Choosing a branding company on evidence rather than reputation

Agencies with a verified published price

How to shortlist a branding company

1. Name the decision the brand work has to unlock. Entering a new market, merging two businesses, raising a round, repositioning after a product change, or simply looking credible next to better funded competitors are different briefs. Write yours in one sentence. Agencies that answer that sentence directly are worth talking to, and the ones that respond with a standard process deck are selling you their catalogue.
2. Separate strategy from identity in the proposal. Ask every candidate to price the strategy phase and the identity phase separately, even if you intend to buy both from one firm. It makes proposals comparable, it lets you stop after strategy if the fit is wrong, and it exposes firms that have priced weeks of research they do not intend to do.
3. Establish exactly what you receive and who may use it. Get a written deliverables list: logo formats, typographic licences and who pays for them, colour specifications, guidelines depth, templates, photography direction, naming, and source files. Licences are the most common surprise, because a typeface licensed for the agency's use is not licensed for yours.
4. Check the name and the mark before you fall in love. Any naming or identity work should include a trademark and domain availability check early, run by a professional where a name is involved. Firms that present a preferred name at the end without any clearance work have handed you a decision you cannot safely make, and rework at that stage is the most expensive kind.

The three layers sold under one word

The first layer is strategy: who you sell to, what you stand for, what you say and what you refuse to say. It is produced through interviews with customers and staff, competitive review and a lot of argument, and it results in decisions rather than artefacts. The second layer is identity: the name, the mark, the typography, the colour and the rules that hold them together. The third is application: the website, packaging, signage, decks, social templates and everything the identity has to survive contact with.

Most disappointment comes from buying one layer while imagining another. A company that needed a strategic decision and bought a logo will be redesigning within two years. A company that needed a tidy identity and bought a research programme paid for a document that sits in a drawer. Say which layer you are buying, in the brief, and make every proposal answer it.

What moves the price

Seniority and scope of research move it most. Work that involves interviewing your customers, reviewing a category properly and testing directions costs weeks of senior time, and there is no version of that which is cheap. Work that starts from a questionnaire and moves straight to visual directions is a fraction of the cost and is sometimes exactly right for a small business that already knows its position.

Application breadth moves it second. An identity that must work across a website, an app, packaging, vehicle livery and signage requires more specification than one that lives on a website and a deck. Guidelines depth follows the same curve, and buyers routinely overbuy here: a small company needs rules its own team can follow, not a hundred page manual.

Naming moves it third, and disproportionately. Generating candidate names is quick, clearing them is not, and the clearance work is where cost and time accumulate. If you do not actually need a new name, say so early and remove it from scope.

How to compare proposals that describe different work

Our index records what each firm publishes about pricing, minimum engagements and named clients, with the date checked. Design firms publish less often than performance agencies, and that is itself informative: the ones that publish a starting figure tend to sell a defined package, and the ones that do not tend to scope bespoke programmes. Neither is better, but only the first can be compared before a meeting.

For the rest, force comparability yourself. Send one brief to every candidate with the same deliverables list, the same timeline and the same question about who will do the work. Then compare on four things you can check: the priced phases, the named people and their time, the licensing and ownership terms, and what happens after handover. That last one matters more than buyers expect, because an identity with no one maintaining it drifts within a year, and firms differ on whether they offer any ongoing stewardship at all.

Questions people actually ask

How long should a branding project take?

A defined identity package for a small business can run a few weeks. Strategy-led work with customer research, testing and a broad application set runs months, largely because your own availability for interviews and decisions sets the pace. Ask any candidate what they need from you and how many hours that is.

Do we own the work when it is finished?

Only if the contract says so. Ask explicitly about assignment of rights to the final marks, ownership of source files, and typeface licensing, which is usually purchased in your name rather than transferred. Unused concepts commonly remain with the firm, which is normal, but you should know it up front.

Should we hire a branding firm or a freelancer?

A senior freelancer can produce excellent identity work for a focused brief and is often better value than a mid-sized firm. Firms earn their price on breadth: research, naming, multiple applications and coordination across disciplines. Match the shape of the team to the layer you are buying.

How do we judge branding work when it is finished?

Not by whether the team likes it. Judge it on whether the strategy answers your original one-sentence decision, whether your own staff can apply the identity without asking the agency, and whether customers describe you the way the positioning intended. Set those tests before the work starts.

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