Choosing an agency
How to Choose a Performance Creative Agency: 9 Questions
Gabe Hutcheon · · 7 min read
Most "best agency" lists rank agencies by who paid for the placement. Useless. What actually predicts whether an agency moves your numbers is how they work, and you can surface that in one call. Here are the nine questions to ask, what a good answer sounds like, and the red flags.
The 9 questions
- How many distinct concepts do you ship per test cycle? Good: a real number tied to your spend, with genuine diversity (different personas, angles, offers), not 20 near-duplicates. Red flag: "as many as you need" with no method.
- Do you report at the ad set and campaign level, or just ad-level ROAS? Good: they read ROAS where it is reliable and know why ad-level ROAS misleads. Red flag: dashboards full of flattering ad-level ROAS. (Why this matters: ad creative metrics that lie.)
- Who owns the footage and the usage rights? Good: you do, with clear licensing terms. Red flag: they keep it, so leaving means losing your library.
- What is your research and briefing process? Good: they mine customer language, competitor ads and winning patterns before writing a brief. Red flag: they jump straight to production on taste.
- How do you handle creative fatigue? Good: they diagnose the cause and work a fix order, not just "we will make new ads". (See facebook ad fatigue.)
- What is your replicate / iterate / net-new mix? Good: they weight toward restaging proven winners, not constant net-new. Red flag: every month is all-new concepts.
- How do you decide what to test first? Good: angle and offer before persona and format. Red flag: they lead with format and editing-style swaps.
- Can you show real before-and-after account results? Good: specific accounts, specific metrics, honest about what did not work. Red flag: only logos and vanity awards.
- How do you work with our media buyer or in-house team? Good: they slot in as the creative arm and make the buyer's job easier. Red flag: they need to own everything or nothing.
The red flags, in one place
- Guaranteeing a specific ROAS. nobody credible can.
- Reporting only ad-level ROAS.
- Vague or absent research process.
- Keeping your footage and usage rights.
- Leading with awards instead of performance.
- One-size packages with no view on volume or fatigue.
Before you sign
Decide whether an agency is even the right model first. weigh it against building internally in creative agency vs in-house. If you do go external, the answers above separate a creative engine from a content shop. Want to put these questions to us? Book a free creative audit and judge the answers for yourself.
Frequently asked questions
- What should I look for in a performance creative agency?
- Look for genuine creative volume and diversity per test cycle, reporting at the ad set and campaign level (not just flattering ad-level ROAS), clear ownership of footage and usage rights, a real research and briefing process, and a sensible view on creative fatigue and the production mix.
- What questions should I ask a creative agency before hiring?
- Ask how many distinct concepts they ship per test cycle, how they report ROAS, who owns the footage, how they research and brief, how they handle fatigue, what their replicate-iterate-net-new mix is, and to see real before-and-after account results.
- What are red flags when choosing a creative agency?
- Promising guaranteed ROAS, reporting only ad-level ROAS, vague or no research process, keeping the footage and usage rights, leading with awards instead of performance, and one-size-fits-all packages with no view on volume or fatigue.
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