Talent Run founder Amy Lee has launched ‘Insiders’, a new community to connect and celebrate those working within Australia’s in-house agencies and marketing teams.
The initiative aims to give in-house creatives, designers, producers and brand teams access to the kind of industry community that creative agencies have long enjoyed.
As brands continue to build more sophisticated creative capabilities internally, Lee believes the people behind those teams need more opportunities to connect with peers outside their own organisations, exchange ideas and celebrate the work being created in-house.
“The advertising industry has always had an incredible creative community around it. You meet people at events, awards, shoots and through agencies. You see what other people are making, share stories and build relationships across the industry,” Lee said.
“But when you move in-house, that network can become much harder to access. There are brilliant creative people sitting inside brands across Australia who may never get the opportunity to meet each other. Insiders is about creating that connection.”
Rather than positioning itself as a formal industry body, Insiders will focus on building relationships between people facing many of the same opportunities and challenges inside brands.
The community is open to creatives, designers, producers, creative leaders, marketers and others working within or alongside in-house creative teams.
“It’s a chance to meet people who understand what it means to create from inside a brand, compare notes, share ideas and champion the great work being made by in-house teams,” Lee added.
CM.OSX has signed on as sponsor of the launch and will support the initiative and broader push to strengthen Australia’s in-house creative community.
“Creative teams inside brands are becoming an increasingly important part of Australia’s creative landscape, but the community around them is still taking shape,” said CM.OSX managing director Alison McKinnon.
“We see first-hand the calibre of people and work coming from in-house teams. Insiders creates a place for those people to find each other, share what they’re learning and build the relationships that have always been such an important part of agency life. We’re excited to help Amy get it off the ground.”
Insiders will kick off with an after-work drinks event on Thursday 3 September from 6-8pm at the Godby Hotel in South Yarra Melbourne. It will also run events in Sydney and Perth in the upcoming months.
