ADVERTISING AGENCIES
Running an Ad Agency Profitably After the Big Campaign Ends
The launch campaign wrapped on Friday, the client loved it, and on Monday three people on your team have nothing billable. Meanwhile the media invoice you paid on their behalf is still unpaid. This is the normal rhythm of an agency, and it is where margin quietly leaks.
We advise on the business side of the agency: how retainers are priced against real hours, how revisions are scoped, how media money is tracked, and how new work is followed up. We do not plan media, write ads or run campaigns for you.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Retainers are quoted on a gut feeling, then the client asks for a fourth round of changes and nobody can say what that round cost the studio.
- 02Media spend passes through your account first, so a late client payment becomes your cash problem even though the agency earned only a small slice.
- 03Creative staff are booked tightly during a launch and idle in the gap after, because nobody looks at the next six weeks of work together.
- 04Pitches eat senior time for weeks, and no one records how many pitches were entered, how many were won, and what each one cost in hours.
- 05The founder remains the only person clients trust, so account managers hold calls but cannot agree scope or price without checking back.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01Hours logged per client against the monthly retainer fee, shown in one sheet by account
- 02A revision policy written into each scope note: rounds included, rate for extra rounds
- 03A media ledger separating client money held for ad platforms and publishers from agency fees
- 04Days outstanding on each client invoice, with a named person who makes the follow-up call
- 05A weekly resourcing grid of designers, copywriters and video editors over the coming month
- 06Pitch log with brief date, hours spent, decision date and reason for win or loss
- 07Which accounts need the founder on calls and which an account head can run alone
- 08Freelancer rates and deadlines compared with the cost of keeping the work in-house
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- Pick your three biggest retainers and ask each team to write down the hours they logged last month. Divide the fee by those hours and see which client pays you least per hour.
- List every media payment you have made for clients that has not been repaid. Write the client, amount and invoice date, then call the two oldest this week.
- Hypothetical example: a retainer of ₹1,00,000 a month that takes 160 team hours works out at ₹625 an hour. If your costed hour is ₹800, that account is losing money, whatever the client thinks.
- Open your last five pitches and note hours spent and result. Decide before the next brief arrives how many senior hours you are willing to spend on one pitch.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A one-page account profitability sheet: fee, hours, freelancer cost and margin for each client
- A scope-and-revision template that your account managers attach to every estimate
- A weekly resourcing and invoice-chase meeting format with a fixed agenda and owner for each line
- A role chart showing who approves price, who signs off scope and who calls on overdue bills
Not the right fit when: If the agency is facing a dispute over unpaid fees or an infringement claim, that needs a lawyer first. We are also a poor fit if the problem is creative quality rather than how the studio is run.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
