Questions to Ask an Advertising Agency
For a business owner or marketing lead interviewing advertising agencies before hiring one. The questions follow the order the decision usually takes: the team who would work on your account, the agency's track record with clients like you, how it gets from your goals to strategy and creative, then fees, media markups and contract terms, reporting, and who owns the work if you part ways.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The team
Who will work on our account day to day, and can we meet them before we sign?
Why ask it
The people in the pitch are often the agency's most senior, and they may not be the ones answering your emails in month three. Get names and roles, and ask for the account lead and the creative lead to join the next meeting. An agency that cannot say yet is usually planning to staff you after the contract is signed.
How much of each person's time is set aside for us?
Why ask it
A senior name on the team sheet means little at a twentieth of their week. Ask for a rough share per person and hold it against the fee: the hours should add up to something close to what you are paying for.
How will we keep in touch week to week, and how quickly should we expect a reply?
Why ask it
Settle the routine before the work starts: a standing call, who joins it, and whether a message sent on a Tuesday gets an answer that day or that week. Then put it to one of their clients and find out whether the routine was still being kept six months in.
Which parts of the work stay in house, and which go to freelancers or partner firms?
Why ask it
Most agencies buy in something, whether media buying, film production or a specialist channel, and that is normal. What you need is the list, the name of whoever manages those outside people, and whether their cost reaches you with a markup on it.
How many other clients does our account lead handle, and how big are we next to them?
Why ask it
The smallest client of a big agency and the biggest client of a small one get very different service. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you would be. If you would be near the bottom, ask who picks up the phone in a week when a larger client has a launch.
Who has the final say on strategy and on creative for our account?
Why ask it
When the work is off, you need to know whose mind has to change. A named person who will also sit in your meetings is the good answer. 'It is a team decision' tends to mean your feedback gets passed along and softened on the way.
How long have the people on our team been at the agency, and what happens if one of them leaves?
Why ask it
People move between agencies often, and an account can lose its memory with one resignation. Listen for a handover routine: shared notes, a second person who knows the account, and a promise to tell you before the change happens.
Who do we call when something goes wrong, and who is above them?
Why ask it
You want two names: the daily contact, and the person you can go to when the daily contact is the problem. A principal who looks at your account now and then without being asked is a good sign in a small agency and a rare one in a large one.
How much of our own team's time will this take each week, and whose?
Why ask it
An agency that has run accounts like yours can be specific: someone to approve copy within two days, someone who can pull sales figures, a decision-maker in the room for creative reviews. If they say it will need almost nothing from you, expect work that guesses at your business.
Track record
What is your agency best at, and which of your services do you sell less often?
Why ask it
A list of services says what an agency will accept, not what it does well. Ask roughly what share of its income comes from each kind of work. A shop that lives on media buying and offers creative on the side will staff your account that way, and the same holds in reverse.
Which clients have you worked with in our industry or at our budget, and what did you do for them?
Why ask it
Industry experience saves you from paying for their education, and budget experience matters as much, because a plan built for ten times your spend does not shrink well. If they have neither, ask what in their past work is closest and why it would carry over.
Can you take us through one campaign from the brief to the results, including what changed along the way?
Why ask it
A case study slide shows the finished ad and one flattering number. The full story shows how they think: what the client asked for, where the agency pushed back, what was dropped after it flopped. A good last follow-up is what they would do differently if they ran it again.
What did the work in your case studies do for those clients' sales, and how do you know it was the advertising?
Why ask it
Awards, views and reach are the agency's results. Sales, leads, sign-ups or store visits are the client's. A careful agency will also mention what else was going on, such as a price cut or a new product, and will not claim all of the lift.
Are the people who made the work in your portfolio still here, and would any of them be on our account?
Why ask it
A portfolio belongs to the people who made it, and some of them have moved on. If the campaign you admire came from a team that has since left, you are being shown the agency's past and not what you would be buying.
May we speak with two current clients and one who has left?
Why ask it
Any agency can supply two happy clients. The former one is the test, since a firm that parts on decent terms will have a name to give. Ask each of them what the agency is like when a deadline slips or a campaign underperforms.
Which campaign of yours missed its target, and what do you think went wrong?
Why ask it
Hear where the fault lands. Naming its own misjudgment, such as the wrong audience or an idea it was too fond of, shows the agency learned something. A story in which the client is the only one at fault is a preview of how you would be described.
How long do clients usually stay with you, and why did the last one leave?
Why ask it
Clients leave for ordinary reasons, such as a new marketing head or work taken in house, and an agency that can say so calmly is easier to believe than one that claims no departures. If most relationships end around the one-year mark, ask what tends to happen at renewal.
Who owns the agency, and have you won or lost a large client in the last year?
Why ask it
An agency that leans on one big client can change shape quickly if that client goes, and the people on your account may go with it. A big recent win deserves a follow-up too: would your team be pulled onto it? Independent or part of a larger group is neither good nor bad, but it tells you who sets the targets your team works to.
Do you work with any of our competitors, or would you want to while we are a client?
Why ask it
Category experience and a conflict of interest are two sides of one thing. Decide what you could accept, then ask how they would keep teams and information apart and whether they would agree in writing not to take a named rival. Exclusivity usually has a price, so expect a negotiation.
What kind of client or brief is a poor fit for you?
Why ask it
An agency that can do everything for anyone has not answered. Something as plain as 'we are not the right shop for weekly retail promotions' shows they know where they are strong, and makes the rest of what they claim easier to trust.
How they work
What do you make of our current advertising, and what would you change first?
Why ask it
The answer shows whether they looked at your ads before the meeting, and it gives you a small sample of how they think. Specific remarks about one ad, your website or a place you are absent are the good sign. Be a little wary of the agency that says everything must go, since starting over is also the answer that bills the most.
What would you want to learn about our business before you propose anything?
Why ask it
Good agencies ask about margins, who buys, how long a sale takes and what has been tried before. If the answer is a list of ad formats, the plan was written before they met you.
How do you get from a client's goals to a strategy, and who writes the creative brief?
Why ask it
Listen for where the thinking comes from: customer interviews, your sales data, their own research, or a template. Ask to see a real brief with the client's name removed. One page that makes a hard choice about audience and message is worth more than a long deck.
From what you know so far, which channels would you leave out of our plan?
Why ask it
Recommending a presence everywhere costs an agency nothing. Ruling out television, a social platform or outdoor means they have weighed your budget against what each one needs to work. It is also fair to ask whether they earn more on some channels than others, because that can tilt a media plan.
How many creative directions will we see, and how finished will they be?
Why ask it
Some agencies show three rough routes and others one polished idea, and either works when you know in advance. The follow-up is what happens if you like none of them: whether a second round is inside the fee, and how many rounds there are before it becomes extra.
How do you test an idea before the full budget goes behind it?
Why ask it
Answers range from a handful of customer interviews to small paid runs of several versions. The point is that something meets real people before the media money is spent. If testing is missing from the proposal, ask what it would add in cost and weeks.
What do you do when we disagree with your recommendation?
Why ask it
You are hiring judgment, so an agency that folds at the first objection is poor value, and one that never bends is hard to live with. Ask for a recent time they talked a client out of something, and a time the client turned out to be right.
What happens in the first three months, and when would the first ads run?
Why ask it
Get it in stages: discovery, strategy, creative, production, launch. Have them say which stage most often runs late and whose approval it waits on, because the honest answer is frequently yours. If the three months are mostly meetings and 'immersion', ask what you could show your own boss or business partner by the end of them.
Who checks the claims in our ads before they run?
Why ask it
Rules on advertising claims, endorsements and comparisons with rivals vary with where you operate and what you sell, so ask how they handle it for your market. A solid answer names who reviews the copy, when your own legal or compliance person sees it, and who carries the cost if an ad has to be pulled.
Where do you use AI tools in strategy, copy and production, and will you tell us when you do?
Why ask it
Many agencies now use them somewhere, so the useful details are which tasks, who reviews the output, and whether anything you share is fed into outside tools. Rights in generated work are unsettled in many places. Ask what the contract commits them to and have your own adviser read that clause.
How would you work with our in-house team and the other agencies we already use?
Why ask it
If you have a designer, a web developer or a PR firm, the handoffs between them are where projects slow down. A practiced agency will ask who owns what and suggest a shared calendar or a regular joint call. General goodwill is not a plan.
Fees and contract
What is your fee structure, and why does that one suit an account like ours?
Why ask it
Retainers, project fees, hourly billing and commission on media each reward something different. A commission on spend pays more when you spend more, whatever the result, so ask how they keep that from shaping the plan. Their reason for the structure matters as much as the structure.
What exactly does the fee cover, and what would be billed on top?
Why ask it
The usual extras are production, photography, stock images, actors and voice talent, music, travel, software and additional rounds of changes. A fee looks very different once those are added. Ask for an estimate of a typical month or project with everything in.
Do you mark up media, production or other outside costs, and by how much?
Why ask it
Markups are a common way for agencies to be paid, and practice differs from one agency and market to the next. What you want is the percentage stated out loud and a contract that says which costs it applies to. An evasive answer here is a reason to slow down.
Do you receive rebates, credits or volume discounts from media owners or platforms, and do they come back to us?
Why ask it
Agencies that buy a lot of media sometimes earn credits or discounts for the volume. Whether those are passed on is a contract matter, so ask directly and ask where the agreement says it. A plain yes or no is fine either way; 'we would have to check' deserves a second question.
Will we see the actual invoices from media owners and suppliers?
Why ask it
Seeing what the agency paid is the simplest way to confirm the markup you agreed. Ask too whether the contract lets you or an outside auditor look at the media accounts, and how often clients take them up on it.
Do we pay the platforms and media owners directly, or does the money go through you?
Why ask it
If it passes through the agency, ask when you pay, when the media owner is paid, and what happens to money for ads that never ran. Who is on the hook if a supplier goes unpaid depends on the contract and on where you are, so have that part read by someone qualified.
What is the smallest budget at which you think you can do good work for us?
Why ask it
The answer protects you from being an account they take and then neglect. Ask them to split the figure between their fee and working media, the money that buys the ad space itself. A plan where the fee swallows most of a small budget is one to rethink.
How do you handle requests that fall outside the scope once we are under way?
Why ask it
Something always comes up: a trade show, a product delay, a new market. You want to hear that they quote before starting, what the hourly rates are, and who on your side has to approve it. A surprise invoice often traces back to this never having been settled.
Would you tie any part of your fee to results, and which results?
Why ask it
Some agencies will put a share of the fee against agreed targets and some will not, often for fair reasons such as having no control over your pricing or your sales team. The conversation shows which numbers they feel able to stand behind. Be wary of a bonus tied to a figure only the agency reports.
How long is the contract, how does it renew, and how much notice does either side give?
Why ask it
Check whether it renews automatically and what date you would need to act by. A long first term is easier to accept with a review point a few months in, where either side can walk away. Read the notice clause for what you still owe while the notice runs.
Is there a charge for ending the agreement early, and what is still owed for work in progress?
Why ask it
Find out now, while everyone is friendly. Media that has been booked and cannot be cancelled is a fair cost to cover; an unexplained lump sum is worth questioning. Have them point to the clause.
Reporting
Which numbers would you report to us, and which would you want to be judged on?
Why ask it
These are often two different lists. Reach, impressions and clicks describe activity, while leads, sales, bookings or measured awareness describe effect. Agree two or three figures tied to your own goal before work starts, so nobody picks the flattering ones afterwards.
How often will we get a report, and who will go through it with us?
Why ask it
A report that arrives by email with no conversation gets skimmed. What you are after is a regular call with someone who worked on the account and can say what they would change next. A sample report with the client's details removed shows you what you would be reading.
How will you connect the advertising to sales or leads in our own systems?
Why ask it
The agency sees the ad platforms; you see the register, the CRM or the booking system. Ask what they would need from you to join the two, and how they treat sales that cannot be traced to any ad. Total certainty about what caused a sale is a warning sign, and a reasoned method with stated limits is the better answer.
How do you measure the channels that are hard to track, such as TV, radio, outdoor or brand campaigns?
Why ask it
There are honest methods, such as comparing regions, running surveys or watching search interest in your name, and none of them is exact. Look for an agency that explains what its method can and cannot show, and what the measuring itself would cost.
Will we have our own login to the ad accounts and analytics, or only your reports?
Why ask it
Direct access lets you check a number without asking anyone. View access is an easy thing for an agency to grant, so reluctance needs a reason you find convincing.
When did you last advise a client to cut a campaign short, and what had you seen?
Why ask it
Telling a client to spend less costs an agency money when it earns on media, so a real example says a lot. Listen for the signal they acted on and how fast. If no example comes, have them name the point at which they would say it to you.
How will we hear about it when results are below plan?
Why ask it
Press for the mechanics: a threshold that triggers a call, who makes it, and how soon. Bad news that arrives within days, with a proposed fix attached, is what good service looks like. Finding out from the monthly report is the pattern to avoid.
Ownership
Who owns the creative work once we have paid for it: the finished ads, the unused concepts and the working files?
Why ask it
Ownership is set by the contract and by the law where you are, so do not assume. Raise the three things separately, because agencies often treat finished ads, ideas that were presented and not chosen, and editable source files differently. Have your own lawyer read the clause before you sign.
Will the ad accounts, tracking and analytics be set up in our company's name or in yours?
Why ask it
Accounts opened under the agency's name can be hard to take with you, along with the audience lists and the history inside them. The cleaner arrangement is accounts your company owns with the agency added as a user. If they would rather hold them, they should be able to say why, and how a transfer would work.
How long, and where, are we licensed to use the photos, music, footage and actors in our ads?
Why ask it
Third-party material is usually licensed for a set period, territory and medium, and running an ad past those terms can bring a bill. Ask for a list of the licenses on each campaign with their end dates, and who keeps track of renewals.
If we part ways, what do you hand over, in what form, and how fast?
Why ask it
A good answer is a list with a time frame: source files, media plans, account access, audience lists, past reports. Two details are easy to miss, which are whether the handover is billed and whether they will brief the agency that follows them.
Would you want to show our campaign in your portfolio, award entries or case studies, and do we approve it first?
Why ask it
Most agencies will want to, and it is usually harmless. If your results or budgets are sensitive, agree what can be shown and have it written into the contract. How they react to a limit tells you whose interests come first.
How do you protect the customer data and business figures we share with you?
Why ask it
You will be handing over sales numbers, customer lists and plans. Ask who can see them, where they are kept, whether subcontractors get them, and what happens to them when the contract ends. Privacy rules differ by place and industry, so ask how they meet the ones that apply to you.
How to interview an advertising agency
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you meet anyone
Write your own brief first
One page is enough: what you sell, who buys it, what you want advertising to change, the budget range and the date it matters by. Send the same page to every agency. Without it each pitch answers a different question and you cannot compare them.
Decide what you will say about budget
Agencies plan differently for different sums, and hiding the figure gets you proposals that do not fit. Give a range, and say whether it includes the agency's fee or only the media. Then use the smallest-budget question under Fees and contract to hear whether they think the range is workable.
Shortlist three or four
More than that and the meetings blur. Look at each agency's published work and client list beforehand, so the Track record questions can start from a specific campaign and not from 'tell us about yourselves'.
Pick your questions by what worries you
Nobody gets through this whole list in an hour. Take two or three from each group, and put first the group that matches your last bad experience: The team if you were once handed to juniors, Fees and contract if the invoices surprised you, Ownership if you lost an account's history when an agency left.
Ask who will be in the room
Request that the people who would run your account attend, and not only the new-business team. How the agency responds to that request is your first answer under The team.
In the pitch meeting
Let them present, then leave the deck
Most agencies arrive with a presentation. Give it its time, then ask the questions that are not in it. The unrehearsed half of the meeting is closer to what working with them will be like.
Turn 'how do you' into 'when did you last'
'How do you handle a campaign that misses?' gets a policy. 'When did that last happen, and what did you do in the first week?' gets a story you can check with a reference. Most questions under Track record and Reporting improve with that change.
Send the money questions to the person who can answer
A creative director may not know how media is billed. Ask who should take the Fees and contract questions, and if that person is not present, ask for the answers in writing before the next round. Written answers are also easier to compare across agencies.
Notice who talks
If the account lead who would be your daily contact says nothing for an hour, put a question to them directly. You are choosing the people more than the presentation.
Be careful with requests for free work
Asking for finished campaign ideas before hiring is routine in some places and resented in others, and some agencies decline to pitch on those terms. If you want to see thinking on your brand, consider a small paid exercise, and agree beforehand who owns whatever is shown.
Comparing the answers
Use the same sheet for every agency
Write the questions you chose down the side of a page and each agency across the top, and fill it in the same day. A week later the meetings merge, and the most charming presenter wins by default.
Specifics over polish
Names, percentages, dates and a contract clause they can point to are worth more than a confident tone. Where an answer was general, send a follow-up email asking for the detail. How quickly and plainly they reply is information too.
Weigh the fee against what it buys
The cheapest proposal and the most expensive one often describe different amounts of work. Line up what each fee includes, the markups, and the hours of the people you met before you compare totals.
Check references with the same questions
Put two or three of your questions to the agency's clients: who really does the work, how bad news arrives, whether the invoices matched the estimate. Where a client's account differs from the agency's, the client's is the one to plan around.
Before you sign
Get the spoken answers into the document
Team names, shares of time, markups, reporting dates, the notice period, ownership of the work and of the accounts: anything you relied on in the meeting should appear in the contract or the scope of work. If it is missing, ask for it to be added.
Have the contract read
Agency contracts touch intellectual property, responsibility for media bookings and data handling, and the rules for each differ by country and state. This page is a list of things to ask, not legal advice. Someone qualified where you operate should read the agreement before you sign it.
Agree a review point
Set a date a few months in to look together at what was promised and what happened, and decide now which figures you will bring to it. It gives both sides a planned moment to adjust the scope or part ways without a fight.
Set up access on day one
Before work begins, confirm that the ad accounts and analytics are in your company's name, or that you hold administrator access, and that there is a shared folder for source files. It is far easier at the start than during a breakup.