Agencies exist for a reason and I am not going to pretend they do not do good work. But for a small or mid-sized local business, most of the money you pay an agency goes to overhead you do not benefit from. Here is the honest breakdown.
What an agency actually gives you
A team, a project manager, scale to run multiple markets at once, and legal and creative infrastructure. If you are a national brand running a coordinated campaign across ten cities, all of that is worth the premium.
What it costs you
Handoffs. Every conversation goes through an account manager who translates you to a creative director who briefs a producer who directs the shooter. The person doing the actual work has never talked to you. Notes get flattened. Timelines get padded. Costs get marked up two or three times over what a direct hire would run.
Where the solo producer wins
Direct line of sight. The person scoping the job is the person shooting it and editing it. Notes come to me and go straight to the timeline. Turnaround is faster because there is no internal review chain. Cost is lower because there is no middle layer.
When to hire big
If you need a full-service campaign with paid media, PR, creative strategy, and production all under one contract, an agency makes sense. If you need a video, or a set of them, and someone who owns the outcome, you want a producer. Start a conversation →