# How do I find a good agency?

**Short answer.** 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.

Not by googling "best advertising agency". That search returns lists that were sold, and agencies that are good at being found. Start from the work.

## Four steps that do work

**1. Collect work you admire and find out who made it.** Campaigns from your own sector, but above all from outside it: inside your sector you end up with agencies that have already sold the same solution five times. Award shows, the trade press and agencies' own sites all serve here; the credits are usually listed.

**2. Build a longlist of about six.** In IKAg-guided processes six is the median. Fewer and you have no choice, more and you will not find the time to look at each of them seriously. Deliberately put one on it that you did not know.

**3. Check them on paper before you call.** Services, sector, size, group structure and the figures from the annual accounts. That takes ten minutes per agency and usually removes two.

**4. Talk to the people, not the management.** In a first meeting ask who would work on your account day to day, and have that person explain something. Selling ability and working ability rarely sit in the same chair.

## Where to look

IKAg's factsheets are open and searchable per axis: [by expertise](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/expertises), [by sector](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/sectoren), [by location](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/plaatsen) and [by group](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/groepen). Each agency shows its services, reference clients, awards and key figures from its filed accounts.

Beyond that: ask peers at other companies who they use and what went wrong. That second half of the question is the useful part.

## The trap

A longlist that starts from the names you know is not a selection but a confirmation. The agencies you know are the most visible ones, and visibility is a skill unrelated to the work they would do for you.

See also: [which criteria to use](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/criteria-om-bureaus-te-vergelijken), [how to know whether an agency is good](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-weet-ik-of-een-bureau-goed-is) and [how many agencies to invite](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoeveel-bureaus-uitnodigen).

## Related questions

- [Which criteria do I use to compare agencies?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/criteria-om-bureaus-te-vergelijken): Five axes are enough: the work, the team you actually get, the fit with your sector and your way of working, the price per unit of work, and the stability of the business. Weight them before you see the first presentation.
- [What are the best advertising agencies in Belgium?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/beste-reclamebureaus-belgie): 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.
- [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.
- [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.

---

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