Why insurer Youi moved to a hybrid agency model
Insurance company Youi moved to a hybrid agency model to help its marketing team scale up in busy periods while also identifying mission-critical skills it may need, according to Youi head of creative and production James Bilaver.
Speaking at the Mumbrella Finance Marketing Summit last week, Bilaver discussed Youi’s decision to move from its fully in-house marketing department to a hybrid agency model for the first time, with the support of consultancy Lution.
Youi’s James Bilaver and Lution’s Nick Thomas
Youi worked with Lution, a marketing transformation consultancy that specialises in building and optimising in-house and hybrid agencies. Bilaver was joined by Lution partner and chief strategy officer Nick Thomas to discuss the move.
Youi has had an in-house marketing team since its inception in 2007, comprising 40 staff across creative and media work.
Thomas said Lution’s partnership with Youi sought to increase creativity for the insurer to create more effective marketing work.
“That’s where we are today, we now have a small, tight but agile team dedicated to creating memorable and effective work,” Bilaver said.
“The team includes creative, design, production, developers, campaign managers and media buyers, which all benefit from the innate knowledge of the business. But we’re not afraid to pivot when we need to bring in our external expertise.”
Bilaver said Youi is working with a “world-class” leading design agency as the company continues to evolve its brand identity, and had bolstered its creative team when it developed a new brand campaign.
“For us, the power is in the flexibility that the hybrid model brings,” he said. “If you decide to take the leap into in-housing, the benefits can be material but you don’t have to go at it alone.”
When Youi was founded in 2007, the company from the outset hired a creative director to team up with its CEO and chief marketing officer to create an in-house agency to develop the Youi name, logo, brand story and unique tone of voice.
“[Youi] signalled from the outset the value that has been placed on marketing and creativity to drive the company’s growth, and has been core to the business ever since,” Bilaver said.
Bilaver added in-housing has become a hot topic that has “exploded” in recent years. “As one of the O.G. in-house models, we’ve been doing it for 15 years and it’s become intrinsic to the success of our business, and also means we’re not afraid to do things a bit differently,” he said.
Some of the benefits of in-housing include better responsiveness to feedback, more interest in how the work fuels business and return on investment, teams proactively unpacking real business problems and challenges and greater adaptability to move when the climate changes, Bilaver added.
“Another tangible benefit that I really like is the fact that the team is embedded in the culture in the business, and this is really important because it helps you achieve things you didn’t think were possible,” he said.
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