PHOENIX — In the ashes of the transparency outcry, more and more brands have decided to undertake marketing under their own steam.

In fact, the number of US brands which have launched in-house agencies has reached 78% – up from 58% in 2013, according to the ANA’s In-House Agency Report.

On the ground, however, chatter suggests that implementation isn’t s easy as going all-in on in-house.

And that is a view echoed by one boss whose company was just acquired by the former CEO of the world’s biggest ad agency holding group.

“Many people have talked about the notion of ‘control’ and ‘taking back control’,”says Pete Kim, MightyHive CEO, in this video interview with Beet.TV.  “Control is not a binary state. You’re not ‘in’ control or ‘not in’ control.

“There’s always going to be a range of options in between those. Whether it’s fully in-housing or fully outsourced, there’s an infinite number of options in between on that spectrum.”

Last year, S4 Capital Group, a new investment-driven operating company launched by former WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, acquired creative house MediaMonks for $350m to offer content.

In December, it merged it with MightyHive, a company with both programmatic and creative services, in a $150m deal.

Speaking earlier with Beet.TV, Sorrell acknowledges the pressure agencies like his former employer are under. Now Kim communicates his vision.

“Our job is is to help somebody and help our clients to figure out where on that spectrum they should land, and then actually help them get there … whether that is 100% in-housing or an embedded solution or in-housing of one function such as media buying or creative, but leaving other parts outsourced,” he says.

Some brands have already taken to in-house operations naturally, others need more help, he says.

“A lot of the direct-to-consumer companies probably don’t need our help quite as much,” Kim adds. “I think that from their perspective, they’ve been in-house from the beginning because they’d embraced a culture of speed and innovation and growth, that mindset right from the outset.

“We’re trying to … help other companies to transform in order to keep up. They, too, can go direct to the consumer and they, too, can adopt some of the best practices that are coming up for it.”

This segment is part of Beet.TV’s coverage of the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting 2019, Phoenix.   This series is sponsored by Telaria.  Please find additional videos from the series on this page