Think of the relationship between entertainment producers and talent agents—the producer (the client) needs the right actor to fill a role and they work with talent agents to fill those roles. The same is true for professional sports teams (the client)—they need to fill certain roles on their roster and they work with the agents representing professional athletes to do so. 

The root word for Agency is Agent. Clients in need of marketing solutions often look to agencies (or agents) to fulfill those needs. And it is the job of the agency to assemble the team that can most efficiently deliver those required marketing services. However, marketing agencies take it one step further than most talent agents by managing and curating the work of the assembled team to deliver the most effective solutions possible to meet their client’s marketing needs—agencies assemble the team and they lead that team to meet the needs of the client.

Whether client needs are met with a combination of in-house oversight and contract creative and production talent or completely outsourced depending on the level and sophistication of the required service, it’s healthy to think about your agency as an agent representing and engaged in doing business on behalf of and to benefit your organization.