Data as of Aug 25, 2026 · Based on 319 AI responses from ChatGPT Search and Google AI Mode · See how Parse measures this
Brands AI recommends here
Named in 13% of answers
Named in 10% of answers
Named in 10% of answers
Named in 9% of answers
Source | Citation share |
|---|---|
 Hard question: do you need a branding agency or marketing agency?https://www.sublimio.com/you-need-a-branding-agency-or-marketing-agency/ | 5.1% |
 How to Choose a Branding Agencyhttps://www.ignytebrands.com/how-to-choose-a-branding-agency/ | 3.2% |
 How to Hire the Right Branding Agency - Mind Digital Grouphttps://www.minddigital.com/how-to-hire-the-right-branding-agency/ | 2.9% |
 How to find the best rebranding agency - Admindhttps://admindagency.com/how-to-find-the-best-rebranding-agency/ | 2.8% |
 How to Choose a Branding Agency: What You Need to Knowhttps://www.awesomic.com/blog/the-ins-and-outs-of-finding-a-branding-agency | 2.6% |
 How to Choose a Branding Agency - JQ Design Labshttps://jqdesignlabs.com/how-to-choose-a-branding-agency/ | 2.1% |
 Choosing a Rebranding Agency: 5-Step Checklisthttps://www.kunocreative.com/blog/5-steps-perfect-agency-for-rebrand | 1.9% |
 How to Know When You're Ready to Hire a Branding Agencyhttps://ellyandnoracreative.com/how-to-know-when-youre-ready-to-hire-a-branding-agency/ | 1.8% |
 What to Look for in a Branding Agency | Clutch.cohttps://clutch.co/resources/what-to-look-for-in-a-branding-agency | 1.7% |
 10 tips on how to choose and hire the best branding agencyhttps://www.martsmounts.com/what-is-branding/10-tips-on-how-to-choose-and-hire-a-branding-agency | 1.7% |
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager, you need a partner who doesn't just design a pretty logo, but deeply understands your business strategy, market positioning, and internal culture. Here is a structured roadmap to finding and hiring the right branding agency for your…
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager, you need a partner who doesn't just design a pretty logo, but deeply understands your business strategy, market positioning, and internal culture.
Here is a structured roadmap to finding and hiring the right branding agency for your transition:
To help tailor this process, could you tell me:
No sources cited
A good Brand Manager should treat agency selection less like **“Which agency has the coolest portfolio?”** and more like **“Which partner is most likely to solve our business problem, with our people, in our reality?”** That distinction matters because a rebrand is usually a strategic transformation—not just a new…
A good Brand Manager should treat agency selection less like “Which agency has the coolest portfolio?” and more like “Which partner is most likely to solve our business problem, with our people, in our reality?”
That distinction matters because a rebrand is usually a strategic transformation—not just a new logo. The ANA/4A’s agency-selection guidance emphasizes clear briefing, defined success criteria, appropriate decision-makers, chemistry, and an efficient search process.
Before contacting agencies, align internally on:
Don't let the agency search become the mechanism for figuring out your internal strategy. Agencies can help you resolve ambiguity, but they shouldn't have to discover who your stakeholders are or why you're doing the project.
I'd start with 5–8 agencies, ideally with different strengths:
Look beyond recognizable names. A smaller agency with the right senior team can outperform a famous agency where your project gets handed to juniors.
For every agency, investigate the actual people who would work on your account, not just the work displayed on its website.
A useful question is:
“Who specifically will be doing the strategy, creative direction and day-to-day work—and how much of their time will actually be allocated to us?”
This is probably the biggest selection mistake.
An agency can have gorgeous identities and still be terrible at rebranding.
For each case study, ask:
You want to see a chain like:
Business problem → research/insight → strategy → positioning → creative idea → brand system → implementation → measurable outcome
—not simply:
Old logo → sexy new logo.
Recent agency-selection guidance similarly recommends evaluating strategic rigor, relevant experience, team expertise, process transparency and measurable outcomes.
Your RFP shouldn't tell the agency how to solve the problem.
Give them the problem, the context, constraints and desired outcomes.
For example:
“Our brand has strong awareness among existing customers, but research suggests we are increasingly perceived as a legacy provider. We need to become more relevant to [audience] without alienating our existing customer base.” That's much more revealing than:
“We need a new logo, tagline, website and brand guidelines.” A useful RFP should cover company context, the business challenge, audiences, competitive environment, scope, timeline, budget parameters, team expectations, deliverables and evaluation criteria.
Importantly, give agencies enough information to do good thinking. ANA/4A's guidance specifically emphasizes progressively richer briefing as an agency review advances.
This is often controversial internally, but I'd strongly favor giving a budget range for a serious rebrand.
Otherwise you're asking agencies to solve a problem without knowing the resources available to solve it—and you'll end up comparing radically different scopes.
For example:
Investment expectation: $500K–$750K, excluding media and implementation production. Then ask:
“If you believe the required investment falls outside this range, explain why and identify what you would change.” You learn much more from that than from simply asking, “What's your fee?”
Don't make six agencies spend weeks creating speculative brand concepts.
Instead, give finalists the same challenge and ask them to demonstrate:
The ANA/4A's has explicitly identified agency pitch complexity and excessive demands on both agencies and clients as problems worth simplifying.
You aren't trying to see who can make the best 20-slide pitch deck.
You're trying to see who you'd trust six months from now when the CEO hates the first creative direction and Sales says the positioning won't work.
I'd run a dedicated chemistry session with the actual working team.
Watch for:
One of the most important signals is whether the agency can say:
“We don't think that's the right problem to solve.” That's often more valuable than an agency that enthusiastically agrees with everything you say.
I'd use a weighted scorecard rather than allowing the loudest executive in the room to choose the agency they personally liked.
For example:
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Strategic capability | 20% |
| Relevant rebrand experience | 15% |
| Quality/distinctiveness of creative thinking | 15% |
| Understanding of our business/audience | 10% |
| Senior team & talent | 10% |
| Chemistry/collaboration | 10% |
| Implementation capability | 5% |
| Measurement/business impact | 5% |
| Commercial proposal | 10% |
You can adjust the weights, but I'd avoid making price the dominant criterion.
A cheap agency that gets the brand wrong is extraordinarily expensive.
Don't just ask the references:
“Were you happy?” Ask:
And, if possible, find one former client rather than only the three hand-picked references the agency supplies.
Before signing, clarify:
Don't discover six months later that the beautiful identity you've approved doesn't include the underlying assets your internal team needs.
If I were the Brand Manager, I'd ask every finalist these five questions:
1. “What do you think our real brand problem is?”
This tells you whether they've actually listened.
2. “What would you need to learn before you could recommend a positioning?”
This reveals strategic maturity.
3. “Show us a project where your initial thinking was wrong. What changed your mind?”
This reveals intellectual honesty.
4. “Who exactly will work on our business, and what percentage of the work will they personally do?”
This exposes bait-and-switch staffing.
5. “Tell us about a client relationship that became difficult. What happened?”
This is one of the best predictors of how they'll behave when your rebrand inevitably gets messy.
I'd be cautious if an agency:
And perhaps the biggest one:
They seem more interested in winning the pitch than understanding your company.
I'd run the whole thing roughly like this:
Week 1–2: Internal alignment + write brief ↓ Week 2–3: Longlist 10–15 agencies ↓ Week 3–4: RFI / introductory conversations ↓ Week 4: Shortlist 4–6 ↓ Week 5: Issue detailed RFP ↓ Week 7–8: Finalist presentations + chemistry sessions ↓ Week 8: Reference checks ↓ Week 9: Commercial/contract negotiation ↓ Week 10: Appoint agency + kickoff
The key is to make the process rigorous for you but respectful of the agencies' time. ANA/4A's research specifically calls out clear success criteria, decision-maker participation, chemistry meetings, IP expectations and timely feedback as important elements of a healthier agency-selection process.
Don't hire the agency with the best portfolio.
Don't hire the agency with the best pitch.
Don't hire the agency with the lowest price.
Hire the agency where you can credibly say:
“These people understand our business, they think better than we do about the brand problem, they have the creative ability to turn that thinking into something distinctive, and I trust them to navigate our organization when things get difficult.” That's the agency you're actually hiring—not a logo, a deck, or a six-month project.
If useful, I can also build you a complete Brand Manager's agency-selection scorecard + rebrand RFP template, including the exact questions to ask agencies and a weighted 100-point evaluation matrix.
This reveals intellectual honesty.
4. “Who exactly will work on our business, and what percentage of the work will they personally do?”
This exposes bait-and-switch staffing.
5. “Tell us about a client relationship that became difficult. What happened?”
This is one of the best predictors of how they'll behave when your rebrand inevitably gets messy.
I'd be cautious if an agency:
And perhaps the biggest one:
They seem more interested in winning the pitch than understanding your company.
I'd run the whole thing roughly like this:
Week 1–2: Internal alignment + write brief ↓ Week 2–3: Longlist 10–15 agencies ↓ Week 3–4: RFI / introductory conversations ↓ Week 4: Shortlist 4–6 ↓ Week 5: Issue detailed RFP ↓ Week 7–8: Finalist presentations + chemistry sessions ↓ Week 8: Reference checks ↓ Week 9: Commercial/contract negotiation ↓ Week 10: Appoint agency + kickoff
The key is to make the process rigorous for you but respectful of the agencies' time. ANA/4A's research specifically calls out clear success criteria, decision-maker participation, chemistry meetings, IP expectations and timely feedback as important elements of a healthier agency-selection process.
A good Brand Manager should treat agency selection less like **“finding a creative shop”** and more like **hiring a strategic partner for a business transformation**. The biggest mistake is choosing the agency with the prettiest portfolio or the most charismatic pitch. The better question is: **“Who understands our…
A good Brand Manager should treat agency selection less like “finding a creative shop” and more like hiring a strategic partner for a business transformation.
The biggest mistake is choosing the agency with the prettiest portfolio or the most charismatic pitch. The better question is: “Who understands our business problem, can challenge our assumptions, and can turn strategy into a brand people can actually use?” Recent agency-selection guidance makes the same distinction: strong agencies investigate positioning, audience, competition and organizational realities before jumping into visual design.
Before talking to agencies, align internally on:
This matters because agencies will otherwise propose radically different scopes and you'll end up comparing apples to oranges.
Don't start with 20.
I'd deliberately create a portfolio of agency types, for example:
Look for relevant experience, not merely famous logos.
A useful distinction is:
“Have they worked for companies like ours?” versus “Have they solved problems like ours?” The second is much more important.
When reviewing case studies, ask what changed because of the agency's work, not just what the identity looked like.
For every impressive case study, ask:
A beautiful logo tells you very little about whether the agency can handle your rebrand.
In fact, one of the strongest selection signals is how an agency thinks before it starts designing. If they immediately start talking about logos, colors and moodboards without interrogating the business problem, that's a warning sign.
Your RFP shouldn't tell the agency how to solve the problem.
Instead of:
“We need a new logo, website, tagline and brand guidelines.” Say:
“Our current brand is no longer differentiated with X audience. We're entering Y markets, our business has evolved in Z ways, and we're trying to achieve A, B and C.” Then ask agencies to explain:
That gives you a much better view of how they think, rather than how well they can respond to a procurement document.
And give them a budget range if possible. It helps agencies design an appropriate engagement instead of guessing at your expectations.
In the first serious conversation, tell them about your situation and ask:
“Based on what you've heard so far, what do you think our actual problem is?” Then shut up.
A mediocre agency will repeat your brief.
A good agency will say something like:
“You came to us asking for a rebrand, but we don't think the visual identity is the fundamental issue. It sounds like your positioning has become blurred as you've expanded into these markets. We'd want to investigate that before recommending an identity solution.” That is extremely valuable.
You're looking for judgment, not compliance.
This is crucial.
Don't hire the agency's CEO because they gave a brilliant pitch and then discover that your project is being run by someone you've never met.
Ask:
Then evaluate the chemistry.
You're going to disagree with these people. A lot.
You want people who can say “I don't think that's right, and here's why” without becoming difficult to work with.
I wouldn't ask five agencies to develop full creative concepts for free.
That tends to reward presentation skills rather than strategic quality, and it asks agencies to give away substantial intellectual work.
Instead, give finalists the same business scenario and ask them to walk you through how they'd approach it.
For example:
“Our research shows that customers see us as trustworthy but conservative. Leadership wants us perceived as innovative without alienating our existing customer base. How would you investigate and resolve that tension?” You learn far more from the conversation than from five speculative logos.
For a very large engagement, you can also consider a paid discovery/strategy phase before committing to the entire program.
Don't let the loudest executive or coolest creative presentation determine the winner.
I'd use something roughly like:
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Strategic thinking | 25% |
| Relevant experience/case studies | 20% |
| Quality of proposed team | 15% |
| Creative capability | 15% |
| Chemistry/collaboration | 10% |
| Process & project management | 5% |
| References | 5% |
| Commercial value | 5% |
You can adjust those numbers, but I'd avoid making price the dominant factor.
A formal scoring system also makes it easier to explain the decision internally.
Don't just ask:
“Were you happy with them?” Ask former clients:
That last question is particularly useful.
I'd be cautious if an agency:
A particularly telling warning sign is an agency that seems too eager to agree with everything you say. You aren't paying them to validate the brief. You're paying them to make the brief better.
Your job isn't simply to find the agency with the best creative work.
It's to find the agency that sits at the intersection of:
Strategic rigor × Creative excellence × Organizational fit × Executional capability
I'd prioritize them roughly in that order.
And remember that a full rebrand is usually more than an identity project. Discovery, strategy, identity, launch and ongoing adoption can all be distinct phases, so make sure the agency can operate beyond the presentation of the new logo.
If I were running the selection, I'd do:
Week 1: Internal alignment + define brief Week 2: Research 10–15 agencies → shortlist 5 Week 3: Intro calls + issue RFP Weeks 4–5: Agency questions and proposals Week 6: Finalist presentations/workshops Week 7: References + commercial negotiation Week 8: Select partner + contract Then: Discovery → strategy → creative → identity/system → rollout
The key principle is: don't hire the agency that gives you the best pitch. Hire the agency that demonstrates the best judgment.
If you tell me your company size, industry, geography, why you're rebranding, and roughly what you're willing to invest, I can also give you a much more specific agency-selection framework and shortlist strategy for your situation.
I wouldn't ask five agencies to develop full creative concepts for free.
That tends to reward presentation skills rather than strategic quality, and it asks agencies to give away substantial intellectual work.
Instead, give finalists the same business scenario and ask them to walk you through how they'd approach it.
For example:
“Our research shows that customers see us as trustworthy but conservative. Leadership wants us perceived as innovative without alienating our existing customer base. How would you investigate and resolve that tension?” You learn far more from the conversation than from five speculative logos.
For a very large engagement, you can also consider a paid discovery/strategy phase before committing to the entire program.
Don't let the loudest executive or coolest creative presentation determine the winner.
I'd use something roughly like:
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Strategic thinking | 25% |
| Relevant experience/case studies | 20% |
| Quality of proposed team | 15% |
| Creative capability | 15% |
| Chemistry/collaboration | 10% |
| Process & project management | 5% |
| References | 5% |
| Commercial value | 5% |
You can adjust those numbers, but I'd avoid making price the dominant factor.
A formal scoring system also makes it easier to explain the decision internally.
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager, you need a partner who doesn't just make things look pretty, but deeply understands your business…
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager, you need a partner who doesn't just make things look pretty, but deeply understands your business strategy.
Here is a step-by-step framework to find, vet, and hire the right branding agency for your transition:
If you'd like, let me know:
I can help you tailor your RFP questions or build a scorecard to evaluate your agency shortlist.
If you’re the Brand Manager leading a rebrand, I’d treat agency selection less like **“who has the coolest portfolio?”** and more like hiring a senior strategic partner. The strongest agency-search guidance emphasizes a clear brief, explicit success criteria, the right decision-makers, structured evaluation, and…
If you’re the Brand Manager leading a rebrand, I’d treat agency selection less like “who has the coolest portfolio?” and more like hiring a senior strategic partner. The strongest agency-search guidance emphasizes a clear brief, explicit success criteria, the right decision-makers, structured evaluation, and genuine chemistry—not just a flashy pitch.
“Rebrand” can mean radically different things:
First answer: What business problem is the rebrand supposed to solve?
For example: “We have outgrown our current positioning, we're entering enterprise markets, and prospects don't understand why we're different.”
That's much more useful than: “We need a more modern brand.”
Recent rebranding guidance similarly recommends defining the business job of the rebrand before starting the agency search.
A beautiful portfolio is table stakes.
Ask each agency:
“Walk us through how you would figure out what our brand should stand for before designing anything.”
You want to hear about things like:
Research → stakeholder/customer insight → competitive analysis → positioning → messaging → creative territory → identity → implementation.
If they immediately start talking about colors, logos and moodboards, I'd be cautious. A rebrand should be grounded in positioning and differentiation before visual execution.
Don't automatically pick the agency with the biggest names in its portfolio.
Ask:
A B2B technical rebrand, a consumer challenger brand, and a 100-year-old corporate brand require very different capabilities.
This is one of my favorite agency-selection questions:
“Who is in this pitch because they're good at pitching, and who will actually be doing the work?”
Get the names and roles of the actual team.
Then ask:
You don't want to fall in love with a partner during the pitch and then get handed to a completely different team.
A good agency should be able to explain the journey from “we don't know exactly what our brand should be” to “here is the brand system our organization can actually use.”
Ask for:
Also ask what they need from you. Good agencies should be interviewing you as much as you're interviewing them.
This is surprisingly important.
You may be working with these people for 6–12+ months. You need people who can:
The ANA/4A's guidance specifically treats chemistry meetings as an important part of agency selection, while cautioning against turning that stage into an elaborate speculative creative pitch.
So don't ask:
“Who gave the best presentation?”
Ask:
“Who would I want sitting beside me when the CEO says she hates the new direction?”
That's a much better test.
I'd score agencies before the pitches rather than letting the best presentation win.
For example:
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Strategic thinking | 25% |
| Relevant experience | 15% |
| Quality of creative work | 15% |
| Understanding of our business | 10% |
| Team / senior talent | 10% |
| Process & project management | 10% |
| Chemistry / collaboration | 10% |
| Commercial value | 5% |
Have the core evaluation team score independently before discussing scores. A standardized scorecard helps prevent the decision from becoming “everyone loved Agency X's presentation.”
This is a big one.
A chemistry meeting shouldn't require an agency to spend weeks inventing your new campaign. The ANA/4A's guidelines explicitly caution against asking agencies for specific creative executions during early chemistry stages.
Instead, ask them to demonstrate how they think:
“Here's our problem. What questions would you want answered before recommending a strategy?”
That reveals considerably more about the quality of the agency than asking for three speculative logos.
Don't settle for references they hand you.
Ask:
“Can you give us one current client and one former client?”
Then ask the references:
That last question can be gold.
A good rebrand doesn't end with a brand book and a new logo.
Ask:
“How do you make this brand live inside the organization six months after you leave?”
Look for:
The objective is to leave your organization with a usable brand system, not a beautiful presentation.
I'd be wary if an agency:
I'd keep it relatively tight:
1. Internal alignment → define business problem, objectives, scope, budget and decision-makers.
2. Longlist → ~8–12 agencies based on relevant expertise.
3. Shortlist → 3–5 agencies after reviewing credentials/capabilities.
4. Brief → give all finalists the same substantive brief.
5. Chemistry/discovery → meet the actual teams and assess how they think.
6. Pitch → strategy + creative approach + process + commercial proposal.
7. References → independently validate the finalists.
8. Score + debate → use your pre-agreed criteria.
9. Contract → lock down scope, deliverables, ownership/IP, team, fees, timeline, decision rights and change orders.
10. Kickoff → establish governance and success measures before the work begins.
The ANA/4A's has been advocating essentially this kind of structured, transparent agency-search process for years, including clear scopes, success criteria, decision-makers, RFI/RFP stages and timely feedback.
If I were the Brand Manager, my single biggest principle would be:
Hire the agency that demonstrates the best understanding of your business problem—not the agency that presents the prettiest solution to it.
And I'd make the final decision based on strategy × creative quality × people × process × chemistry, rather than portfolio alone.
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a **Brand Manager** , your job is to find a partner who doesn't just make things look pretty, but deeply understands your business…
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager , your job is to find a partner who doesn't just make things look pretty, but deeply understands your business strategy.
Here is a step-by-step framework to navigate the hiring process effectively:
If you'd like, tell me:
I can help you tailor your RFP checklist or build specific interview questions for the agencies.
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a **Brand Manager** , your goal is to find a strategic partner—not just an order-taker.[[1]](https://www.our-creative.com/diary/rebranding-done-right)[[2]](https://www.thebrandcraft.com/post/choosing-a-branding-agency-in-muscat-key-questions-to-ask)…
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager , your goal is to find a strategic partner—not just an order-taker.
Here is a clear, step-by-step roadmap to finding and hiring the right branding agency for your transition:
If you'd like, let me know:
I can give you more specific advice on how to structure your RFP or interview questions.
A Brand Manager should hire a branding agency less like they’re buying a design vendor and more like they’re choosing a **strategic partner**. The biggest mistake is evaluating agencies primarily on who has the prettiest portfolio. A good process looks like this: ### 1. Get brutally clear on what you're actually…
A Brand Manager should hire a branding agency less like they’re buying a design vendor and more like they’re choosing a strategic partner. The biggest mistake is evaluating agencies primarily on who has the prettiest portfolio.
A good process looks like this:
Before contacting agencies, align internally on:
ANA/4A's guidance specifically emphasizes having a clear scope, expectations, responsibilities, timing, economics and success criteria before beginning an agency search.
Look for agencies that have demonstrated experience with your particular problem, not merely agencies with famous logos in their client list.
I'd evaluate:
| Factor | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Relevant experience | Similar business challenge, audience, category or complexity |
| Strategic capability | Positioning and brand strategy—not just visual identity |
| Portfolio quality | Work that demonstrates thinking, not just attractive executions |
| Team | The actual senior people who will work on your account |
| Process | Clear methodology from research → strategy → identity → activation |
| Chemistry | Can your team actually work with these people? |
| Implementation | Can they help the organization actually adopt the brand? |
| References | Clients who can tell you what happened after the honeymoon period |
One particularly important test: ask to see the thinking behind the work. A case study that says "we created a new logo" tells you very little. You want to hear: What business problem existed? What did the research reveal? What strategic choice did the agency make? Why? What changed afterward?
Don't write:
"We need a new logo, tagline, website and brand guidelines."
Instead:
"Our company has grown from X to Y. We are increasingly competing against A/B/C. Our current positioning doesn't clearly communicate our differentiation to [audience]. We need to determine how the brand should evolve and create the identity and system needed to bring that strategy to market."
Then ask the agencies how they would approach it.
This is one of the strongest ways to distinguish a strategic agency from an execution shop. Capterra's agency-selection guidance similarly recommends describing the branding challenge and desired outcomes rather than telling agencies how to solve it.
A common failure mode is:
Agency A: Gorgeous presentation
Agency B: Gorgeous presentation
Agency C: Gorgeous presentation
Brand Manager: "I just love A's creative."
Instead, score agencies against predetermined criteria.
For example:
The precise weights aren't sacred. The important thing is deciding how you'll judge them before seeing their pitches. ANA/4A's more recent agency-search work specifically identifies clear success criteria, key decision-makers, chemistry meetings and actionable feedback as important parts of a better search process.
This is huge.
Ask:
"Who will actually be doing our strategy?"
Then:
"Will that person be in the room with us throughout the project?"
Some agencies put their best people into the pitch and then hand the project to a more junior team. That's not necessarily bad—but you should know exactly what you're buying.
I'd want to meet:
And ask them questions about your business, not their agency.
Don't just accept testimonials.
Call 2–3 former/current clients and ask:
That last question is particularly revealing.
You're interviewing them—and they're interviewing you.
A strong agency should ask difficult questions about your business. If they immediately say, "Absolutely, we can do everything you want," that's not necessarily a good sign.
I'd be impressed by an agency that says something like:
"Before we redesign the identity, we'd want to test whether the problem you're describing is actually an identity problem."
That's strategic maturity.
Don't make five agencies spend weeks developing full brand concepts for free.
ANA/4A's guidance recognizes speculative work as an important issue in agency searches.
For a serious rebrand, I'd rather see agencies demonstrate how they think through relevant case studies and a thoughtful approach to your challenge. If you want to test creative chemistry, a tightly scoped paid discovery/strategy exercise can be much more revealing than a giant free pitch.
Ask:
"What happens after you hand us the brand guidelines?"
A rebrand isn't successful because you have a new logo on launch day.
The agency should ideally understand how the brand gets translated into:
The best agency may therefore not be the one with the most spectacular visual identity. It's the one that can create a brand your organization can actually use.
After the final presentations, ask your team these five questions:
1. Did they understand our business better than we expected?
2. Did they challenge our assumptions?
3. Do we trust their strategic judgment—not just their taste?
4. Are the people we met the people we want to spend the next 6–12 months with?
5. Do we believe they'll make us better, rather than simply make us look better?
If the answer to all five is yes, you're probably getting close.
And one final point: don't confuse agency size with agency quality. A huge global agency can be exactly right for a complex multinational rebrand; a small specialist can be dramatically better for a focused repositioning. The right question is not "Who's the most prestigious agency?" but "Who is unusually good at solving the problem we actually have?"
If you tell me your company size, industry, approximate budget, geography, and what you're changing in the rebrand, I can give you a much more specific agency-selection framework—including what type of agency I'd shortlist and what I'd put in the RFP.
If you’re the Brand Manager leading a rebrand, I’d treat hiring the agency less like “finding the coolest creative shop” and more like **hiring a strategic business partner**. The biggest mistake is choosing the agency with the prettiest portfolio. A good rebrand needs strategy, positioning, organizational alignment,…
If you’re the Brand Manager leading a rebrand, I’d treat hiring the agency less like “finding the coolest creative shop” and more like hiring a strategic business partner.
The biggest mistake is choosing the agency with the prettiest portfolio. A good rebrand needs strategy, positioning, organizational alignment, creative, and eventually implementation—not just a new logo. The AMA similarly recommends evaluating agencies on scope, expertise, chemistry, staffing, budget, and references rather than creative output alone.
Before contacting agencies, answer:
This matters because agencies are very different. Some excel at brand strategy, others at identity, others at campaigns, and some can genuinely take you from research through implementation.
Don't start with 20.
Get candidates from:
For each agency, look beyond the case-study images. Ask:
“Have they solved a problem like ours?”
A B2B technology company doesn't necessarily need an agency that has worked with another B2B technology company—but it does need an agency that understands complex buying journeys, multiple stakeholders, differentiation, etc.
And don't automatically equate size with quality. A boutique can give you senior-level attention and agility; a large firm may offer broader capabilities and global resources.
This is one of my biggest recommendations.
Ask:
“Who exactly will work on our account after we hire you?”
Then ask to meet them.
You want to know:
Agencies can put their superstar team in front of you during the pitch and then hand the account to people you've never met. The AMA specifically recommends clarifying the actual account and creative leads and communication expectations.
This is more revealing than asking for their “best work.”
Give them your business problem and ask:
“How would you approach this?”
Don't necessarily ask them to solve it for free.
Listen for whether they immediately jump to colors, logos and taglines—or whether they start asking questions about:
A strong agency should be willing to challenge your assumptions.
In fact, I'd be slightly suspicious of an agency that agrees with everything you say during the pitch.
A weak brief says:
“We need a new logo, website and brand guidelines.”
A stronger one says:
“Our business has evolved significantly, but our market perception hasn't. We need to reposition the brand to appeal to X audience, differentiate from Y competitors, and support our growth into Z.”
Then let the agencies propose the methodology.
You want to see how they think, not simply how well they follow instructions.
This is a surprisingly important one.
A pitch is theater. The actual engagement is months of workshops, research, debate, revisions, internal politics and uncomfortable decisions.
So evaluate:
| Factor | What I'd look for |
|---|---|
| Strategic thinking | Can they identify the real problem? |
| Relevant experience | Have they solved comparable problems? |
| Creative quality | Is their work distinctive and appropriate? |
| Process | Is there a credible path from insight → strategy → creative? |
| Senior involvement | Will experienced people actually do the work? |
| Chemistry | Can you disagree productively? |
| Commercial understanding | Do they understand the business, not just the brand? |
| Implementation | Can they help make the new brand real? |
| References | Would previous clients hire them again? |
| Cost | Is the investment proportional to the problem? |
I'd actually put chemistry higher than most Brand Managers initially expect. You're going to spend a lot of time with these people, and you'll need to be able to disagree without the relationship breaking down.
Don't just ask the agency for its three favorite references.
Ask:
“Give me a client whose rebrand was difficult.”
Then ask that client:
That final question is gold.
Get extremely clear about:
A cheap agency can become an expensive agency once everything outside the initial scope becomes an additional fee.
If you're down to 2–3 finalists, you can give them a small paid piece of work rather than asking them to spend weeks developing speculative creative.
For example:
“Based on what you've learned, give us your initial hypothesis about the strategic opportunity and show us how you'd investigate it.”
This gives you a much better sense of what it's actually like to work together. The AMA specifically recommends a paid “shootout” with a small number of finalists when budget permits.
This prevents the classic:
“Agency A had the coolest presentation, so everyone loves them.”
I'd weight it something like:
And have every stakeholder score independently before discussing the results.
If you only have time for a handful, ask these:
1. “What do you think our actual brand problem is?”
You'll learn immediately whether they've listened.
2. “What would you want to learn before you recommend a strategy?”
Good agencies will have questions. Great agencies will have really good questions.
3. “Tell us about a time you disagreed with a client and what happened.”
You're testing whether they're a partner or a vendor.
4. “Who will actually do our work?”
Then make sure those people are in the room.
5. “What would make you tell us not to rebrand?”
This is my favorite.
A strategic agency should be capable of telling you that the problem isn't necessarily the logo—or even that a full rebrand is the wrong solution.
At the end of the process, you should be able to say:
“I trust this team to tell us something we don't want to hear.”
That's probably the single best indicator.
You're not really hiring an agency to make your brand look different. You're hiring them to help you make better decisions about what your brand should mean, to whom, and why people should choose it. Positioning is the strategic foundation that connects the subsequent brand and communications work.
If you want, I can also give you a practical Brand Manager's agency-selection process—from writing the RFP through shortlist, pitch, scoring matrix, reference checks, and final contract—along with the exact questions to put in the RFP.
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager, you need a partner who doesn't just design a pretty logo, but deeply understands your business strategy, market positioning, and internal…
Hiring a branding agency during a rebrand is a high-stakes move. As a Brand Manager, you need a partner who doesn't just design a pretty logo, but deeply understands your business strategy, market positioning, and internal culture.
Here is a structured, step-by-step roadmap to finding, vetting, and hiring the right branding agency:
If you'd like to tailor this further, tell me:
I can help you draft a customized scorecard or RFP template for your specific situation.
