In-House Excellence Awards
Grand Jury

TODD MILLER

CCO/ECD
In-House Agency Builder

BIO

Todd Miller spent nine years as Chief Creative Director of The Cooler @ Experian, successfully befuddling what's expected from an in-house joint. He led The Cooler's creation of awardwinning work across an ever-increasing list of channels – work that included a bunch of spots putting John Cena atop a Purple Cow, a fumbling Travis Kelce, and a 12-foot-tall BFF. Prior to The Cooler, he'd been an ECD at TBWA and JWT agencies, a Junior Janitor cleaning toilets at the old Mad Ave DMB&B, and nearly every role in between. Armed with a few vaguely relevant degrees from NYU for Political Theory, Comparative Religion, and the Tisch School for Film, he's led dozens of national brands, including, but certainly not limited to, Land Rover, Michelin, Sports Authority, Ketel One, Lexus, and Honda. Miller has spent 25+ years in this biz creating pantloads of award-winning work at shops such as RPA, FCB/SF, DDB, Team One, Y&R, Team Detroit, Innocean, Garage, Saatchi, M&C, and other agencies with and without acronyms. Additionally, now that his beloved twins have flown the nest for college, Todd enjoys the dog beach with his hyper Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (he don't hunt) and writing self-aggrandizing narratives in the third person.

Q&A with Todd Miller

Provide one word that defines "In-House Excellence" in 2026.

Curiosity.

What is one trend in creative operations or in-housing you are watching most closely?

Not surprisingly, Agentic AI. Will it liberate creatives or replace the junior pipeline? Or end this entire endeavor altogether?

In one sentence—what is the single most important element that moves an entry from "Good" to "Grand Prix"?

Envy: “Damn, I wish I did that!”

What is the #1 mistake teams should avoid when telling their campaign’s "story" in a submission?

Don’t explain what it “means.” Sure, context helps – the target, their world, the challenge. But if we dig it, it doesn’t need an explanation. Trust the work. If it needs a translator, maybe you didn’t trust it in the first place.

Why is it critical for in-house agencies to have their own dedicated stage for recognition?

Having experienced both the in-house and out-house, deeply, the in-house agency has a whole different set of rules – mostly good, some not so much – from the traditional agency. The processes of a traditional agency are fairly consistent across the board. But an in-house agency needs to design an entirely different way of navigating its internal relationships. No longer the hipsters flying in for that one creative presentation, in-house creatives are beside their “clients” all the time. There is no Us and Them. All are moving in the same direction, with no ulterior motive to create what looks best in a New Biz portfolio. When it works, the in-house agency isn't just making the work. It's conceiving it, driving it, and selling it – all on the inside. And that’s a talent that deserves the dedicated stage.

Get to know the 2026 In-House Excellence Grand Jurors.