In-housing or outsourcing? PepsiCo, VaynerMedia turn to 'co-sourcing'

"Rather than in-housing or outsourcing, executives on a panel at Advertising Week New York on Tuesday (Oct. 7) described their new relationship as one built on "co-sourcing," an interdependent approach where the two companies more closely share business KPIs and are less formal - read: speedier - when it comes to processes like briefing. PepsiCo ultimately recognized that, for all its talent, scale and legacy, social remained a difficult nut to crack, but also an increasingly essential one for reaching content-hungry consumers and propelling sales."

""But in a world where the dynamic nature [of marketing], especially in social, is so fast-moving: Do we have the agility, do we have the resourcing, do we have the creative flexibility to understand how algorithms drive how consumers behave? We probably didn't have that if we were really honest.""

Modern production demands from social platforms like TikTok require higher-volume content production, prompting alternatives to strict in-housing or outsourcing of marketing services. PepsiCo expanded its decade-long relationship with VaynerMedia by integrating the social-first agency more closely with internal teams to help beverage brands move faster and stay culturally fluent. The partnership functions as "co-sourcing," an interdependent model in which the companies share business KPIs and streamline processes to increase speed, including briefing. PepsiCo acknowledged that social remains difficult yet essential for reaching content-hungry consumers and driving sales, with platform algorithms shaping success and increasing reliance on social experts.

Read at Marketing Dive