- Some branded in-house shops may be hitting a wall, but Aflac said it's saved $16 million over three years using its 30-person in-house team, Aflac Studios.
- That's because as the team has grown, it has instituted new project management tools to handle the work.
- Aflac also said its in-house agency has also driven value by delivering a consistent brand.
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The trend of brands setting up in-house agencies of their own continues, with more than 72% of corporations now having one of their own, according to a new report from the trade association In-House Agency Forum and Forrester.
But while some of these internal shops have fallen short of reaching their potential, per the report, insurance provider Aflac's internal agency has thrived, according to Shannon Watkins, the brand's SVP of brand and creative services.
That's because over the past two years she's operationalized Aflac Studios, its in-house arm that handles the majority of its B2B marketing.
As the 30-person organization has grown beyond sales and marketing to handle communication and design projects, it has instituted new project management tools, she said.
"I've really emphasized building up the infrastructure to make sure that we have processes and governance in place to manage the scope of the work coming down the pipeline," Watkins told Business Insider.
Aflac's in-house agency has helped it save more than $16 million in three years
Since Aflac Studios was formed in late 2016, it has helped the company save upwards of $16 million in agency fees, she said. But while Aflac Studios was launched to cut costs, it's also driven value by delivering consistent branding, said Watkins.
The studio develops all Aflac's corporate materials including point-of-sale, product and policy information in-house. It's leading the launch of material for Aflac's most recent business acquisition, Argus, for example. Since its inception, it's worked on over 3,000 projects, including more than 1,200 in the past year, from flyers and brochures to creative for product launches and print ads.
Its headcount and areas of expertise have grown too, to span creatives, account leads, videographers, and photographers.
"Our aim is to make sure that we're being good stewards of the brand, but also that the experience that consumers and policy holders are seeing is as great as it can be," she said. "The beauty of the in-house agency is that we see everything that pretty much goes on across the organization. So if something looks out of place, we have the opportunity to raise that concern and help address it."
But Aflac Studios is not replacing its agencies
Aflac still uses outside agencies including Dagger, Spark Foundry and Marina Maher Communications for consumer-focused media planning, experiential marketing, and PR.
Aflac used outside agencies for a 2019 marketing campaign called "Aflac Isn't" to explain to consumers what it wasn't about, for example. The campaign also marked a departure from the company's iconic duck mascot.
"There are a couple of core capabilities that will absolutely remain external," she said. "Media buying is one of them, because the pace of change in the media environment is happening so fast."
