The In-House Club

Kasper Sierslev

The In-House Club is a podcast about the people behind the PowerPoint, the pitch, and the panic. It’s where the creative leads, brand builders, and content wizards of the in-house world come to talk shop. Once dismissed as the place where good ideas go to die—or at least to get resized—today’s in-house teams are doing award-winning work, shaping brand strategy, and rethinking how creative gets made. Each episode is a casual conversation with the people actually doing it. No jargon. No posturing. Just honest talk about briefs, bottlenecks, and the occasional breakthrough.

Episodes

  1. 12/06/2025

    Why In-House might have a slight advantage in the AI race

    In this episode of The In-House Club, Kasper sits down with Dave Laing, former head of Scotiabank’s in-house agency Lighthouse. Dave helped grow Lighthouse from a mixed group of ~30 creatives to a nearly 100-person in-house agency inside a 90,000-employee bank – with design, motion, production, ops and AI all under one roof. This conversation isn’t about “AI will replace us”. It’s about how AI changes who we need in-house and what those people actually do. We talk about: The end of classic roles? Why Dave thinks the copywriter and art director labels are on the way out – and why schools should start training generalist creative directors from day one: people who can think, write, visualise and curate AI output. The rise of the campaign designer A new kind of in-house role that takes the core idea and designs how it lives across all channels and formats – from out-of-home to six-second bumpers – before it goes into pure production. AI as creative amplifier, not magic wand Mockups, versions, localisations and “things we never had budget for before” vs. the danger of calling platform-optimised Franken-ads “the best creative”. Internal vs. external AI How agencies currently have more freedom with tools – and why in-house might win long-term with secure, brand-trained agents that actually know the business, the tone and the ecosystem. Fixing briefs instead of complaining about them Using AI for debriefing, better intake and structured briefing – and why you still need strategists and planners to put human insight, timing and cultural nuance into the system. Tone-of-voice models and brand AI How small companies and big brands can use custom GPTs and ToV tools so non-copywriters can still write on-brand decks, emails and product pages. Sea of sameness vs. human fingerprints Why brands risk all looking the same if nobody owns story, taste and culture – and why imperfections, tactile work and real-world experiences might become the new luxury. If you’re leading or working in an in-house team and trying to work out how AI reshapes your org, your roles and your value, this episode will give you a vocabulary – and a few warnings. Guest Dave Laing – former Head of Creative & Content / Lighthouse, Scotiabank

    41 min

About

The In-House Club is a podcast about the people behind the PowerPoint, the pitch, and the panic. It’s where the creative leads, brand builders, and content wizards of the in-house world come to talk shop. Once dismissed as the place where good ideas go to die—or at least to get resized—today’s in-house teams are doing award-winning work, shaping brand strategy, and rethinking how creative gets made. Each episode is a casual conversation with the people actually doing it. No jargon. No posturing. Just honest talk about briefs, bottlenecks, and the occasional breakthrough.