“Pitch senior, deliver junior” is one of the oldest complaints in creative buying. You meet a sharp creative director in the pitch, you sign, and then the emails come from someone you’ve never met. Sometimes that works out fine. The trouble starts when nobody told you it would happen.
The industry’s own trade bodies say you should be told. In 2026, the ANA and the 4A’s, the US associations for advertisers and for agencies, published 10 pitch principles. One says agencies should “advise who from the pitch team introduced will be working on the business.” It’s voluntary guidance written for formal agency reviews. Even so, you don’t need a formal review to ask who will do the work.
Below are five questions to ask anyone before you hire them, us included. Each comes with what a straight answer and a deflection sound like. The sample answers are illustrative, not quotes.
Juniors on your project aren’t the problem
In our view, junior and mid-level creators doing real work is normal and healthy. That’s how the senior people of the next decade get made, which is why the industry still needs junior roles. A team with juniors on it isn’t a warning sign.
What you’re testing for is disclosure. You want to know who does the work, how much of the senior person’s time you’re buying, and who checks the work before it reaches you. Each question below gets at one of those.
1. Who will do the work day to day?
Ask for names and roles, not a department. Then ask who reviews their work before you see it, and how often.
Be fair about what a team can promise before you sign. The two bodies’ longstanding agency-search guidelines, which the 4A’s still publishes, are voluntary too. They tell clients to “insist on meeting key people who will actually work on your business.” However, the same guidance warns that asking to meet the full team “may be an unreasonable request,” because the team may not be formed yet. So ask for the leads by name, plus an honest account of the rest.
A straight answer (illustrative): “Dana leads design and you’ll talk to her every week. Sam, a mid-level designer, handles production, and Dana reviews everything before it goes to you.”
A deflection (illustrative): “You get our whole team. Everyone pitches in.”
Your follow-up: Which of the people in this meeting will I hear from in week three?
2. How much of their time will your project get?
A senior lead might spend an hour or two a week on your project, and that can be fine. What matters is knowing it up front. The pitch principles also ask agencies to be transparent about “the dedicated availability of the proposed client leadership team,” meaning the agency people who would lead your account.
On a small project, a percentage rarely means much. Instead, ask what else the lead is working on during your timeline and when you can reach them. On a retainer, it’s reasonable to ask what share of each named person’s time the fee covers.
A straight answer (illustrative): “Dana has two other projects through March. She joins your weekly call and reviews every round. Day to day, Sam is your contact.”
A deflection (illustrative): “Don’t worry, you’ll be our priority.”
Your follow-up: What happens to my timeline if one of her other projects runs late?
3. Who else touches the work?
A team may bring in outside help: specialist creators, another studio working under its name, offshore production, or AI tools. None of that is a red flag on its own. The problem is finding out after the work arrives.
When clients size up an agency, those agency-search guidelines suggest asking “Permanent versus permalancers versus freelancers?” Ask the same thing in plain words: is anyone outside your team doing part of this, and who’s accountable for it? If AI tools are involved, see what to ask when AI is part of a creative partner’s workflow. For a website or app, our questions to ask before outsourcing a technical build cover delivery and ownership too.
A straight answer (illustrative): “The illustrations come from a creator we’ve worked with for years. She’s named in the proposal, and you’ll see her drafts.”
A deflection (illustrative): “We have a network we pull from as needed.”
Your follow-up: Who from that network is on this project, and who checks their work?
4. What happens if someone leaves?
People change jobs, so plan for it. In Campaign US’s Agency Performance Review, average staff turnover across its sample of North American agencies was 18% in 2024. That figure covers agency-wide turnover at the agencies that submitted data, not changes on client projects. Still, at those rates, a named person leaving mid-project is an ordinary event to plan for.
Ask how much notice you’ll get if a named person leaves or gets moved. Ask whether you can meet the replacement before they start, and how the handover works.
A straight answer (illustrative): “We’d tell you as soon as we know. You’d meet the replacement first, and Dana stays on until the handover is done.”
A deflection (illustrative): “That won’t happen with us.”
Your follow-up: When did it last happen, and what did you do?
5. Can I meet the day-to-day lead before I sign?
If the person you’ll actually work with wasn’t in the pitch, ask for a short call with them. The ANA and 4A’s separate guidance for project work, also still published by the 4A’s, tells agencies that if the preferred team isn’t available, “don’t bait and switch.” A call before signing is how you check.
Then ask each reference one extra question: who actually did your work? If the names match what you’ve been told, good. If the reference only remembers the founder, ask the team why.
A straight answer (illustrative): “Of course. Sam can do a call on Tuesday, and here are two clients Sam worked with directly.”
A deflection (illustrative): “Our people are slammed right now, but you’ll love whoever we assign.”
Your follow-up: Can I talk to whoever you’re planning to assign, even briefly?
Get the answers in writing
Answers given on a call fade fast. That’s why it helps to ask for the proposal, or a follow-up email, to list the named people, their roles, roughly how involved each one is, and what happens if one of them changes. The agency-search guidelines say the agreement with a selected agency should cover the “staffing plan, which agency team and/or key individuals will be working on the business.”
You don’t need contract language for this. A plain paragraph you can point back to is enough. If you want firmer terms, such as approval over replacements, that’s a negotiation to have with your own lawyer. This is general information, not legal advice.
Check the first two weeks
The first two weeks show who will do the work in practice, and whether the answers held. Notice who’s in the kickoff, who sends the first work, and who replies when you have a question. If the names don’t match, raise it early, while it’s still easy to fix. Our guide to what the first two weeks of a project should look like covers what else to watch.
In our view, a team that answers all five questions without hesitating has thought about how your project will run. A team that hesitates has told you something too, and you heard it before you paid for anything.
Work with The Blue Mango. The Blue Mango is a creative services co-op. If you’re hiring for a project, ask us these questions too. Start a conversation with The Blue Mango.