Traditionally, when brands needed to ramp up their marketing, the choice was simple: Staff-up an in-house team or hire an agency? The assumption was simple: Agencies brought creativity and scale, while in-house teams brought control and consistency. But that story’s woefully outdated.
In-house teams have evolved – they’ve grown up, leveled up and many rival external agencies in both creative output and strategic thinking. Today’s internal teams are staffed with ex-agency talent and bring sharper instincts for the brand than most outsiders ever could.
Agencies, in turn, have adapted, too. The best ones now embed deeply with clients, mimic the pace and rhythm of internal teams, and bring specialized firepower without the red tape. The old lines are blurring fast — and that’s a good thing.
The real question isn’t agency vs in-house. It’s do you have the right blend of talent?
Because at the end of the day, talent — not structure — is the engine of great marketing.
What’s driving the blur between models?
In-house teams are hiring creative leads from top shops. According to the ANA, in-house agencies account for 82% of US corporations, up from 58% in 2013, and their scope is expanding. They’re building out production arms, content studios and even full-service creative departments that can ship fast and iterate faster.
Agencies are embedding talent directly into client teams. They’re skipping the pitch decks and acting more like flexible extensions of in-house departments than outside vendors. The rise of embedded agency models and fractional CMOs reflects a desire for more agile, inside-out partnerships.
Freelancers and fractional talent are powering internal and external teams. Freelancers now represent over 50% of the creative workforce in marketing and advertising, per a 2023 Upwork study. Whether inside or out, on payroll or on contract, brands are pulling from the same pool of creative, strategic and operational talent to solve different needs.
In this new reality, choosing the right model isn’t about loyalty to a structure — it’s about being smart, nimble and honest about what your brand needs in the moment. It’s about team composition, not talent acquisition.
How do you build the right approach?
Here are a few ways to frame decisions — through the lens of talent and timing:
What kind of talent does this challenge require?
Need outside perspective or rapid ideation while keeping the lights on at home? Tap into agency or freelance minds who live and breathe that chaos and won’t slow down your internal team. Need tight brand alignment and cross-functional fluency? Lean into your in-house crew. 76% of companies with in-house teams say brand knowledge is their #1 strength (ANA).
Are you solving a capability gap or a capacity gap?
Capability gaps require specialists. Capacity gaps need full-time support. 61% of marketing leaders say their team lacks at least one key skill to hit business goals (LinkedIn B2B Marketing Benchmark, 2024). Outsourcing often is used to close gaps. If your team knows what to do but lacks the bandwidth, bring in contractors or project-based support. But if the need is expertise — like strategy, brand positioning or creative concepting — outsourcing to those who live in that space all day can make sense.
Will this talent need to live within the brand long-term?
Some functions — like performance marketing or always-on content thrive in-house. 90% of CMOs say having internal ownership of customer experience and content is mission-critical (Gartner). For big swings external agencies enter without internal bias and can more comfortably challenge the status quo. Outside perspective has its own value, 67% of marketing leaders say one of the top reasons they hire agencies is for their objective thinking and outside perspective (ANA, 2023).
Are you investing in talent that scales with you?
Structure is temporary. Talent is scalable. Whether you’re hiring full-time, contracting freelance or partnering with an agency, make sure the people doing the work are the ones who can grow with your ambition. 70% of high-growth companies attribute their success to “agile, scalable marketing talent models” over rigid org structures (McKinsey, 2023). Having people on your team who share this belief allows for flexibility and more readily accommodates change.
Can you blend for the best of both?
The smartest brands don’t pick a side — they build flexible ecosystems. We no longer live in a world where one team can do it all, or where every creative problem requires an agency. 63% of marketers use a hybrid team structure, blending in-house, agency, and freelance talent to stay flexible (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2024). Modern brands have a fluid model—one that recognizes the project at hand, the stage of growth, and the internal muscle a company already has. They craft the brand with using both and then hire the right blend of talent to evolve and protect it.
The bottom line? Skip the agency vs. in-house debate and build around people.
It’s about creating a system where great talent thrives, wherever it sits. The future of marketing is hybrid, fluid and human-powered. The brands that win won’t be the ones who pick the right agency vs. in-house model — they’ll be the ones who can find, attract and assemble the right people.