Hiring a Digital Creative Agency: Lessons from Deliveroo

Deliveroo is searching for a digital creative agency, with Ingenuity+ reportedly managing the review (Campaign, published 9 Jan 2026). Big brand, simple move: they’re treating digital creative as a growth lever, not a “nice-to-have.”

Most UK startups say they want better brand awareness, more leads, and stronger performance marketing results. Then they try to solve all of it with a couple of paid social ads and a new homepage banner. The result is predictable: scattered creative, inconsistent messaging, and campaigns that don’t scale because the brand story isn’t doing any work.

This post is part of our British Small Business Digital Marketing series, and it uses Deliveroo’s agency search as a practical case study. Not because you should copy a plc’s process—but because the reason they’re doing it is the same reason founders eventually do it: your product can be great and still lose if your digital presence is a mess.

Why Deliveroo’s agency search matters to UK startups

A big brand doesn’t run an agency review for entertainment. It’s usually a sign of one (or more) hard realities:

• Creative fatigue: performance channels need fresh concepts or costs creep up.
• Platform complexity: what works on TikTok rarely works on YouTube, paid social, OOH, email, and app at the same time.
• Speed vs consistency: teams ship faster, but the brand gets noisier.
• Growth pressure: digital creative becomes the difference between “good” and “category-leading.”

For UK small businesses, the parallel is direct: if you’re relying on organic social plus a few campaigns a year, you might survive. If you want repeatable demand generation—especially heading into Q1 and Q2 planning—you need a creative engine that can produce, test, and learn.

Here’s the stance I’ll take: a digital creative agency is often less about “prettier ads” and more about building a repeatable system for attention and conversion.

What a “digital creative agency” actually does (and what it should do)

A digital creative agency can mean anything from a studio that makes assets to a strategic partner that shapes your positioning and performance creative. As a startup, you don’t need the flashiest reel—you need clarity on the job to be done.

The four jobs startups usually need (but don’t name)

If you’re trying to generate leads, these are the agency outputs that tend to matter most:

1. Positioning translated into messages: turning “we’re different” into copy people actually understand.
2. Concepts that travel across channels: one strong idea, adapted well (not 30 random posts).
3. Performance creative testing: systematic iteration based on data, not opinions.
4. Landing-page alignment: ads don’t convert if the page tells a different story.

A good agency will ask uncomfortable questions early: Who are you really for? What do you want to be known for? What’s the single reason to believe you? If they don’t, you may end up buying output instead of outcomes.

Deliveroo’s signal: digital creative is now “infrastructure”

Deliveroo’s review (as reported) suggests they’re investing in the capability to keep digital creative consistent, fresh, and effective at scale. Startups should treat it the same way. Not with the same budget—but with the same mindset.

Snippet-worthy rule: When your growth depends on paid distribution, creative isn’t decoration. It’s infrastructure.

When a startup should hire a digital creative agency (vs keep it in-house)

The wrong time to hire an agency is when you’re panicking. The right time is when you’ve got enough signal to brief properly.

Hire an agency if any of these are true

• Your paid social performance is flat and you’re “out of ideas.”
• Your best ads are more than 3–6 months old.
• Your brand voice changes depending on who writes the post.
• Your website converts poorly and no one agrees why.
• You’re launching something important in 60–120 days.

If you recognised two or more, an agency can help—but only if you can give them focus.

Keep it in-house if you’re missing basics

You’ll struggle to get value from an agency if:

• You don’t know your target customer well enough to write a one-page ICP.
• You can’t track leads or signups properly.
• You haven’t decided what success means (CPL, demo bookings, pipeline).

Agencies aren’t there to invent your strategy from zero. They can shape it, sharpen it, and execute it—but they need inputs.

How to run an agency review like a scaleup (without scaleup budget)

Deliveroo can use a formal review process. You can borrow the structure, simplify it, and still make a smart decision.

Step 1: Write a one-page brief that forces trade-offs

Your brief should fit on one page. If it can’t, you’re not ready.

Include:

• Goal (lead gen, trials, sales calls—pick one primary)
• Customer (who they are, what they buy, what they fear)
• Offer (what you want people to do, and why now)
• Channels (paid social, search, email, website, organic)
• Constraints (budget, approvals, brand rules)
• Measurement (what numbers decide “working”)

A great agency will respond by tightening this, not padding it.

Step 2: Ask for thinking, not a full free campaign

Startups often ask for speculative creative. It’s a trap. You end up choosing based on who gave away the most work.

Instead, ask for:

• A teardown of your current ads/website (30–45 minutes)
• 3–5 hypotheses they’d test first (with rationale)
• A simple measurement plan (what they’ll track weekly)

You’re hiring judgement. Make the process reveal it.

Step 3: Score agencies on what will actually move leads

I’ve found a simple scorecard avoids “vibes-based” decisions.

Use weighted criteria:

• Strategy and positioning (25%)
• Performance creative testing approach (25%)
• Channel experience relevant to you (15%)
• Process and speed (15%)
• Team quality and stability (10%)
• Commercials and terms (10%)

If an agency is amazing creatively but can’t explain how they’ll learn from results, your lead gen will suffer.

Step 4: Start with a 6–8 week pilot

Avoid long retainers until the relationship proves itself.

A solid pilot scope for a UK startup:

• 1 core concept developed into variations
• A set of paid social assets (static + video)
• 1 landing page refresh or message alignment
• Weekly reporting with decisions (keep/kill/iterate)

Non-negotiable: you should know exactly what will be delivered, when, and what success looks like.

What “good” digital creative looks like for lead generation

The common mistake is treating creative as an art project. Lead gen creative is a system: clarity + relevance + repetition.

The creative-to-conversion chain (simple, but strict)

If leads are the goal, your funnel needs alignment:

1. Ad concept earns attention in 1–2 seconds
2. Message makes the problem feel specific
3. Proof removes doubt (numbers, logos, testimonials)
4. Offer gives a clear next step (demo, quote, consultation)
5. Landing page matches the promise and removes friction

Break any link, and performance drops.

If your ad and landing page feel like they’re from different companies, you’re paying a “confusion tax” on every click.

Concrete examples you can apply this week

You don’t need Deliveroo’s budget to apply Deliveroo-level discipline.

Try one of these:

• Proof-led creative: one claim + one proof point (e.g., “Cut onboarding time by 37%”)
• Objection-handling creative: name the top concern (“No time to switch tools”) and answer it
• Founder-led explanation video: 30–45 seconds, one problem, one solution, one CTA
• Comparison creative: “Old way vs new way” with a simple side-by-side

Then run it as a test: keep one variable constant (audience or offer), change only creative.

Budget reality: how small businesses can afford agency-level output

Not every startup needs a full-service partner. Many should buy a narrower outcome.

Three models that work on UK startup budgets

1. Creative sprints (best for speed)

   • 2–3 weeks, fixed fee, focused deliverables

2. Performance creative retainer (best for iteration)

   • monthly, with a required testing cadence and learning loop

3. Strategy + templates + internal execution (best for lean teams)

   • agency sets direction and a content system, your team produces

Pick based on your constraint: time, talent, or consistency.

“People also ask” questions (quick answers)

Should a startup hire a digital creative agency or a performance agency?

If lead gen is your priority, you want a partner who can connect creative to outcomes. A pure performance shop without creative rigour will plateau; a pure creative shop without measurement won’t drive pipeline.

What should be in an agency contract for startups?

Clear deliverables, timelines, revision rules, ownership of assets, reporting cadence, and exit terms. If those aren’t explicit, you’ll pay for misunderstandings.

How do you measure digital creative success?

Use leading indicators (thumb-stop rate, CTR, hold rate for video) and business outcomes (CPL, demo bookings, conversion rate). Creative metrics without business metrics are theatre.

Where this sits in British small business digital marketing

This series is about making digital marketing work on limited budgets: smarter SEO, clearer messaging, more effective social media marketing, and content that actually builds demand.

Deliveroo’s agency search is a reminder that digital marketing doesn’t scale on tactics alone. It scales on systems: consistent messaging, fast creative iteration, and channels working together.

If you’re considering a digital creative agency, start small but start properly: write the one-page brief, pick one growth goal, run a pilot, and force learning every week. That’s how scaleups do it—and it’s how small businesses stop wasting spend.

Where do you think your biggest bottleneck is right now: fresh creative ideas, consistent brand positioning, or turning clicks into leads?