Survey revealed that just over half (52%) of marketers plan to bring more capabiliites in-house in the next three years.