Manifesto
What Certes knows to be true.
Ten beliefs behind the practice. Some obvious, some uncomfortable, all earned the hard way — from 20 years spent inside agency relationships that worked, and the ones that didn't.
- 01
Dysfunction is never about bad people. It's about broken infrastructure.
The agencies have talented people. The clients have smart teams. When relationships fail, it's almost never because someone was malicious or incompetent. It's because the foundation was missing or broken — unclear scope, wrong team, no accountability built into the contract. Fix the infrastructure and the people thrive.
- 02
The advice you've been getting about your agency isn't neutral. It never was.
Every checklist, every red-flags guide, every "here's what great agency performance looks like" article — written by an agency. Which means it was always a pitch wearing the costume of advice. Certes exists because that independent voice was missing.
- 03
Firing your agency can be one of the most expensive things you can do - and usually the least necessary.
Before you pull the ripcord, it's worth understanding what's actually broken. A new agency inherits every structural problem the last one did unless you make changes. The scope will still broken. The expectations will still be unclear. The internal bandwidth will still be stretched thin.
- 04
The pitch process is the original sin of most broken relationships.
Agencies overpromise to win. Clients hear what they want to hear. Scopes get written to close the deal, not to govern the work. By the time the relationship starts, the dysfunction is already baked in.
- 05
A struggling relationship isn't a failed one.
Most of the time, what looks like an agency problem is actually a relationship problem — and those can often be fixed. The right intervention at the right moment changes everything.
- 06
Your comms team is too busy doing communications to manage the agency doing it for them.
That's not a criticism. It's math. Managing an agency relationship properly is a full-time job — one that often gets deprioritized because something more urgent is always on fire. That's exactly how small problems become expensive ones.
- 07
Agencies are loyal to their own bottom line. As they should be.
This isn't cynicism — it's just business. Agencies are companies. They staff accounts to their margin, not yours. They protect their best people for their biggest clients. Understanding this isn't a reason to distrust your agency. It's a reason to have someone in your corner who understands how the math works.
- 08
AI has changed the way we work. So we need to have new, honest conversations about scope, staffing and value.
AI can make in-house teams and agency teams faster and more capable. It can also change how much time certain work takes and who needs to do it. Clients deserve to understand where AI is being used, what value it actually creates, and whether their existing scope and staffing models still make sense.
- 09
The best agency relationships are built on clarity, not chemistry.
Everyone wants to work with people they like. But chemistry without structure is just a good first date. The relationships that actually deliver are built on clear scope, honest reporting, the right team, and accountability that doesn't depend on anyone's mood.
- 10
An outside perspective isn’t a luxury. Sometimes it’s the clearest way to see what’s really happening.
Nobody inside a broken relationship can see it objectively. Not the agency. Not the client. The most valuable thing Certes brings isn't a framework or a methodology. It's a clear set of eyes focused on one thing: making sure the client is getting the support it actually needs.
Recognize any of this in your own agency relationship?
Or read the founder's story behind these ten beliefs.