5 Ways To Improve Your Agency x Brand Relationship

I once sat on an inter-agency call with a major brand where it couldn’t be more clear that one of the agencies was one mistake away from being fired. What didn’t help was the brand leader made it abundantly clear how much she disliked them, lots of strong criticism (even when it was incorrect) and constantly shifting the blame. The agency had a couple of options.

• Put the issue out into the open (in private) and discuss why the issues were happening and come up with a solution that aimed to re-establish trust.

• Accept that there was nothing that could be done to fix the issue and be the one to step away from the relationship, ensuring that appreciation was given for the opportunity but in turn provide constructive feedback around why the issue may have happened in the first place.

Whenever I’ve seen these types of breakdowns it’s never one-sided, there’s always a litany of issues that led to the collapse of the relationship. I once had a similar experience with a brand where it was clear we were on the pathway to exit. A new stakeholder, much different expectations to the previous, highly critical of our ways of working. It got to a point where a challenging conversation needed to happen. I sat down with the stakeholder and took accountability for the agencies mistakes, but also laid out direct feedback about the style of their approach and why it was having more of a negative impact than a positive. I had team members actively requesting to be taken off the brand, team members who’d helped achieve incredible work. In this instance, the new stakeholder was dealing with a lot of pressure that wasn’t being effectively communicated, and having taken the time to share feedback and break down some barriers we established things needed to change but we all had the exact same ambition and there was belief we could get on the right track. That brand still works with the agency to this day. The other agency was fired about two weeks later.

So with that being said, here’s some examples of some fairly basic changes that agencies and brands can make to improve their agency relationships, and trust me it’s from experience…

1. Start With Clear Briefing

A well-structured brief is the blueprint for great creative work. Too often, briefs are either vague, leaving agencies to guess what success looks like (and often there’s an ego in the agency team who will proclaim to know everything) or are so overloaded with detail that the key objectives get lost. The best briefs strike a balance: they clearly outline the desired outcomes, target audience, business challenges, and success metrics while giving space for creative interpretation.

When brands articulate “the why” behind a campaign rather than just “the what,” it enables the agency to think strategically, not just tactically. A clear brief saves time, reduces back-and-forth revisions, and ensures the creative output ties back to meaningful business goals. Often I’ve joined briefing calls with commercial leads who fail to dig into why the brief even exists in the first place. Sure, you want to do influencer marketing, but tell me why, it’ll help everyone understand what the foundation is of understanding of the marketing touchpoint that will either deliver or miss-the-mark entirely.

At Ardent, we help brands sharpen their briefs. We use discovery sessions to get to the heart of a business challenge, ensuring we’re not just delivering on “what’s asked” but also on “what’s needed.”, great work never came from ignoring the challenging conversations.

2. Communicate Consistently and Openly

Strong relationships thrive on communication. Too often, feedback comes late in the process, when work is already finished, leading to unnecessary frustration and wasted effort. Consistent, transparent communication means issues are surfaced early, expectations are aligned, and both sides feel confident about progress.

This doesn’t mean endless meetings. Instead, brands and agencies should establish a rhythm of dialogue, regular check-ins, status updates, and feedback sessions that keeps momentum without slowing things down. Equally important is the tone of communication: constructive, respectful, and focused on solutions rather than problems.

In my experience I’ve often found it effective to be the person on the call to directly ask “what do you like, what don’t you like” to each individual. It provokes conversation, and sure it can be a little uncomfortable at times, but as soon as brands realize you’re all fighting for the same team and the feedback is welcome no matter whether it’s agreed upon, the sooner you can get to productive feedback sessions that everyone enjoys.

Ardent builds structured yet flexible communication into every partnership. We set clear check-in rhythms, provide visibility into project progress, and create space for honest conversations. We have simple methods like traffic light systems for our comms to flag the importance of their response, and structure questions sets for feedback sessions to provoke honest and meaningful thoughts about our work.

3. Foster Collaboration, Not Control

Great partnerships happen when brands and agencies work together rather than operate in silos. Agencies are hired for their expertise and creativity, but that expertise is amplified when brands share insights about their wider business, customer feedback, and competitive landscape. It’s true, no one will care as much about the brand as the brand itself, and the same can be said for knowledge about it. Agencies often bring a unique perspective, but it’s the brands who hold the insight that will take a great execution to an outstanding one.

Collaboration also means bringing agencies in early. Too often, agencies are briefed after key business decisions are made, which limits the scope for fresh thinking. When agencies are part of the strategic conversation from the start, they can act as a sounding board, spot opportunities, and ensure creative ideas are aligned with bigger-picture goals. See the earlier point about the why behind the what.

Ardent thrives on collaboration. We embed ourselves as an extension of our clients’ teams, working alongside stakeholders from the earliest stages. By understanding the broader business context, we craft creative and strategic solutions that deliver results far beyond a single campaign. This also means when we produce strategic frameworks we make wider consideration to things like the customer experience, driving full-funnel activity and wider utilization of assets across CRM, www., OOH & Paid.

4. Build Trust on Both Sides

Trust is the currency of any successful partnership. For brands, this means giving agencies the confidence to explore new ideas without micromanaging every step. For agencies, it means being transparent about timelines, costs, and performance so brands feel their investment is in safe hands.

Without trust, every interaction becomes transactional and defensive. With trust, both sides are more willing to take calculated risks, experiment with bold creative, and learn together from both successes and failures. I’ve seen far too many times when a client lead discovers something is going to cost more than what was originally communicated to a client, and it leads to stress and panic. The simplest solution is to have an open conversation with the client, every time, BUT the agency must be expected to present solutions rather than simply present a problem.

Trust is one of Ardent’s core community values. We’re transparent about budgets, timelines, and performance metrics, and we encourage clients to challenge us with bold opportunities. In return, our clients give us the creative trust to experiment and push boundaries, leading to better work all-round.

5. Strengthen Social Connections

While strong process and communication drive efficiency, genuine personal connections drive creativity. Teams that enjoy working together tend to be more open, more collaborative, and more willing to push beyond “safe” ideas. Building rapport doesn’t have to mean big events, it can be as simple as informal catch-ups, shared celebrations, or moments of recognition. I often find if your accounts/client services team aren’t gelling well with the main brand contacts, or they have nothing in common, it’s likely time to make a switch. The big tell, prolonged silence at the start of calls. Nothing tells me that a relationship is on the right trajectory like joining a call where people are spending the first few minutes catching up on their common interests.

Brands that invest in the human side of their agency relationships find that it pays dividends in morale, motivation, and ultimately in the quality of the work. At the end of the day, it’s people, not companies, that collaborate to make campaigns succeed. Plus as the age old saying goes, this is PR not ER (one day there will be a social equivalent)

At Ardent, we’re here to build memorable moments with brands as well as communities. At the start of each relationship we spend time getting to know our partners, discovering what we have in common, what life-moments are worth celebrating and ensure they form the bedrock of the relationship going forward. We don’t pretend to care, we actually care.

6. Share Accountability and Celebrate Wins

Successful partnerships are built on shared accountability. It’s not enough for agencies to deliver work on time and on budget; brands also need to provide timely feedback, clear approvals, and strategic clarity. When both sides hold themselves accountable, projects move faster and outcomes improve. I’ve battled agency teams that have failed to make it clear where accountabilities sit. Over-communication wins every. single. time.

Equally important is celebrating wins. Recognition strengthens relationships, builds confidence, and creates momentum for the next challenge. By marking achievements, big or small, brands and agencies remind themselves that they’re on the same team, working toward the same goals. It’s sad that I can likely count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard brands celebrate a successful campaign during a call. Sure an email saying something was a success is great to share around your group chats, but taking the time on a call to celebrate the achievements and call out the stand-out performance will leave a lasting impact. It’s never cringe, it’s always memorable.

Ardent holds itself accountable not just for output but for impact. We work with brands to set shared success metrics, deliver honest reporting, and make sure wins are celebrated as joint achievements. This sense of shared ownership builds momentum for what comes next. For brands who retain with us for a year we host yearly awards ceremonies that aim to celebrate the very best of what the team achieved, if there’s no awards something has gone dreadfully, dreadfully wrong…

The Bottom Line

Focus your time on building better relationships with your existing brand/agency. It’ll pay off tenfold over trying to find new ones.