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To outsource or not to outsource, that is the question? Whether to become a one-stop shop or ape the successful existing production structure of adland? On the one hand we have moves by creative agencies like AKQA to launch in-house film divisions. On the other is a developing train of thought that believes specialist digital production houses will help agencies unlock creativity and make that all-important move to the top table.

Our feature (In-house video divisons) finds opinions divided...

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... among brands as to the advantage this brings to their campaigns. Some like Honda believe integration boosts creativity, while others like British Red Cross are happy to rely on their digital agency's ability to find the best specialists to fit the job.

But if you're relying on specialists for your video, why not go a step further and outsource more production functionality? In our creative roundtable in next week's special issue on digital creativity, Poke founder Ian Tait believes what digital advertising needs is a "Soho for digital production". The technical construction work could be outsourced to specialists. This is already starting to happen with the move of above-the-line agencies into digital. BBH, for example, outsourced the technical production of its recent Lynx digital work to Preloaded.

But the fly in the ointment here is likely to be that common digital bugbear: margins. With agencies already operating on low margins, how much can the agency afford to slice off further by outsourcing?

I would argue that technical expertise is too vital to a digital agency to be separated from its core operations. Some of the great campaigns over the last few years have come from pushing technical boundaries, such as Profero's award-winning 'White rabbit', a vast integration job across multiple sites with similarities to Poke's new campaign for Orange. Work like this often requires a casting approach to find the best skills throughout the agency. The creation of a parallel digital production sector, by cutting the size of your potential cast, could be a dangerous move.


Justin Pearse, editor, NMA justin.pearse@centaur.co.uk