Choosing an agency
Creative Agency vs In-House: The Real Cost Breakdown (Australia)
Gabe Hutcheon · · 7 min read
"Should we hire a creative agency or build in-house?" usually gets answered on the sticker price of a retainer versus one salary. That comparison is wrong, because an in-house team is far more than one salary. Here is the honest, fully-loaded breakdown for an Australian ecommerce brand, in AUD.
The true cost of in-house
A team that can actually produce performance creative at volume is not one hire. At minimum it is a creative strategist, a video editor, a designer and someone to source and run UGC creators. On top of salaries you carry:
- On-costs: superannuation, leave, recruitment and onboarding.
- Software: editing suite, design tools, stock, ad-intelligence and reporting tools.
- Equipment: cameras, lighting, audio, devices.
- Management time: someone has to brief, review and run the pipeline.
- Idle cost: you pay the team in a slow month the same as a busy one.
Stacked up, a capable in-house performance-creative function runs well into six figures a year in Australia before a single ad is tested. These are planning estimates. your exact numbers depend on seniority and location, so price the roles for your city.
The cost of an agency
An agency converts most of that fixed cost into a variable monthly retainer that flexes with your needs. You are not paying for idle time, recruitment, tools or equipment, and you get a team that has already made the mistakes on someone else's budget. The trade is less round-the-clock proximity to your brand and a monthly fee.
The decision matrix
| In-house | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost at low/moderate volume | High (fixed) | Lower (variable) |
| Cost at high, stable volume | Can be lower per asset | Scales with spend |
| Speed to start | Slow (hire and ramp) | Fast (days) |
| Brand knowledge | Deep, always-on | Built over time |
| Cross-account data | Only your account | Patterns from many accounts |
| Flexibility | Fixed headcount | Scale up or down |
| Management load | You run it | They run it |
When each wins
In-house wins when volume is high and stable enough to keep a full team busy every month, brand knowledge must live internally, and you have the management bandwidth. An agency wins when you want to start fast, keep cost variable, tap cross-account learnings, and avoid carrying fixed overhead through quiet months. Plenty of brands run a hybrid: a lean in-house team for brand and a partner for performance-creative volume.
Whichever way you lean, the throughput target is the same. size it with how many ad creatives you need per month. And if you are weighing a partner, read how to choose a performance creative agency before you sign anything. Want a straight answer for your numbers? Book a free creative audit.
Frequently asked questions
- Is it cheaper to hire a creative agency or build in-house?
- At low to moderate volume, an agency is usually cheaper once you count the fully-loaded cost of an in-house team (salaries, on-costs, software, equipment and management time). In-house only wins on per-asset cost at high, sustained volume.
- How much does an in-house creative team cost in Australia?
- A basic performance-creative team (a strategist, an editor, a designer and a UGC coordinator) runs well into six figures a year in salaries alone before on-costs, software and management. You carry that whether you need 5 ads that month or 50.
- When does in-house make more sense than an agency?
- When your creative volume is high and stable enough to keep a full team busy every month, when brand knowledge needs to live in-house, and when you have the management bandwidth to run creators and a testing pipeline. Many brands run a hybrid.
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