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What should you require in a contract with a marketing agency?
Atualizado em 22 de julho de 2026
A marketing agency contract needs three blocks: named deliverables with quantity and deadline, an ownership clause for the assets and ad accounts under your company's name, and clear exit rules with portability of files and access. Without this, you pay for a service you cannot take with you.
1. Named deliverables, no vague terms
The contract should list what the agency delivers, with a number and a frequency. "Social media management" is not a deliverable. A deliverable is: 12 posts a month, 4 video scripts, a monthly report with agreed metrics. The same goes for paid media: which campaigns, on which platforms, with what budget under management. If it is not written down, it does not exist. We always advise the client to request a detailed scope attachment, signed together with the main contract. If the conversation is still early, it is worth bringing the questions for the first agency meeting to the table before talking paperwork.
2. Ownership of assets and accounts
This is where companies get hurt the most. Require in a clause:
- Ad account under your company's name. The Meta Business Manager, the Google Ads account and the pixel should be under the contracting company's tax ID, with the agency as a partner, never as the owner.
- Domain, site and hosting under your name. Domain registration and server access belong to you.
- Source files delivered. Art, edited videos and open project files (Photoshop, Premiere, Figma) are yours, not closed versions.
- Social media profiles with you as the primary administrator.
3. Exit and portability
Every contract ends one day. What happens on that day needs to be written before things begin. Require: a defined notice period, a deadline for delivering all access and files, campaign history and performance data, and a ban on deleting or locking accounts after termination. A contract that does not plan for the exit is what turns switching agencies into an account hostage situation. If the current reports already hide numbers, also check the signs of an agency burning your budget.
Before signing, run through this quick checklist:
- Scope with deliverables, quantities and deadlines in an attachment.
- Ad accounts, domain and site under your company's tax ID.
- Ownership of source files stated.
- Exit clause with a portability deadline.
- Minimum report with defined metrics.
- Term and price adjustment in writing.
We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. It is worth taking the document to a lawyer you trust. What we can say, after 23 years in operation, is that a contract is not bureaucracy: it defines how the operation works and how it ends.
In practice, in the countryside
In the countryside of São Paulo, a lot of agency relationships start with a handshake and trust. That is good for getting started, but it does not replace paperwork. We have seen a company arrive at our door without access to its own Instagram, because the password stayed with the previous professional and the relationship had soured. One afternoon of attention to the contract saves months of disputes.
If you want to review the contract you have in hand or understand how we structure scope, ownership and exit in our strategy work, talk to the desigual team on WhatsApp.
Perguntas relacionadas
What cannot be missing from a marketing agency contract?
Named deliverables with quantity and deadline, an ownership clause for the assets and ad accounts under your company's name, and exit rules with a portability deadline. Without these three blocks in writing, the contract does not protect the operation or the exit.
Should the ad account be under my name or the agency's?
Under your name. The Meta Business Manager, the Google Ads account and the pixel should be linked to the contracting company's tax ID, with the agency operating as a partner. If the account belongs to the agency, the history and the data leave with it.