What we know about managing advertising agencies

This article provides marketers with information and guidance for managing relationships with advertising agencies.

  • A changing relationship, including the move towards "disintermediation".

  • Finding (and replacing) an agency, including managing the risk and reward of appointing agency partners.

  • Evaluating agency performance, including the importance of a clear and comprehensive brief.

  • Compensating agencies, including the main models of agency remuneration.

  • Managing agencies, including four goals for a relationship grounded in mutual respect and trust.

For the last decade, "disintermediation" is the word that has continued to strike fear into the heart of advertising agencies.

In many ways, the idea of brand owners dropping their agencies is a discussion the agencies,...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands