A dense agency market with its own habits: how they buy, what they expect and how to get on their list.
What agencies really buy
Three things, and creativity is only the third.
Capacity: being able to deliver six pieces next month, not one exceptional piece this month.
Compliance: a delivery matching the brief line by line, including the mandatory statements, because it is the agency that answers to its client.
And the production itself, which comes after the other two.
One direct consequence: your approach message must talk about deadlines, formats and languages before it talks about style.
Payment terms are longer
That is the reality of the model, and it is better organised than endured.
An agency invoices its client, waits to be paid, then pays its suppliers: the delay adds up mechanically.
Four rules that protect you.
Ask for the real delay before accepting, in days, from which event.
Ask for the internal order reference before issuing the invoice: without it, the invoice waits for the next cycle.
Refuse payment conditional on the agency being paid: that is not a delay, it is a transfer of risk.
And provide for a deposit on large batches, which is negotiated more easily than people think.
The tax treatment, the invoicing statements and any withholding are checked with an accountant, once, at the start of the relationship.
Bilingual capacity is a real differentiator
That is the specifically local point, and it weighs more than the portfolio.
Three honest ways of offering it.
You deliver in one language, and you say so clearly: the agency completes with somebody else.
You deliver in both, with two different people on screen, and you invoice it as two shoots.
Or you coordinate: you shoot one version and subcontract the other, declaring it, with the same quality requirement.
One trap to avoid: offering a version in a language you do not fully master. Approximate wording in a commercial video gets noticed, and it is the agency that carries it in front of its client.
Do not undercut to get in
Three reasons, all verifiable.
An agency compares suppliers on reliability, not on the lowest rate, because a delay costs it more than a price difference.
A low first rate becomes the reference for every subsequent job, and it is hard to raise.
And an abnormally low price suggests something is missing: rights, versions, or availability.
What works instead: a short first assignment, at your normal rate, with a date kept and a clean delivery. That assignment decides what follows, not its amount.
What changes when an agency sits in the middle
| Topic | Direct | Through an agency |
|---|---|---|
| The brief | Discussed with the brand | Already settled, hardly negotiable |
| The languages expected | One, sometimes two | Almost always two |
| Revisions | One or two | Often three, approved in a chain |
| Payment | On delivery | On the agency's calendar |
What you ask from the first exchange
The end brand's name, the languages to deliver, the number of rounds included and the payment date. All four fit in one message.
What protects against non-payment
A purchase order signed before the shoot. An enthusiastic email has never settled an invoice, and an agency sometimes changes contact mid-project.
What brings them back
Four habits, and they cost nothing.
Answering within half a day, including to say no.
Delivering a day before the promised date, with a folder forwardable as it is.
Flagging a problem as soon as it appears, never at delivery.
And keeping the same picture and sound settings from one assignment to the next, so the pieces can be edited together.
One last point specific to this market: the mandatory statements, the commercial display and the applicable language rules vary depending on the medium and the province of distribution. The agency often knows them, but responsibility for what is said on screen stays shared: have them written into the brief, and check with a lawyer what applies to your delivery.
