How to Choose An Agency For Your First TV Ad Campaign
With downloadable checklist👇.
Let’s just address the elephant in the room. An agency, telling you how to find your best-fit agency. Cue the skepticism that this article is going to convince you why we’re the best.
Actually, no. Not because we don’t want to work with brilliant brands—we do—but because not all people are right for us. We excel with challengers, and we want to actually get on with the people we work with. And I can’t tell that until I meet you. So we’ll just keep it platonic. And therein lies the first and most important message: find an agency you gel with. The people, the attitude, the connection you have as humans. It will make the whole process more enjoyable, and frankly, creative industries are supposed to be fun—so why shouldn’t your agency hire be too?
But chemistry isn’t enough. You also need to be clear on what you’re actually buying.
Know What You’re Looking For
Before you start throwing up agency questions, ask yourself a few first:
Do you need strategy, creative and production—or just production?
Is your priority brand recognition, instant results, or both? (Most challengers seek results first, with brand building as a bonus.)
Will you roll the campaign out across other channels, and what are they —Meta, Amazon, cinema, radio, digital outdoor?
Do you need support navigating the process, or do you have someone in the business who’s TV-savvy?
We’ve built a free printable - 12 Key Questions to Ask Agency Partners Before Hiring - to help you with your agency selection. Download the checklist below.
You’ll need both a creative partner and a media partner. Here, we’re focusing on choosing the creative agency—because we know all about that.
Broadly, your options to choose from are:
Creative agency – comes up with the idea but doesn’t make the assets.
Production agency – handles the actual production.
Hybrid agency – combines creative and production under one roof.
Full service agency – usually a media agency offering creative as an add-on.
If you already have a creative agency from another discipline—PR, design, print—it’s worth checking whether they have any creds for broadcast. TV has unique technical and legal requirements that can tie you in knots if you don’t have experienced people on board.
The Industry Secret About “Full Service” Agencies
A lot of media agencies now call themselves “full service.” This is different to a recommended list of creative agency partners, which most media agents will have. “Full service” means they do the creative and production in house. On paper it sounds great: one joined-up strategy across media and creative. In practice, it can (not always) mean the media agency has a slim or part time creative department, and the media tail ends up wagging the creative dog. Creative ends up forced to fit budgets or buying decisions, and originality can suffer. Before signing up, check how genuinely “creative” their creative dept is.
Evaluating Their Track Record
Glossy reels are lush, glamorous case studies are impressive. But you need to see campaigns that reflect your objectives and your budget. If your budget is £20k, a reel full of £150k+ films is irrelevant. Likewise, a beautiful film that didn’t move the needle is not what you’re after.
Look at how they measure success. For creative agencies, ask if they’re performance-driven or purely brand-focused. TV creative built for performance is more than just a call-to-action at the end—it’s baked into the storytelling. Brand agencies have their own unique expertise building trust. But not shifting product.
The First-Timer’s Safety Net
For first-time advertisers, the right agency should act as a safety net. TV can be a big leap—but with the right partner, it should feel more like a harness than a freefall. The agency should educate you, cut through jargon, and show you what success looks like at each stage. TV creative doesn’t have to be ultimate - “one and done”—if built with optimisation in mind, creative can flex even after being aired. So ask how they set projects up for flexibility, and how revisions are handled.
Watch-Outs to Avoid
There are some things to keep in mind:
Digital agencies are not TV agencies. TV has different workflows, compliance, legals, and delivery requirements that could trip up even the best content creators.
A network creative agency can be an expensive middleman. Their “producers” usually focus on contracts and licensing, not the nuts and bolts of production—adding time and cost when outsourced production gets marked up.
Beware of overpromising. If an agency promises lightning-fast turnaround or artists that are paid in magic beans, question it. TV production has unavoidable processes—compliance, approvals, contract agreements—that take up time and cost allocation. Understand how they charge for talent.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, you’re not just buying a TV ad. You’re buying expertise, education, and risk mitigation. The best agency is one that sees your success as their responsibility, not just your problem.
Making Your Agencies Work Together
Once you’ve chosen your partners, the real work begins: making sure they collaborate. Creative and media work in silo so it is up to you to make the introductions and create the framework. Set up joint kick-offs, establish clear communication channels, and insist on a feedback loop where media insights inform creative and vice versa.
Head of marketing is the conductor of an orchestra. The most effective TV campaigns don’t happen when creative and media play separately—they happen when they perform as one.
To make this process simpler, download our free checklist: 12 Key Questions to Ask Agency Partners Before Hiring. It gives you a 360° view of the company and helps you compare apples with apples.