Co-Sourcing: The Hybrid Model For Brand–Agency Collaboration

The long-standing debate between in-housing and outsourcing may finally have a third answer — and it’s called co-sourcing.

When PepsiCo and VaynerMedia recently revealed their new partnership structure, it wasn’t about choosing one side. Instead, they’ve built a shared ecosystem that merges the speed and proximity of in-house teams with the creative scale and expertise of an external agency.

Why Co-Sourcing Works

Co-sourcing allows brands and agencies to operate almost as one team — sharing KPIs, workflows, and decision-making.
For PepsiCo, this model has already led to:

• 3× more content output
• 50–70% higher engagement rates
• A more agile response to real-time social trends

By integrating VaynerMedia’s creative capabilities directly within its marketing operations, PepsiCo can move faster while still maintaining brand consistency.

A Model Built for Today’s Pace

The speed of content cycles and the rise of social-first storytelling have made the traditional “agency brief and wait” model increasingly outdated. Co-sourcing bridges that gap — enabling real-time creative iteration and data-driven decisions from both sides of the partnership.

It’s not about replacing agencies or building internal empires. It’s about shared ownership of outcomes — where strategy, creative, and execution happen in parallel, not in sequence.

What Marketers Should Learn

• Break down silos. Bring your agency closer to your internal team.
• Align KPIs. When both sides measure success the same way, efficiency follows.
• Invest in collaboration tools. Real-time insight sharing is the backbone of co-sourcing.
• Choose the right partner. This model only works when the culture fit is strong.

The Smart Take

Co-sourcing isn’t just a trend — it’s redefining how brands and agencies collaborate.
As marketing accelerates, success now depends on teams that think, create, and adapt together in real time.

At Smart 360, we’ve been operating with this mindset from day one — embedding our teams into our clients’ workflows, aligning on shared goals, and acting as an extension of their brand.
Because the future of agency partnerships isn’t about outsourcing — it’s about working as one.