Before the pitch
Who will actually do the work? Pitch teams and delivery teams are often different people. Ask to meet the second group.
What have you done in our category? Not to insist on category experience, but because the answer reveals whether they understand what your buyer is like.
What did you get wrong on a recent job, and what changed? An agency that cannot name one is either lucky, new, or not being straight with you.
About the work itself
Who owns the artwork and the photography? If the answer is anything other than "you do", understand exactly what you will have to re-buy later.
How many rounds of changes are included? And what happens on the round after that.
How will versions be managed? A campaign becomes a dozen adaptations. Ask whether they will be derived from one master or made as separate files. The second answer costs you money every time something changes.
What happens if we do not like the first concept? The answer tells you whether the relationship is collaborative or transactional.
About production
Do you produce, or subcontract? Neither is wrong, but you should know who is accountable when the colour does not match.
Who is responsible if the printed result differs from the proof? Ask before, not after.
How do you handle a fixed date? Listen for a schedule that works backwards from the date rather than forwards from the brief.
What will you tell us we should not do? An agency that agrees with everything is not going to protect you from anything.
Answers worth walking away from
"We'll figure out the details later." Details are where budgets and deadlines die.
"We can do everything." Nobody can. An agency that names what it does not do is telling you the truth about the rest.
"We'll hold the files so we can maintain consistency." That is not consistency, it is a lock-in.
"Yes" to an unrealistic deadline, said too quickly. Somebody is going to be disappointed, and it will be you.
What we would answer
The people who pitch are the people who work on it - there are not two teams here. Most of our experience is agri-input, chemical and manufacturing, which is a specific kind of buyer and we will say when your category is not that.
Artwork, working files and photography are yours and are handed over on request. Versions are built as one artwork family from a master. We produce in-house on our own press, so accountability for the printed result does not move.
We do not buy media or run performance marketing, and we will tell you when a deadline is not achievable rather than agreeing and managing it later.
