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Service 03 · for brands

Make every agency pull its weight.

Most brands don't have an agency problem - they have an agency roster problem. Too many partners, blurry lanes, overlapping scopes. We map the whole ecosystem and tune the structure so every partner has a clear, complementary place - and you keep exactly the right set of agencies.

In short

What an agency roster is, and when it drifts out of balance

An agency roster is the set of agencies an advertiser works with: creative, media, digital, PR, content, events. The agency ecosystem is that set plus the arrangements between them: who owns which lane, who leads where, and how the partners work with each other.

IKAg maps rosters like these against its own database of more than 1200 Belgian and Dutch agencies (as of 2026), built up since 2008.

A roster rarely grows to a plan. One partner arrives for a campaign, a second for a channel that was new at the time, a third because a colleague had a good experience with them. None of those decisions was wrong. Together they produce overlapping scopes and work that gets paid for twice.

Three signals point to drift. Two agencies delivering the same kind of work without anyone intending it. Briefs going to several partners at once because ownership is unclear. And a partner who has had no meaningful work for a year but is still on the list.

Fewer agencies is not automatically better. A consolidation that removes the specialisms you need only moves the problem inside. The question is not how many partners there are, but whether each partner holds a clear, complementary place.

The questions we answer

Four things we put under the lens.

Roster mapping

Who you work with, for what, and whether the lanes are clear - or quietly overlapping.

Complementarity & gaps

Where partners duplicate each other, and where real capabilities are missing entirely.

Overlap & consolidation

Where you'd be stronger with fewer, sharper relationships instead of more of them.

Clear lanes & scopes

Who owns what, so every partner knows its job and nothing falls between the cracks.

How it works

A clear path, step by step.

Transparent from the start - you pay only for the work. We can map the full roster or zoom in on one corner of it.

1

Intake

We map your ambitions, your current roster and where the friction is showing up.

2

Map

We chart the full ecosystem: partners, scopes, overlaps and gaps.

3

Recommendations

A tuned roster: who stays, who goes, who's missing - with clear, non-overlapping lanes.

4

Keep it sharp

An optional cadence so the roster doesn't quietly sprawl again.

What you walk away with

A roster that earns its keep.

No vague advice - the concrete artifacts you need to act on your agency structure.

Request a quote
  • A full map of your agency ecosystem and scopes
  • Clear, non-overlapping lanes so every partner knows its job
  • A consolidation view where fewer, sharper partners win
  • A prioritized action list to tune the roster
Good to know

Questions we get a lot.

Do we have to fire agencies?

Not necessarily. Often it's about clearer lanes and scopes, not fewer partners. Sometimes it is about consolidation - the data tells us which.

What about rates and how the relationships are going?

That's our Agency evaluation & remuneration service - we often run it right after mapping the roster.

Will our agencies know?

We work discreetly. How and when partners are involved is entirely your call.

Can you also run a new pitch?

Yes - when a gap needs a new partner, that's our Agency selection service.

Get in touch

Let's talk.

Call us, send an email, or fill in the form. We typically respond within a day.