• Where Do You Go to Get Into the Zone?

    July 14, 2014

    I work from home. I used to work from a corporate office, but now I work from home most of the time and I have to tell you, I love it. I’m a hundred times more productive working from my home office than a traditional corporate setting. So as IHAF wraps its discussion on work environments this week, …

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  • Why You Need a War Room

    July 09, 2014

    War rooms, breakout rooms, pods, cafés—what do they all have in common? They are must-haves spaces for creative professionals to come up with new ideas. Without these areas, collaboration and brainstorming would be a bust. Here’s why your in-house agency needs designated space for idea generation. …

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  • Culture: The Ultimate Interior

    July 02, 2014

    • by IHAF Staff

    When we think of the stereotypical agency environment, images of Ping-Pong tables, lava lamps and overstuffed fluorescent chairs come to mind. Sure, outside agencies may have more freedom when it comes to furniture choices and paint colors, but that shouldn’t condemn in-house interiors to be …

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  • Creating Creative Spaces—One Wall at a Time

    June 30, 2014

       One of the smartest things an in-house agency can do is align itself with its facilities or building management group. Now I can’t say creative connections are what every facilities team is after, but it’s been my experience that we have a lot in common. In-house agencies and facilities groups …

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  • Space Matters

    June 23, 2014

    Corporate space design has evolved significantly over the past 15 years. Coveted corner offices are a thing of the past—replaced by open floor plans and low cubes. Where your employees sit and their personal space is a hot topic. When planning for space changes, you need to consider the different …

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  • Balancing Creativity with Practicality

    June 09, 2014

    • by John Jacobin, IRS

    Considering how fast organizational needs are changing, it has never been more critical to be flexible and creative in problem solving and decision making. We've seen many adaptive organizations survive who have embraced their workers’ creative thinking as a core business practice and we have seen …

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  • Seizing Opportunities for Improvement

    February 24, 2014

    Seven months ago, I was given the opportunity to lead the Corporate Marketing team at Nationwide. Prior to this, I served as CMO of our Property & Casualty business unit and most recently, led of our Financial Services marketing team.

    Now that I’m on the “other side of the desk,” there are …

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  • Our Constant Evolution

    February 19, 2014

    The in-house team at Boston University has changed a lot in recent years. We’ve gone from a customer service group to a project management group to an account management team. And we're going to change—or should I say, evolve—even further.

    Early on our group was exclusively focused on print-design …

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  • Meet Two New Board Members

    February 17, 2014

    This month, IHAF is exploring the topic of Operational Excellence and what it means to in-house agencies. As part of this series, I asked the two newest members of IHAF’s Board of Directors, Mark Gibson, Assistant VP of Creative Services at State Farm and Wayne Barringer, Director of Creative …

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  • Embracing Continuous Improvement

    February 12, 2014

    As a recent returnee in house (after 18 years at NY ad agencies), I’m learning to adapt to a larger environment and a corporate culture where our clients are also our colleagues.

    One of the biggest advantages I’m seeing since my return is that everyone, no matter what their function, knows the …

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