Another excellent response to what could’ve been a delicate question. Presenting Dr Bhaskar Das in the February 23 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

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Q. Over the course of a year, P&G’s USA-based fabric care brands saved roughly $65 million in adspends by bringing media planning and buying inhouse, it’s CFO said. Should our media agency captains be sweating?

A. The debate on merits of an in-house media buying agency has been going on for quite some time. An inhouse or outsourced model has its own merits and demerits. I don’t want to elaborate on the subject, but the jury is out about any definitive answer on the subject.

I think you’ll see more situations where the Marketing Head would prefer a hybrid of nimble agencies to complement their in-house capabilities (eg social media, influencer marketing, real-time data tracking etc ) with a traditional agency of record (AOR) model. I know one size doesn’t always fit all organisations. Many CMOs like to get their hands dirty and break down the walls between various functions and manage the various aspects of marketing operations in a symbiotic way. There are other CMOs who feel an outside-in perspective from an agency with all their capabilities across industry categories could be a useful learning experience for managing the function. Hence, there is no best way to approach a subject just because one organisation has been following a practice. Every corporation has to find what works best for them, given the operating challenges.