Best Outside vs Inside - The dilemma with no answers

All of us have this question facing regularly- should we do the Packaging design development in-house or should we do it with an outside Design agency, or should we have both work in parallel and 'let the best one' win. Often the cost and time constraints help to decide asto what should be the way forward, as the in-house is much faster and time saving. However if costs are not a constraint, one wishes to explore the best that could be possible Globally.

The fact remains that the knowledge that the in-house team has on a product category is far superior and thus their ability to develop designs which hold critical relevance to the brand is far higher. The other view could be that the Outside design agency has a much wider exposure across Brands and categories and perhaps bring in a much needed fresh air. In many companies the in-house packaging team are well exposed and with experience , they are able to handle some of the most challenging of the projects. Often with a motivated team and with the right leader the in-house team can work towards the just right synergy of the Outside idea and the in-house specialism.

The entire exercise can be fruitful and rewarding if the Organisation provides the Credits and acknowledges the contribution of the team that rightfully deserves. Very often the in-house team may do excellent work and clear all the Consumer tests, however there are residual 'desires' , wishing that the design had the name of a Global name or of the best in the industry. In such a case one must not demean or forget the good work that the in-house team puts together consistently and with considerable amount of hard work and commitment.

Do not forget to accept asto who has done what, if the credit is given deliberately or inadvertently to not the deserving, the packaging team could be left extremely de-motivated.

The fact remains that we all like the association with the Brand names and the tags that go along with them, so even if the in-house team has done the best, we end up saying ' we did this from the best design house in the country and our in-house team added value to it '. The worst case would be if the in-house team has done all the work right from the start to the finish and then they have to hear similar comments, they would never again like to take any project seriously.

The truth is that there is always a dilemma with no clear answers, the approach and the methodology has to change. One needs to go back to the Consumer and check asto which is the best design and thus link back to which team deserves the recognition. Let us all be truthful and honest to ourselves and give the credit to the team that deserves rightfully.

In case we believe that for us the Brand name of the design house is extremely critical, one must stop the development in-house and be prepared to spend the time and the costs that go along with it. More often than not, the work may start with the Outside agency but the time pressures compound, the in-house team may have to step in to salvage the project. In case we believe that we will not be able to give the credits to the in-house team, let the time pressures not change the course of action let us continue the work externally, as that is what we wanted deep down in our hearts!

And off course the deserving get their credit some day and with the full interest !