The outside voice every agency relationship needs
Finally. An honest look at what's working and what's not.
Certes is an independent agency advisory firm that helps marketing and communications leaders select, evaluate, manage and improve their agency relationships.
CERTES
(SUR-teez)
From the Latin certus — certain, sure, settled.
An old English adverb meaning "certainly" or "in truth." The word someone would use when they were about to tell you something plainly, without hedging. That's what we do. Provide an honest, settled and fact-focused perspective to guide your agency investments. No spin. No hedging.
What nobody says out loud — but everyone knows
Everyone wants to do good work.
Agencies want to deliver it. Clients want to receive it. The breakdown is never about intent — it's about infrastructure. When the foundation is missing, even the best people can't build what everyone in the room is hoping for.
Dysfunction hides in plain sight.
Missed expectations. The blame game. Campaigns that produce activity but not impact. A nagging sense that a lot of money isn't moving anything. You're not imagining it — and you're not alone.
The system hasn't caught up.
Companies are spending millions of dollars on increasingly complex agency rosters that are still often managed through disjointed scopes, tedious status calls, tense annual reviews, and procurement processes that aren’t always designed to manage communications support.
Read the full manifesto Certes knows to be true.
Think about the last time
you read advice about
managing your agency
relationships. Who wrote it?
Probably another agency.
Which means it wasn't really advice. It was a pitch.
An independent voice is the missing piece
No agency P&L to protect. No new-business agenda hiding behind the insights. Just 20+ years of agency experience applied to the client side of the table — and a commitment to tell you what’s actually happening.
Certes is that voice.
Finally.The questions that usually come first.
Most companies don’t start by looking for agency advisory support. They start with a handful of questions they can’t quite shake.
- Are we actually getting what we’re paying for?
- Do we have the right agencies — or just the roster we’ve inherited?
- Why does this agency relationship feel harder than it should?
- Is the problem the agency? Or is it us?
- What happens if the agency team we trust changes?
- Are we evaluating our agencies consistently?
- Do we have the visibility we need to manage this well?
- Should we just bring this work in house?
- Are we hiring the best agency? Or just the one who gave the best pitch?
Proagency.Proclient.Prorelationship.Antidysfunction.
Where to go from here
Find, Diagnose, Monitor, Reset
Four ways Certes helps organizations choose, understand, manage and improve their agency relationships.
Read more ManifestoWhat Certes knows to be true
The ten beliefs behind the practice — what we've seen, what we call out, and why it matters.
Read more AboutMeet the founder: Susan MacLaughlin
20+ years inside PR agencies — Burson, Edelman, Golin, Ketchum, MSL — and on the client side too.
Read more