I am pretty adept at choosing the right agency to partner with when it comes to designing and producing all sorts of marketing materials because I simply know when an agency is wrong for what I want to produce.

Choosing the right agency is the difference between having a slick set of marketing collateral that’s a perfect fit for your brand and having a mediocre, below par set of marketing materials that does not fit your vision for the brand, product or service and when you’re working with the wrong agency, the process to get to the end is usually always hell. To avoid the journey through hell, I created a checklist – I use checklists for most things in my life. Below is my ‘Choosing a Creative Agency’ checklist for your use. I hope it makes your ad/creative journey easier. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Checklist for Choosing an Ad Agency

When selecting a new agency for a project or if you are changing agencies, it is wise to instruct a minimum of 3 agencies to prepare briefs. In order to make a fair comparison, I suggest checking them against the same variables.

1. Select the agencies you wish to present pitches
2. Have an initial meeting to explain your positioning, your objectives and what your business is (this could be via phone). Allow them to ask questions in order to delve deeper into the business. This gives you an opportunity to see how they work, how they think, how detail-orientated (oriented for the US folks) they are. This can be an in-person or on the phone-meeting.
3. After the initial meeting, send each agency the same, detailed brief, challenging them to demonstrate their strategic thinking.
4. Review pitches and assess via the same parameters, so as to make a fair comparison. Suggested parameters on which to assess the agencies are detailed below:

Parameters

1. Strategy. The brief should have been challenging. How did they address the pitch strategically?
2. Creativity. How creative are they? Does the creative effectively address the challenge presented? Is it on-brand and within guidelines? Does it work across all media? Have you been given a choice? Do they think out of the box or are they conformists to the same tried and trusted tactics?
3. Delivery. Has the pitch been delivered well?
4. Measurement of Success. How do we measure results of the strategies proposed?
5. Energy. Are they enthusiastic? Are they passionate about this campaign? Do they excite you when they are presenting? Do they give off positive energy?
6. Cultural Fit. Do you trust them? Do you like them? Can you work with them? Can you develop a good working relationship? Do they understand your needs? What do they believe in?
7. Flexibility. Are they process-focused?
8. Industry Experience. Do they have experience working in your industry? What other industries do they have experience in that could be beneficial to your project.
9. Client list. Who are their current and past clients? Are there any conflicts of interests?
10. Examples of work and case studies (portfolio). You should expect to see examples of relevant case studies, past work and physical samples as evidence of previous experience. Request to see a copy of their best work, so you can see the level of their expertise and if their best meets your expectations.
11. Awards / industry recognition. Have they received any industry awards? – Note, this is not a deal breaker for me because some of the best campaigns have not garnered recognition at this level, however for some corporations it is important to partner with other ‘giants’.
12. Cost of Services. How much is this going to cost? Is it worth it? Are there additional/hidden costs?
13. Reputation. Are they a reputable company? Do others recommend doing business with them? How long have they been operational.
14. Location. Is their location important in understanding the project?
15. Size. What is the size of the company? What is the size of the team that will be assigned to your project?

Consider all of the above and note your findings in a chart per below for ease of comparison and review.

Rate on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best.

And there you have it – an easy and methodical approach to selecting an ad agency. Good luck.