No, it’s not the latest iteration of Mad’s classic “Spy vs Spy” comic drama.

When it comes to advertising creative, it doesn’t always have to come down to an “all or nothing” proposition, does it?  For small and mid-sized businesses especially, the hard reality is that many times the design, content and sometimes finished production of a  piece needs to be done in-house or it won’t get done at all.  Some agencies look the other way, some get all “high and mighty” about it.

Here’s the reality: it’s gonna happen, get over it. 

I lay part of the blame for this conflict on old-line agency thinking (that died off in the early 80′s, although nobody quite realized it then).  Contrary to that particular group-think, the agency/client relationship IS NOT like a marriage.  In fact, it’s not anything like a marriage.

It’s a business relationship – and it’s built on pragmatic, self-interest.

S.A. Habib, writing in the Brand Tracks blog, opined on the dangers of a client taking its creative work inside.  The post made some good points, among them:

[F]or every dollar saved by doing in-house creative, you’re losing five in the erosion of your brand. … I’m not saying that all in-house creative departments are inept. On the contrary, many companies, including some of our own clients, employ talented designers and writers.

The problem is something far more serious — tunnel vision.

Whether it’s a CEO, sales guy or in-house creative person, when people look at the product through the eyes of the company, they’re not thinking about the customer. Over time — and not much time — your brand stops communicating with your customer. Your competitors’ smart ads and creative communications steal your market share, and your marketing director is left trying to explain why sales are down.

But all this good thinking aside, it ignores a financial reality that most small and mid-sized businesses face: sometimes, there just isn’t enough money to use “the experts” on every assignment.

So how should an agency, consultant or hired gun do?  The answer is simple: focus on the big picture.  Make sure the strategy is sound and position yourself to be there if and when the wheels come off.  In S.A.’s defense, he does advocate a collaborative approach between agency and client to make sure the client becomes involved in the process.

From a professional marketer’s perspective, this is about more than just keeping the production work and making the account profitable, though.

At our PR firm, my partner and I concentrate on helping clients define strategy, market position and key messages.  We do a lot of planning and then hand parts of those plans off to other agencies to implement. (Hey, there are only two of us and we don’t want to add a lot of staff.)

But even though it looks like we’re giving away a lot to third parties, we maintain the high ground with the client and help maintain an objectivity that can only be provided by an outsider.

Concentrate on providing the value that can only be provided from outside the four walls of the client and you’ll find plenty of productive (and profitable) middle ground on which to work.

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