Our agency manages the account but does no creative work. Who is meant to make the ads?
By Dan BartleyUpdated 3 minute read
The short answer
Whoever the contract names, which is why it has to be in writing. Media agencies often scope buying and reporting only and expect the brand to supply creative. Since Andromeda the creative does most of the targeting, so an account where nobody owns new concepts stalls. Give creative a named owner, a monthly volume and a feedback loop from the results.
Why is creative often outside a media agency's scope?
Because buying and making are different jobs with different costs. A management fee usually covers structure, budgets, bidding and reporting; design, editing and production take hours the fee was never priced to pay for, so they are scoped out or left vague.
The vague version causes the most trouble. "Creative support" in a scope can mean resizing your existing photos, while the brand assumes it means new concepts every month, and each side believes the other is responsible.
What happens to an account when nobody owns creative?
The same ads run for months, frequency climbs, CPA rises, and the buyer is left moving budget around to slow the slide. With no new concepts there is nothing new for the system to test, so optimisation turns into maintenance.
- Spend concentrated on one or two ads that are months old
- Rising frequency and CPM on the top ads, with click-through rate drifting down
- New ads launched last month that are resizes or copy swaps of old ones
- Monthly reports about budgets and audiences, with nothing on what was tested
Who can own the creative?
An in-house designer or creator, a creative partner working beside the media agency, or one team that both makes and runs the ads. The right choice depends on how many new concepts the account needs and who reads the results.
| Setup | Works best when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| In-house designer or creator | You need steady volume, fast changes and someone close to the product | One person caps the volume and the range of styles |
| Creative partner beside the agency | The buying is sound and only the supply is missing | Briefs and results have to flow both ways, or the partner works blind |
| One team that makes and runs the ads | You want one owner accountable for results | You still need to see creative counts and test results, not only ROAS |
What should a creative scope include?
A monthly number, formats, an owner for the brief and a loop back from the results, all written down. A scope without a number produces whatever is convenient that month.
- New concepts per month, counted separately from resizes and copy swaps
- Formats: statics and short video, built for Feed, Stories and Reels
- Who writes each brief, and who approves it
- A test plan for each batch: what it tests and how a winner is judged
- A monthly review of what won, what lost and what the next batch will try
- Ownership: the brand owns every finished ad and its source files
How many new creatives does the account need?
Enough that a new winner is ready before the current ones fatigue, and the number rises with spend. Bartley Studio's account management plans for 20 or more new creatives a month for a small to mid-sized brand, and far more for brands spending heavily.
Volume only helps when quality holds. For an e-commerce brand Dan ran creative for, new ads went from under 5 a month to 50 to 100, the ads got better as well as more numerous, and ROAS went from 2.5x to 5.5x while the account spent 300% more. That is one account, not a forecast.
Other questions people ask about this
Should the media buyer brief the creative?
The buyer should at least feed the brief, because they see which angles, hooks and formats are winning. Whether the buyer or a creative strategist writes it, the results need to reach whoever makes the ads every month.
Can a creative partner work alongside our current agency?
Yes, and it is often the fastest fix when the buying is sound. Agree who uploads, how ads are named and how results are shared, so the partner can see what won.
Do we need a creative strategist?
Someone has to decide what to test next and why, whether that is a strategist, the buyer or the founder. At lower spend it is often the buyer; once the account needs dozens of concepts a month, it becomes a job of its own.
Still have a question? Ask us