The Role of Agencies in Employer Branding's Future

Nick Homer has done employer branding in-house and in agencies across his career, most recently at Chapter 2. In this conversation, we get into where agencies genuinely add value, where the current model is falling short, and what a more relevant version of the relationship between agencies and in-house teams might look like.The honest answer isn't that agencies are irrelevant. It's how we can close the gap between what clients need and what agencies deliver. The opportunity is real — but so is the need to change.Here are some of the points we cover:- Why the in-house vs agency cost comparison is forcing harder questions- Where creativity is still the clearest case for agency involvement- Why knowledge transfer — not just execution — could redefine what agencies offer- How independent consultants are filling gaps that neither agencies nor in-house teams cover well- What the RADs this year suggests about where employer branding creativity is heading- Why disruption from smaller entities is probably good for the whole industryThis episode was recorded during a session for a broader episode about the future of employer branding - you can watch that episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/165mXweEyhXN0scVxR85yI?si=ry3YOz80QEmOHMcZimELpQ