What in-house creative leaders want design studios to know

As the whole design industry feels the pinch, the pressure is on for in-house teams and studios to work together as skillfully and seamlessly as possible. We found out what in-house leaders want and need from their agency partners.

What are the pressures or opportunities for in-house design teams?

For many in-house design leaders, the pressures outweigh the opportunities.

“For those in the FMCG or consumer goods sector, the sustained headwinds include China’s slow-down, and decreasing geographic ‘white-space’ – those places where a brand or product isn’t present; inflation and pricing strategies; and the lowering cost of category entry.”

So says Basel-based Christopher Padain VP, global head of product experience, design and packaging at Bayer Consumer Healthcare, whose brands include Canesten, Alka-Seltzer, Aspirin and Rennie.

“This is placing business-wide pressure on cost containment and ROI assessments,” he adds.

Reckitt’s global brand experience and design lead, nutrition, Will Sutton, speaks for many when he describes “the growing pressure on in-house teams to deliver more, faster and leaner – without compromising on quality.”

Marie-Therese Cassidy, VP design Europe at PepsiCo in London, echoes this. “There’s always pressure – to move faster, to deliver across more brands and regions, and to do it with leaner teams and tighter budgets.”

Rosie Isbell, design director at tech company Wise, has to balance this ever-increasing pressure with “delivering a quality customer experience that isn’t carrying design and tech debt, or an interaction that will weaken a brand experience.”

Isbell says AI represents both a challenge and an opportunity. “It’s bringing adventurous, continual shifts to workflows but there are ethical and environmental implications still to be navigated,” she says.

Sutton strikes a positive note, claiming that the value of design in its broadest sense is growing.

“We’re being invited earlier into conversations that shape product, brand and experience. That creates a unique space for in-house teams to lead with intent: to build design systems that scale, drive consistency, and bring a deeper emotional connection to everything we do.”

How can external agencies get their relationship with in-house teams off on the right foot?

Honesty and transparency are the best policies.

“If the brief is poor or creative feedback unclear, call it out,” Padain says. “If you don’t have the full breadth of capabilities we’re asking for, or ‘best-bench’ (talent in the team) currently available, own up to it.”

Padain’s 15-strong in-house design team at Bayer includes five industrial designers. His two biggest strategic partners are Interbrand and Design Bridge.

Curiosity is also high on these leaders’ agenda. Isbell calls it an agency’s secret weapon. “Ask questions and be curious and inquisitive about the challenge the in-house team is facing,” she says.

“I know that external design partners will bring a fresh perspective, and with that beginner’s mindset will have the right lens to spot opportunities that someone who’s been looking at the problem for a very long time might have missed!”

“Great external teams know when to push and when to listen.”

Isbell likes to create as close a working relationship as possible with the agencies she brings in.

“Wise and Ragged Edge worked literally side by side in Figma files to deliver the Wise rebrand. Decks and presentations have their place, but sharing development by inviting in-house designers into your files is a risk that will pay off in the long run, and you’ll be much more likely to see that design vision delivered.”

Cassidy at PepsiCo backs up this joint approach. “We’re at our best when we’re co-creating, bringing different perspectives to the table but aiming for the same goal. When agencies can handle the reality and push the creative, that’s when trust builds fast.”

And “read the room,” says Sutton, because agencies that take the time to do that and flex their approach are the ones who earn real trust and traction fast. That means “understanding the design maturity of the organisation. This is key to knowing how to show up.”

He suggests that, “a younger or less embedded design function will often be more reactive – focused on fast-turnaround, tactical delivery. In contrast, a more established in-house team will likely be driving longer-term, strategic initiatives that are tied to business transformation, not just brand execution.”

What one key thing can external agencies learn from in-house teams?

Agencies should tap into the valuable business knowledge that in-house teams hold. “Build a stronger appreciation of the bigger picture beyond the creative,” Padain says.

That will allow external agencies to consciously push to, and beyond, the limits with broader insight.

He knows this from experience, having transitioned from industrial design agency Kinneir Dufort to in-house many years ago. “I recall a stark awakening when I discovered the true complexities of delivering what we call remarkable design.”

Cassidy echoes this, referring to the power of context. “At PepsiCo, our in-house team collaborates daily with marketing, insights, commercial, R&D, legal – so we’re not designing in isolation. We’re designing with a full view of what’s possible, what’s scalable, and what will actually land. That context makes the creative stronger and more likely to land.”

Meanwhile for Sutton, an internal team’s super-power is the ability to say no. By doing that, they’re demonstrating, “that design is not simply a tool to deliver what someone wants, but more of a strategic ability to deliver what the business and brand needs.

“This is something that an external agency would struggle with purely because they are ultimately providing a service.”

Then there’s an in-house team’s mandatory story-telling skills.

“In-house designers have learnt to frame their ambition in language that the business will understand: data, metrics and impact,” says Isbell at Wise.

“There’s also a real nuance to framing that story in a way that everyone in a cross-discipline team will understand and get on-board with, across designers, developers, product managers, compliance. In-house design teams really know how to look at a problem from every angle and tell the right story.”

What makes the dynamic between internal and external design teams flourish?

Collaboration, trust, chemistry and the ability to challenge are all high on the agenda, and they’re interconnected.

Isdell at Wise sees collaboration as “creating the kind of partnership where both agency and client push, challenge and inspire each other to get to something better than either could achieve alone.”

And genuine collaboration can eventually result in trust. “Trust is generally built over multiple projects and years of collaboration, which could include both successes and failures,” Padain says.

A trusted agency should be able to call out wrong-turns, Isbell believes. “In-house teams bring unmatched knowledge. That insight is invaluable and should be the foundation of any meaningful work.

“However, knowledge left unchallenged can create blind spots. That’s where an agency comes in, not just to add fresh ideas, but to question assumptions, reframe problems, and unlock new ways of thinking.”

In Sutton’s experience, the best relationships with agencies come when, “I feel stupid meeting with them, and stronger with their input and builds. That’s when you know they are adding great value. Challenge where necessary.”

And for Cassidy at PepsiCo, “Great external teams know when to push and when to listen. Great in-house teams know how to create space for bold thinking.”

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