The impact of insourcing creativity
25 Apr 2025
From transactional to transformational – the new creative model
By Thea Palmer Chief COO, HelloKindred
If you’re looking to combine the creative power of an agency with in-house brand knowledge, insourcing offers an opportunity to give you the best of both. This is a perspective shift that is adding value in global organisations such as LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group. The topic was in the spotlight during a recent interview I held with Steve Habbi, Group Director, Brand + Design, LSEG, at the recent CMO Inspired Summit in London.
The client need – a unified creative hub speaking one language
Steve explained that when he joined LSEG to oversee the development of brand tools and guidelines, he wanted to build a team that spoke a common brand language, supported by systems that encouraged cohesion and collaboration. The business was at an inflection point following the acquisition of Refinitiv, bringing together a diverse set of systems, tools, and ways of working. This created a clear need for alignment, integration, and a unified approach to brand execution.
This was, therefore, a moment of major brand transformation and consolidation. It was also an opportunity to communicate the full scope of the brand’s offering as a global financial markets infrastructure and data provider. It was also an opportunity to focus talent in a way that was sustainable, supportive of the brand’s growth and in line with their global footprint.
The solution – a creative hub in an accessible location
At HelloKindred we offer our global clients agile staffing, near shore creative hubs and integrated marketing teams. Sometimes that looks like a centralised single hub in Cape Town or London, or it can take the form of decentralised resourcing solutions across the world. For LSEG, who already had an office space in Cape Town, it took the form of an on-site insourcing team. The similarity in time zone was a critical deciding factor, due to the brand’s tight reviewing schedule. We provided high calibre, senior content, design and branding resources that could be fully embedded in the business and operate with LSEG’s internal stakeholders independently. The entire team, from in house to insourced, works according to an agile operation model, which is integrated with the Adobe stack and workflow tools. This has created a structured approach to allocating the high demand of tasks coming from the business.
A successful, integrated approach
Steve shared how the insourcing model combines talent and opportunity with structure. The insourced team from HelloKindred are encouraged to embody the brand and be invested in it, through regular engagements with permanent divisions and business areas. In being given their own space to own, elevate and deliver the brand message on a global scale, they take real pride in their work.
This is supported by all the resources needed to create one clear brand identity. A digital first approach has established the foundations and visual systems for the brand, and reusable templates and toolkits are reinvested throughout the group. All members of the team collaborate frequently through creative exchange meetings, which discuss works in progress in the context of LSEG’s user journey.
Steve shared that this operating model, executed with HelloKindred’s guidance, has been incredibly successful, helping LSEG focus creative resources, create a unified brand and embed skilled creatives into their business – all from a satellite office in Cape Town. In his closing advice to the audience, he told brands to start with the creative challenge, then develop viable solutions to solve that problem at scale. At HelloKindred, we have the creative teams and over 25 years’ experience in insourcing and outsourcing to solve your business challenge with skilled people that will make a real impact.
