# Which group does an agency belong to?

**Short answer.** More important than it sounds: two agencies competing in your pitch can hang off the same holding. It is the axis most often skipped in a selection.

There are three levels, and they get mixed up constantly: the **company** (the legal entity with a company number), the **agency** (the name the market knows, sometimes several companies together) and the **group** (the holding or international network above it).

For you the third matters most, for one reason.

## Two candidates, one owner

Two agencies competing in your pitch can hang off the same holding. That is not rare: the large international groups own several Belgian agencies that compete with each other on paper.

That does not make their proposals worth less. It does make your pitch less independent than it looks, and it is the axis most often skipped in a selection. Discover it only after the award and you have negotiated against yourself.

## Where to look it up

IKAg's factsheets show per agency which group it belongs to, and there is an [overview by group](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/groepen) with the agencies underneath. Beyond that: the Belgian Official Gazette publishes participations and director changes, and annual accounts in the full schedule list participations.

## What the group does and does not mean

**It does mean:** access to specialists inside the group, international coverage, and the processes large advertisers need.

**It does not mean:** that the agencies work together. In most groups they are separate businesses with their own targets, and those targets can be opposed.

**And it does not mean:** a quality judgement. No measurement says a group agency makes better or worse work.

## The question to ask

"Are there agencies in this pitch belonging to the same group, and how do you guarantee nothing is shared?" Ask all participants at the same time rather than one of them, otherwise it becomes an accusation instead of a procedure.

See also: [network or independent agency](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/netwerkbureau-of-onafhankelijk) and [how many agencies to invite](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoeveel-bureaus-uitnodigen).

## Related questions

- [Network agency or independent agency: what is the difference?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/netwerkbureau-of-onafhankelijk): A network agency hangs off an international holding and brings scale, process and international coverage; an independent decides for itself and has its owners in the building. Look at who signs, not at what is on the door.
- [Who owns an agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wie-is-de-eigenaar-van-een-bureau): Shareholders are not in the annual accounts, but directors and every change to them appear in the Belgian Official Gazette, free of charge. A holding above it tells you the rest.
- [How many agencies do I invite to a pitch?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoeveel-bureaus-uitnodigen): In IKAg-guided processes the median is six on the longlist and three on the shortlist, and that three is remarkably tight: across twenty measured shortlists it ranged from two to four.

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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