Apply this matrix to every vendor on your list. JOHN LUKE's answers are pre-filled below as the reference. Your job is to compare.
Most branding RFPs end the same way: three vendors, three pitch decks, three different formats, and a procurement team trying to compare oranges to spreadsheets. The decision usually goes to whichever firm sounds smoothest in a thirty-minute call.
This matrix gives you twelve specific questions worth asking, each one designed to surface real differences between vendors instead of marketing language. Use it across every agency you're evaluating. We're listing JOHN LUKE's answers as the reference so you have a starting calibration.
Names, not roles. The senior people who actually show up to your meetings, not the ones in the pitch deck.
The studio's principal is on every engagement. No rotating bench, no associate hand-off. The named senior counterpart on the proposal is the same person on the kickoff call and the final review.
Listed deliverables, listed exclusions, listed assumptions. Vague scope is where 80% of agency relationships break.
Every proposal lists fixed scope, fixed timeline, fixed price. Each deliverable named with a definition of done. Exclusions written explicitly so there's no ambiguity at delivery.
The way an agency talks about its failures says more than its case studies.
We share specific examples on the fit call. Common patterns we've learned from: timeline collapse from a stakeholder change, scope creep from undefined success metrics, brand decisions over-tested into compromise. Each one shaped how we scope today.
Who has final say at the agency. How disagreements get resolved. How long it takes from "we have an opinion" to "we ship work."
The principal has final creative authority. Decisions made in the room with the client lead, not behind closed doors. Most strategic decisions resolve in the same week.
Brand work is famously hard to measure. Agencies that say "you can't measure brand" are usually unwilling to commit. Agencies that say "we'll measure everything" are usually overpromising.
We name three to five outcome signals at engagement start, tie them to existing metrics the company already tracks, and revisit them at the 90-day post-launch checkpoint. The studio's portal mirrors brand-health metrics live so the team can see them weekly.
Generic answers about "discovery, design, refine" are a tell. Specific answers reveal whether they have a real method.
Each engagement runs phases with named outputs. Brand audits use the Five Layer Diagnostic. Rebrands run audit, position, identity, system, rollout. Strategy builds run audit, position, architecture, audience, message, system. Documented at /services/brand-audit/ and /services/rebranding/.
Base fee. Travel. Asset licensing. Revisions beyond a threshold. Post-launch support. Contingency. The total cost of ownership over the next 12 months.
One number on the proposal covers all in-scope work. No per-revision charges, no licensing markups on font or stock. Travel billed at cost when applicable. Post-launch support quoted as a separate retainer if you want it.
Trademark assignment. Source files. Working files. Vendor templates and presets. What walks out the door if the relationship ends.
Full ownership of all delivered work transfers on final invoice. Source files (Figma, AI, Sketch) included. Working brand-strategy docs delivered as portal exports. No "JOHN LUKE retains creative IP" clauses.
An agency that can't articulate what makes engagements fail isn't being honest about how the work happens.
One named decision-maker on your side with authority to commit. Two-hour weekly standing call. Access to leadership for the audit phase. Honest answers in the kickoff interview about what's politically off-limits.
Agencies that can't answer this aren't reliable narrators of their own service.
We push back on brand decisions made for political reasons rather than strategic ones. That feels like friction in the moment. Clients who value the friction get sharper work. Clients who don't have told us so directly.
Three live names with phone numbers. Procurement teams who can't get references shouldn't proceed.
Three current and former clients available for reference calls within 48 hours of request. Names and intros provided after the fit call. We don't share contact info in the proposal stage out of respect for our clients' time.
Reveals whether the agency thinks in transactions or relationships, and whether they have an answer beyond "more of the same."
Most engagements graduate to one of three paths in year two: a fractional brand-leadership retainer with a named senior counterpart, a follow-on engagement (audit → strategy → rebrand sequence), or a clean handoff to your in-house team with quarterly office-hours support.
