David Patton: in-housing creativity won’t make brands more creative
Many brands assume that building an internal studio, hiring talented creatives and investing in the latest AI tools will naturally lead to better work. To a certain extent that logic holds because control increases, speed improves and costs can be managed more tightly. However, what it does not guarantee is the delivery of better ideas, and that is where the gap between producing more work and producing better work becomes impossible to ignore.
It is important to be clear from the outset that in-housing does not make an organisation more creative. It simply exposes how creative that organisation already is, often revealing strengths or weaknesses that were previously hidden behind agency relationships.
Creativity is not a function of proximity or ownership, it is a product of culture and the leadership systems that surround the work. Without that broader ecosystem, in-house studios often become highly efficient production engines rather than sources of breakthrough thinking, optimising what already exists instead of challenging it in a way that pushes the work forward.
Many brands fall short because they assume structure creates excellence, when in reality excellence is driven by an environment that values originality and is prepared to take risks. Talent alone is not enough, because even the best people will default to safety if the system around them rewards predictability.
The consequence is that while output increases, creativity does not. Brands find themselves producing a growing volume of content that looks competent but rarely stands out, creating a false sense of progress where activity is high but distinctiveness remains disappointingly low.
External creative agencies must therefore continue to play a critical role, particularly when they are empowered to do more than simply execute. At their best they bring an outside perspective that challenges internal thinking, raises the creative bar and pushes brands further than they would go on their own.
Agencies’ greatest (and often unrecognised) value lies not just in execution, but in their ability to introduce tension, ambition and a different perspective.
The relationship works when this is understood properly, because in-house teams provide speed, consistency and deep brand knowledge, while external agencies provide stretch, provocation and creative ambition. Remove either side and the system becomes unbalanced, which typically results in either inefficiency or creative mediocrity.
Strong brands shouldn’t ask whether creativity should sit inside or outside the business. They should ask whether they have built a system capable of producing original and commercially powerful work. In-house studios may make brands faster and more efficient, but they cannot make them more creative unless the organisation itself is prepared to value and protect creative excellence.
David Patton has held senior positions at Jellyfish Pictures, The Mill, Y&R, Grey (both WPP) and Sony Europe. He is the new CEO of D&AD.
