Who owns the ad account — the agency or the client?

Why agencies keep the account

Two reasons, and neither is good for you. The first is money: an agency that bills media through its own account can mark it up, or charge a percentage of spend — which quietly pays them to recommend a bigger budget whether or not the work justifies it. The second is leverage: if the account, its history, its audiences and its pixels live with the agency, leaving them means starting your advertising from zero. That is not a service. That is a switching cost.

What client ownership changes

When the account is opened in your name and billed to your card, three things follow. You see the real spend, untouched, on your own statement. The agency's fee has to stand on its own as a fee, rather than hiding inside media. And the accumulated learning — campaign history, audiences, conversion data — belongs to the business that paid for it, which is you.

How Black Clover Media runs it

Ad accounts are opened in the client's name and billed to the client's card. We charge a flat management fee, take no markup on media and no percentage of spend, so we have no reason to recommend a bigger budget than the work justifies. If we part ways, you keep the account and everything in it. This is written into how we price the work, and into the advertising service itself.

What to ask before you sign

Four questions: Whose name is the ad account in? Whose card is it billed to? Is your fee flat, or a percentage of my spend? And if we stop working together, what exactly do I keep? An agency with good answers will not mind being asked. An agency that bristles has just answered anyway.