Choose a B2B branding agency on evidence, not on how its portfolio looks. Ask the 12 questions below about research, people, results, the brand book and ownership. One is easy to miss: under UK Intellectual Property Office guidance, the first owner of copyright in work you commission is whoever created it, unless you agree otherwise in writing.
This guide covers the question bank, the red flags agencies themselves publish, how to judge a portfolio that shows no results, what a brand book must contain, who owns the work, timelines, pitching and cost. Every third-party point links to the page it came from, and we checked each page on 13 October 2026. ORRJO builds B2B brands too, so wherever ORRJO's own work appears, it is marked as the publisher's note.
What should you ask a B2B branding agency before you hire it?
Ask what research came before the first concept, who will do the work, what changed for past clients, and who owns the files when the project ends. Put the same 12 questions to every agency on your shortlist and compare the answers side by side:
| # | The question | A good answer sounds like | A bad answer sounds like | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What research did you do before the first concept on a recent project, and what did it find? | Named interviews and research, how long the phase took, and findings specific to that client. | "We start by understanding your vision and creating some concepts for you to react to." (the red-flag answer Pony Studio quotes) | Blend: if the findings sound generic enough to fit any company in the sector, "they designed from assumption". Blend also says a research phase that ran to a day or two is a strong signal of a box-ticking exercise. |
| 2 | Walk me through a recent project timeline. Where did strategy end and design begin? | A dated timeline with the strategy work finished before any design started. | Concepts on the table within the first two weeks. | Huddle Creative: "If an agency presents design concepts within the first two weeks of engagement, it has skipped the diagnosis." |
| 3 | Do we need a full rebrand, a refresh, or something smaller? | An honest answer even if it means a smaller project (Canny Creative), and push-back on your brief if they think you have misdiagnosed what you need (Blend). | A full rebrand, whatever the problem. | Blend: "A refresh fixes how well a business tells its story. A rebrand fixes the fact that the story is wrong." |
| 4 | Who will do the work day to day, and are any freelancers or partners involved? | Names and roles, and a straight answer on freelancers and external partners (ICON Creative). | "We have a great team of designers who'll take care of you." Pony Studio's reply: "That's not an answer. Names, please." | Blend warns that plenty of branding agencies are small strategy and creative shells that subcontract execution to freelance designers once the contract is signed. ICON Creative warns against a "bait and switch", where senior people pitch and less experienced staff do the work. |
| 5 | What happened after the launch, and how do you know? | A number that moved and how it was measured. Canny lists "Pipeline change. Conversion rate. Recruitment application quality. Organic traffic. Something that moved." | Visuals only. Pony Studio: "No strategy documentation. No results. Just vibes." | Canny says an agency that has been doing this long enough and cannot give you a single number that changed is "worth noting". The next section covers how to read the numbers you do get. |
| 6 | Can we speak to the client behind your strongest result? | A named client you can call about that project. | Hesitation, or excuses about NDAs. | Pony Studio accepts that some NDAs are legitimate, "but they should have someone you can talk to". The Starr Conspiracy advises checking case study claims by asking for client references. |
| 7 | Can we see a real brand book you handed over, redacted if needed? | The actual document, with rules for how each element is used. | "We'll send you the logo files." Pony Studio: "That's not a brand system. That's a fancy image." | Blend: ask to see a real example from a past client "rather than a description of what one contains". |
| 8 | How does the brand reach our website, decks and templates after launch, and what does year two look like? | A rollout plan. Canny lists "Templates. Asset libraries. Internal comms. Training." | The project ends when the guidelines PDF is delivered. | Canny: "A rebrand that lives in a brand guidelines PDF and nowhere else is a rebrand that didn't work." On year two: "If they don't have a good answer, you'll probably find out why somewhere around month four." |
| 9 | What is not included in this quote, and how many concept and revision rounds are? | A written list of exclusions and a stated number of rounds in each phase. | Vague pricing, or "Unlimited revisions!", which Pony Studio says incentivises sloppy first drafts. | Blend says website builds, print collateral, sales deck redesign, ongoing brand support and extra revision rounds are often billed separately. |
| 10 | How do you handle disagreement between our stakeholders? | Workshops that surface disagreement before design begins, a decision-making hierarchy agreed at the start, and staged presentations. | No process: whoever is most senior in the room on the day decides. | Huddle Creative says a credible answer includes "a staged presentation process that reduces the risk of large-scale reversals late in the project". |
| 11 | Who will own the copyright, the source files and the strategy documents when the project ends? | A written assignment in the contract, covering the final marks, the source files and the strategy work. | A promise that you will get the files, with no mention of copyright. | Under Intellectual Property Office guidance, the first owner of copyright in commissioned work is whoever created it unless you agree otherwise in writing. The Starr Conspiracy advises clarifying ownership of brand frameworks, message architectures and all documentation. |
| 12 | If the work includes a new name, how will you check it? | Huddle Creative lists linguistic checks across target markets, trade mark feasibility screening and domain availability. | A shortlist of names with no checks behind it. | The UK trade mark search lets you check whether a similar trade mark to your brand already exists in the UK. Ask how the agency works with your legal adviser on it. |
The Starr Conspiracy suggests blocking 6 to 8 weeks for the whole selection process, and scoring each agency on portfolio relevance (40%), methodology transparency (30%) and team credentials (30%), where portfolio relevance means B2B case studies with pipeline impact data, not creative awards. Use whatever weights suit you, but write them down before the first pitch.
What are the red flags when choosing a branding agency?
The red flags agencies themselves publish are concepts before research, rebrand timelines measured in weeks, portfolios with no results, and vague scope. Each one below comes from an agency's own buying guide:
- Concepts before research. Huddle Creative says concepts within the first two weeks mean the diagnosis was skipped. Pony Studio lists "They show you dozens of logo concepts in the first meeting".
- A full rebrand in weeks. Blend: "Be sceptical of anyone promising a full rebrand in two or three weeks for a company with more than one internal stakeholder group." Pony Studio gives "We can turn this around in 3-4 weeks." as a red-flag answer. Huddle says under four months for a complex B2B rebrand is a signal that the strategy phase is being compressed or the scope is narrower than a full overhaul.
- B2C work presented as proof. Canny Creative lists "They show you B2C work and tell you it transfers".
- A generic credentials deck. Canny: "Same slides. Same order. Client name swapped out on the front page."
- A proposal that came too fast. Big Red Jelly: "A proposal that arrives within 24 hours of a 30-minute call was probably already written before you talked."
- A portfolio that all looks the same. Pony Studio: "Everything in their portfolio looks eerily similar".
- Vague pricing and unlimited revisions. Both are on Pony Studio's list of red flags.
- Logo files presented as a brand. Pony Studio's red-flag answer is "We'll send you the logo files."
- No names on the team. If the agency will not say who does the work, see question 4 above.
How do you judge a portfolio that shows no results?
Treat a portfolio with no results as a reason to ask questions, not as a verdict. Big Red Jelly puts it fairly: "Not every client will share revenue data, but the absence of any results language across an entire portfolio is worth noting." Four ways to get past the gap:
- Ask what was measured. Huddle Creative suggests asking "what metrics they tracked for a previous client rebrand and what changed", and names proxies such as pitch win rates, new business conversion, website engagement, staff retention and the quality of inbound enquiries.
- Ask for work they do not publish. A Cambridge design firm, Sable&Hawkes, writing on Cambridge Network, reminds buyers that "agencies often have relevant work they're not showing publicly".
- Read each case study for brief, approach and outcome. Huddle suggests asking for two or three case studies that match your sector, size and brand challenge, then asking what the brief, the strategic approach and the measurable outcome were. Big Red Jelly: "A case study that opens with 'the client wanted a fresh, modern identity' is not a case study."
- Call the client. See question 6 in the question bank.
When an agency does show a result, hold it to the standard the UK design industry sets for itself. The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, run by the Design Business Association since 1989, have one requirement: "measured proof that design made a clear and significant contribution to the results achieved by the work." The 2027 entry pack spells out what judges look for:
| What DBA judges look for | What to ask the agency |
|---|---|
| "clear proof of a cause and effect between the design solution and the results", not an assumption that design created them | How do you know the brand work, and not something else, moved this number? |
| Data collected after, and where possible before, launch | What was the number before the launch, and how was it measured? |
| For a redesign, a comparison with the performance of the old design | What did the old brand or site deliver on the same measure? |
| Other influencing factors explored, explained and evaluated, because "Design is rarely the only factor influencing a project's success" | What else changed at the same time: a sales push, paid media, a new product? |
| The DBA does not advise entering work with less than six months of post-launch data, unless the context means the period right after launch is all that is needed | How long after launch was the result measured? |
Publisher's note: reading ORRJO's own result this way. When myBasePay's rebrand shipped with a new website, its inbound website leads grew 300%+ in 8 weeks, with demand and lead generation running alongside. Its LinkedIn following grew 139%, and the work generated 56,000 impressions. By the DBA's tests, the case study names the other work that ran at the same time, and 8 weeks is a shorter window than the six months of post-launch data the DBA advises. We are not claiming it meets the DBA standard. Read the full story on the myBasePay case study.
"Everything feels cohesive, professional, and distinctly us. For the first time, our brand actually reflects what we're building." Faby Hammo, myBasePay
What must a B2B brand book contain?
A B2B brand book must set out colour, type, logo, voice and imagery, with rules for using each one that are specific enough for someone outside the agency to apply without asking. What each element needs:
| Element | What it should specify | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Logo | All variations (primary, secondary, icon, black and white), spacing, minimum size for print and digital, and file types. Which lockup works on a dark background and which on a light one, the minimum clear space and the smallest usable size | Huddle Creative; Blend |
| Colour | Each colour with Pantone, CMYK, RGB and HEX values, and what the secondary and tertiary colours are for, not just what they are | Huddle Creative; Blend |
| Contrast | Text and background pairs that meet WCAG 2.2: a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Text that is part of a logo or brand name has no contrast requirement | W3C, Success Criterion 1.4.3 |
| Type | Typefaces and a type scale, with every font properly licensed for commercial use | Huddle Creative |
| Voice | Tone for a sceptical technical buyer and for a top of funnel audience, with example sentences of both, not just adjectives. Writing standards: UK or US English, Oxford comma, hyphenation, and a glossary of approved terms | Blend; Huddle Creative |
| Imagery | On-brand and subtly off-brand examples side by side, rather than one approved mood board | Blend |
| Templates | Social post templates, web assets, presentation slide standards and email signatures | Huddle Creative |
Then check the book gets used. Blend's test: "A guidelines PDF that only gets opened once, at handover, isn't a deliverable. It's a filing exercise."
Publisher's note. An ORRJO brand book contains colour (palette and usage), type (typefaces and scale), logo (marks and lockups), voice (tone and language), imagery (look and art direction) and claims rules, with the digital and social standards to apply them. The claims rules set out what you can say, what you cannot, and the evidence behind every number you put in front of a buyer. Examples are on B2B Branding.
Who owns the brand work when the project ends?
You own the copyright only if the contract gives it to you: under UK government guidance, the first owner of copyright in commissioned work is whoever created it, unless you agree otherwise in writing. Three points from the primary sources:
- The creator owns it first. The Intellectual Property Office says the first legal owner of copyright "is the person or organisation that created the work and not you the commissioner, unless you otherwise agree it in writing". If the contract is silent, a court may find an implied licence to use the work for its purpose, but that "does not necessarily result in a transfer of ownership".
- A transfer must be in writing. Under section 90(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988: "An assignment of copyright is not effective unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor."
- Freelancers keep their rights too. The IPO says a person working under a contract for services will usually keep copyright in what they produce unless a contract says otherwise. If the agency uses freelancers, ask how it secures their rights before it assigns them to you.
Ask for the assignment to cover the final marks, the source files and the strategy documents, and check that the fonts are licensed for your use. If there is a new name, run it through the UK trade mark search before you fall in love with it. This is general information, not legal advice: have your own adviser read the contract.
How long should a B2B rebrand take?
Published estimates for a full B2B rebrand run from about four months to a year, so treat any full rebrand quoted in weeks with care. What agencies publish:
- Huddle Creative: a full brand strategy and identity project for a UK professional services firm "typically takes between four and nine months", with the strategy phase taking the first two to three months.
- Canny Creative: two to three months is sometimes right for a focused brand identity project with a lean decision-making team and a clear brief, but for larger organisations "Twelve months is not unusual". Its rule of thumb: "whatever timeline you're given, add thirty percent."
- The Starr Conspiracy, a US agency: positioning and messaging typically take 4 to 6 months, with a full brand rollout adding another 3 to 6 months.
Huddle also says the strongest agencies are explicit about what they need from the client and when, before the contract is signed. Ask for that list. ORRJO does not publish a standard timeline for a brand build.
Should you ask branding agencies to pitch for free?
Agencies and UK advertising bodies argue against unpaid creative pitches. Sable&Hawkes, writing on Cambridge Network in January 2026, calls free creative pitching "a bad idea for everyone" and suggests paying "at least a token to acknowledge time and creative value", with a clear budget, a clear brief and a shortlist of "three, maybe four agencies". The IPA describes pitching as "Largely unfunded" with "significant investment in time and money for agencies and clients alike", and the IPA and ISBA published a joint guide in 2019 to help clients engage agencies "without asking them to incur excessive costs".
A lighter test is to ask each shortlisted agency how it would read your current brand. The Starr Conspiracy suggests requesting a positioning audit of your current brand during discovery calls. The answer shows you how they think, without asking for finished concepts.
How much does a B2B branding agency cost in the UK?
Canny Creative, a UK B2B agency, puts brand strategy and identity alone, with no website or full rollout, at "somewhere between £10,000 and £40,000 depending on the agency and the scope", and says its own rebrand projects "typically sit between £10,000 and £20,000 for brand strategy and identity". Blend lists what a quote usually includes (strategy, concepts, core asset creation, guidelines) and what is often billed separately (website build, print collateral, sales deck redesign, ongoing brand support, and revision rounds beyond the original scope).
For more published UK prices, see how much B2B branding costs in the UK and our comparison of the best B2B branding agencies in the UK. Before you brief anyone, the brand audit template helps you work out what needs fixing.
Publisher's note. At ORRJO, brand builds and rebrands are scoped per project, and Brand & Content starts from £1,250 a month. Every ORRJO price is on the pricing page.
How does ORRJO answer these questions?
ORRJO builds B2B brands inside Brand & Content, so this section is one agency's answers to the questions above, not an independent view. What B2B Branding says:
- Research before creative (question 1). The research under every brand decision runs on ORRJO Intelligence: your buyers' words, your competitors' positioning, and the claims your market actually responds to, verified by a named analyst before anything shapes creative.
- How directions are shown (question 2). Brand directions are presented as working artefacts, not mood boards: constructed marks, palette options, and your own homepage mocked up in each direction.
- Who does the work (question 4). Every build is researched, built and deployed by one in house studio.
- The brand book (question 7). The contents are listed in the brand book section above. Brand books for Kairn, be.one Group and Kallidin are shown on B2B Branding.
- Rollout (question 8). Once a direction is chosen, your B2B website becomes its first deployment, and every deck, page and post follows the same book.
- Results (question 5). myBasePay, read against the DBA tests above.
Put the ownership and timeline questions to us as well, and ask for the answers in writing, as you would with any agency.
Questions buyers ask about choosing a branding agency
What questions should I ask a branding agency?
Ask what research came before the first concept and what it found, who will do the work day to day, what changed for past clients and how they know, whether you can see a real brand book they handed over, what is not included in the quote, and who owns the copyright when the project ends. The full list of 12 questions, with good and bad answers, is in the question bank on this page.
What are the red flags when hiring a branding agency?
The red flags agencies themselves publish include concepts in the first meeting or the first two weeks, a full rebrand promised in two to four weeks, B2C work presented as if it transfers, a generic credentials deck, a proposal that arrives within 24 hours of a 30 minute call, unlimited revisions, and a portfolio that shows visuals but no results.
How do you judge a branding agency's portfolio if it shows no results?
Ask what the agency measured for each client, ask for relevant work it does not publish, and ask to speak to the client. Then hold any result to the DBA Design Effectiveness standard: measured proof that design contributed, data from after and where possible before launch, other influencing factors explained, and, as the DBA advises, at least six months of post-launch data.
What should a B2B brand book include?
Logo variations with clear space, minimum sizes and file types; a colour palette with Pantone, CMYK, RGB and HEX values and rules for what each colour is for; licensed typefaces and a type scale; tone of voice with example sentences; imagery with on-brand and off-brand examples; templates; and text colour pairs that meet a WCAG contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
Who owns the copyright in a brand an agency designs for you?
In the UK, the first owner of copyright in commissioned work is whoever created it, not the client, unless you agree otherwise in writing, according to Intellectual Property Office guidance. An assignment of copyright is not effective unless it is in writing and signed by or on behalf of the assignor, under section 90(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does ORRJO charge for a brand build?
At ORRJO, brand builds and rebrands are scoped per project, and Brand & Content starts from £1,250 a month. Published UK market prices are in our guide to what B2B branding costs in the UK.
Sources
- Blend, How to choose a B2B brand agency: what to look for and what to ask. Research phase, subcontracting, guidelines specification, scope and pitch questions. Published 27 July 2026, modified 29 September 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- Blend, How to choose between a full rebrand and a brand refresh. Refresh versus rebrand. Published 4 August 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- Canny Creative, 15 of the Best B2B Rebranding Agencies in the UK. Questions, red flags, cost band, its own price and timelines. Published 14 April 2026, modified 27 September 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- Huddle Creative, How to Choose a Branding Agency: 8 Questions To Ask. Strategy first, case studies, stakeholders, naming, measurable proxies and timeline. Dated 25 August 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- Huddle Creative, What Professional Brand Guidelines Should Include. Logo, colour, font licensing, writing standards and templates. Checked 13 October 2026.
- Pony Studio, How to Choose a Branding Agency: 16 Questions That Actually Matter. Red-flag answers. No date on the page, checked 13 October 2026.
- The Starr Conspiracy, Select a B2B Branding Agency: 5 Procedures. Selection timeline, scoring weights, references, positioning audit, ownership and timelines. Published 14 May 2026, updated 21 May 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- Big Red Jelly, How to Find a Branding Agency That Is Right for Your Business. Case studies, results language and fast proposals. Published 30 July 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- Sable&Hawkes on Cambridge Network, A practical guide to hiring a brand or graphic design agency. Unpublished work and pitching. Published 13 January 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- ICON Creative, Questions you should ask your creative agency. Freelancers, partners and bait and switch. Published 1 November 2024, checked 13 October 2026.
- Intellectual Property Office, Ownership of copyright works. Commissioned works, implied licences and contracts for services. Published 19 August 2014, checked 13 October 2026.
- legislation.gov.uk, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 90. Assignment in writing. Checked 13 October 2026.
- GOV.UK, Search for a trade mark. Checked 13 October 2026.
- W3C, Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum). Contrast ratios and the logotype exception. Updated 6 September 2026, checked 13 October 2026.
- Design Business Association, Design Effectiveness and the Design Effectiveness Awards 2027 entry pack (PDF). The awards' founding year, requirement and judging criteria. Checked 13 October 2026.
- IPA, IPA and ISBA announce plans to transform industry pitching process. Published 27 January 2022, checked 13 October 2026.
- ISBA, ISBA and IPA publish best-practice guide on agency search and selection. Published 5 September 2019, checked 13 October 2026.
- ORRJO, B2B Branding, the myBasePay case study and pricing. Every ORRJO fact and price, checked 13 October 2026.