# Should I pick a big agency or a small one?

**Short answer.** Size does not predict quality: the rank correlation between headcount and growth is 0.003. What it does predict is whether you will work with the people you met in the pitch.

Size does not predict quality. That is measured, not assumed: in IKAg's [Agency Barometer](https://www.ikag.be/barometer) the rank correlation between headcount and growth is 0.003, which is zero. The median growing agency had 7.1 full-time equivalents, the median shrinking one 7.8.

What size does predict are three very practical things.

## 1. Whether you get the people you met in the pitch

At a small agency the people presenting are the people working. At a large one it depends on your budget relative to their other clients: if you are their tenth largest, you get their tenth team. So always ask for names, and put them in writing at the start.

## 2. What happens when someone leaves

An agency of eight that loses two is a different agency. An agency of eighty barely notices. With median staff turnover of 34.6 percent a year in this market, that is not a theoretical risk.

## 3. Whether they can absorb your peak and your procedures

Large advertisers with a purchasing department impose requirements on insurance, data security and payment terms that an agency of five cannot carry. Conversely, a small budget at a large agency rarely gets attention, however warm the meeting was.

## The rule of thumb that works

You want to be big enough to matter at your agency, and small enough to get its best people. If your assignment sits among that agency's five largest clients, you are well placed. If you are the thirtieth, you are buying a name and a junior.

## The dip in the middle

From the same measurements: agencies between roughly 15 and 40 full-time equivalents carry the lowest margins in the market, and above 40 the EBITDA margin recovers to 17.1 percent. That is no reason to avoid that group, but it is a reason to ask about their plans: it is the group under most pressure to grow or merge.

See also: [how big the average agency is](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-groot-is-een-gemiddeld-bureau) and [who works at an agency](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wie-werkt-er-bij-een-bureau).

## Related questions

- [How big is the average agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-groot-is-een-gemiddeld-bureau): Smaller than you think: the median growing agency in the Belgian market had 7.1 full-time equivalents and the median shrinking one 7.8. The agencies you know are the exception, not the average.
- [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 works at an agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/wie-werkt-er-bij-een-bureau): The question that matters is not who works there but who will be on your account, and whether that person was in the pitch room. Ask for names, not job titles, and put them in writing at the start.

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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