It’s time for in-house agencies to do some serious introspection. 

You know your work’s moving the needle. You’re building brand equity and contributing strategically. But do your stakeholders see that?

No? Then that’s a critical perception gap you can’t afford. Not when marketing budgets are under pressure and ROI is under the microscope. The truth is, creative excellence alone can’t secure relevance, resources or influence. So, what can? 

Insights from the 2025 Cella Intelligence Report point to a clear imperative: To be seen as strategic growth partners — not order-takers — in-house agencies must not only drive business impact; they must prove it.

So, where do you start?

1. Align with Enterprise Goals, and Make It Obvious

You may already be aligned in spirit. But if your operational model is built around deliverables, not business outcomes, that alignment isn’t translating.

Becoming more strategic means understanding what your company’s core business objectives are and laddering your team’s mission, service offerings and operations to those goals.

That starts with asking:

  • What are your company’s top business objectives?
  • Who are your stakeholders, and what do they need?
  • How does your team’s work directly support those priorities?

This alignment should be visible in everything you do: your briefs, your KPIs and everything in between.

2. Understand and Act on Stakeholder Perception

Data from the 2025 Cella Intelligence Report shows that in-house teams are becoming more strategic: 79% of creative teams offer creative strategy as a service. 87% think their internal clients view brand knowledge as central to their value proposition. But here’s the thing: What you think is valuable may not be what your clients see as valuable.

Shockingly few (only a scant 35%) survey internal client satisfaction annually. And that leaves a massive blind spot. 

So, get the data. Start building feedback loops:

  • Survey your stakeholders.
  • Identify gaps in perception (e.g., strategy, innovation, execution).
  • Validate your value proposition (speed? cost savings? institutional insight?).
  • Share results internally to shape the narrative.

Because if your stakeholders don’t see your strategic value, they won’t act on it.

3. Build Operational Maturity

To be treated like a strategic partner, you have to operate like one. That means having robust systems, processes and data, not just fast turnarounds or high volume.

Too many in-house teams still lack critical infrastructure:

  • Use of creative briefs dropped from 82% last year to 64%.
  • SOPs and SLAs are in decline.
  • Retrospectives and asset tracking remain rare.

If you’re not tracking what’s coming in, how long it takes or what it delivers, it becomes a guessing game. 

Here’s what you can do:

  • Build a tiered intake model that captures business impact.
  • Track work types, resourcing and outcomes.
  • Create an annual operating plan tied to enterprise priorities.
  • Implement time-tracking and post-mortems, even in lightweight form.
     

4. Use Data to Lead, Not Just Report

Too many IHAs are stuck reporting on operational performance alone and not enough on business outcomes. But executives want to see ROI.

To shift from being viewed as production partners to growth enablers, you should connect your creative output to measurable impact:

  • Show how internal work saved $X versus outsourcing.
  • Demonstrate speed-to-market improvements.
  • Highlight asset reuse, brand consistency and efficiency gains.
  • Track campaign lift, conversion rates and cost avoidance.

Creative analytics is the key, but 40% of creative teams aren’t using it. And that’s a massive missed opportunity to measure, optimize and lead with insight.

Don’t forget your financial data

51% of in-house creative teams operate as centrally funded cost centers, and 43% of teams have been asked to compare costs with external agencies. This means you need to track financial data to highlight efficiencies, savings and overall business impact.

5. Own Your Tech and AI Roadmap

AI is changing marketing, fast. But most in-house teams are focused on efficiency, not insight, and it’s leaving opportunity on the table.

CMOs are under pressure to deliver more with less. If your team isn’t using AI to analyze creative performance, personalize at scale or generate insights, you risk falling behind.

Here’s what the future-ready IHAs are doing:

  • Upskilling in AI, analytics and change management
  • Doubling down on creative intelligence and data literacy
  • Bringing in SMEs when needed, but building internal capability to own the roadmap

As one expert from our 2025 CIR webinar said: “You can’t outsource your creative future.” 

Remember: Being Embedded is Your Superpower. Use It.

In-house agencies are uniquely positioned to understand the brand, work across departments and move faster than external vendors. But being close to the business doesn’t mean you’re automatically seen as critical to the business.

If you want to be seen as strategic, you need to:

  • Define your value in business terms
  • Refine your operations around impact
  • Reinforce your contribution with metrics that matter.

Get the Full Picture

Read the 2025 Cella Intelligence Report for insights from hundreds of creative leaders across 25 industries, providing benchmarks, best practices and forward-looking guidance for teams ready to thrive. 

Watch the 2025 Cella Intelligence Report webinar to hear directly from Cella’s experts and explore the mindset, methods and metrics of future-ready in-house agencies.