# What are the best advertising agencies in Belgium?

**Short answer.** That list does not exist, and every ranking you find measures something other than your need: awards, revenue, or who paid to be on it. The best agency is the one that fits your brief.

That list does not exist, and this is not modesty. Every ranking you find measures something other than what you need.

## What the lists actually measure

- **Award rankings** measure how many prizes an agency won. That says something about creative ambition and about willingness to pay entry fees, and nothing about how they execute an annual plan.
- **Revenue rankings** measure size. The largest agency is the one with the most clients, not the best one for your client.
- **Directories and "top ten" articles** usually measure who paid to be listed, or who ranks best in search engines.

None of the three knows your assignment, your budget, your sector, your internal team or your way of deciding. And it is exactly those five that determine which agency works for you.

## What "the best" really means

The best agency for you is the one that understands your assignment, puts the right people on it, and fits how you make decisions. That last point is almost always underestimated: an agency used to a single decision maker stalls in front of a steering committee of eight, however good the work.

## What to do instead

Build a longlist of about six based on what you need: expertise, sector experience where it counts, a size that suits your budget, and financial stability. Invite three. That process takes longer than reading a list and produces an answer that is about you.

Which is why IKAg publishes no ranking but [factsheets per agency](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/), with the facts that can be checked: services, sectors, reference clients, awards and the figures from filed annual accounts. What counts as good is your call.

See also: [how to find a good agency](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-vind-ik-een-goed-bureau), [how to know whether an agency is good](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-weet-ik-of-een-bureau-goed-is) and [which agency fits your sector](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/welk-bureau-past-bij-mijn-sector).

## Related questions

- [How do I find a good agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-vind-ik-een-goed-bureau): Start from work you admire and find out who made it, not from a list on Google. Then build a longlist of about six and test them on fit, capacity and financial stability.
- [How do I know whether an agency is any good?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-weet-ik-of-een-bureau-goed-is): Call two clients the agency did not put forward itself, and ask about the time it went wrong. A portfolio shows someone at their best; a reference shows how they work when things go badly.
- [Which agency fits my sector?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/welk-bureau-past-bij-mijn-sector): Sector experience helps with regulation and hurts distinctiveness: an agency serving five players in your market knows the rules and has already applied them five times. Search by sector in the factsheets.

---

IKAg is the business consultant for marketing and agencies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Market figures come from the Agency Barometer, calculated on the annual accounts agencies filed with the National Bank themselves. Figures on pitches and satisfaction come from IKAg-guided processes, and are always presented as such.

- All questions: https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq
- Last updated: 2026-08-19