Choosing a Digital Creative Agency: Lessons from Deliveroo

Deliveroo is on the hunt for a digital creative agency, with Ingenuity+ managing the review (reported by Campaign on 9 Jan 2026). That sounds like “big-brand news” — but for UK startup founders and small business owners, it’s a useful signal.

When a scaled brand goes back to market for creative support, it usually means one thing: the old marketing setup can’t keep up with the growth plan. For smaller companies, the stakes are even higher because you don’t have endless budget to “test and learn” your way out of a messy agency relationship.

This post is part of our British Small Business Digital Marketing series, and we’re going to use Deliveroo’s agency search as a practical case study: what triggers an agency review, what “good” looks like in a digital creative partnership, and how to choose an agency that drives leads (not just nice-looking ads).

Why Deliveroo’s agency search matters to UK startups

Answer first: A major brand searching for a digital creative agency is a reminder that creative is not decoration — it’s a growth function that needs the right operating model.

Most early-stage teams treat creative as a last-mile task: “We need some paid social assets” or “Can someone redesign the landing page?” That approach works until it doesn’t. The moment you’re spending meaningful money on acquisition, hiring more sales capacity, or pushing into new locations, creative becomes a constraint.

Here’s what a Deliveroo-style review signals (even if you’re a 5–50 person business):

• Channel mix shifts. What worked last quarter (Meta-only, Google-only, influencer-only) often stops scaling.
• Creative volume explodes. Paid social, UGC-style edits, seasonal promos, CRM, app/store assets, OOH cutdowns — it piles up fast.
• Brand consistency starts to matter. In crowded categories, you win by being remembered, not just clicked.

January is also a classic reset month in the UK: new budgets, new targets, and sharper scrutiny on what actually produced pipeline last year. Agency reviews tend to follow that rhythm.

The real reason high-growth companies hire digital creative agencies

Answer first: Companies hire digital creative agencies to increase speed, consistency, and performance across channels — not because they can’t design.

I’ve found that founders underestimate how quickly marketing becomes an operations problem. The agency isn’t just “making stuff.” A good partner helps you build a repeatable system for producing and improving creative.

What “digital creative” should include (not just ads)

If you’re searching “digital creative agency UK”, you’ll see a lot of portfolios and not much clarity. In practice, you want coverage across:

• Paid social creative: statics, short-form video, UGC-style, offer-led variations
• Landing pages: messaging hierarchy, page structure, CRO basics, speed-aware design
• Brand system for digital: templates, motion rules, tone-of-voice applied to ads
• Content marketing support: creative for SEO pages, lead magnets, social series
• Testing cadence: structured iteration (what changed, why it changed, what happened)

Deliveroo’s category is brutally competitive and promo-heavy. For startups, competition is different, but the pressure is similar: if your creative doesn’t refresh, performance drops.

A useful benchmark: why creative quality affects CAC

You don’t need perfect data to understand this: better creative typically improves either CTR (more people click) or conversion rate (more people take the next step). Either way, your customer acquisition cost (CAC) usually comes down.

A simple example you can model:

• Spend: £5,000/month
• If creative improvements lift landing page conversion from 2.0% to 2.6%, that’s a 30% lift.
• If lead quality stays similar, you’ve effectively bought 30% more leads at the same spend.

That’s why agency selection is a growth decision, not a design decision.

3 things British startups can learn from Deliveroo’s move

Answer first: Treat agency selection like hiring a senior leader: define outcomes, test working style, and build measurement in from day one.

1) Timing matters: review before you’re desperate

Most companies only look for a creative partner when:

• performance is sliding,
• the team is overloaded,
• a big launch is weeks away.

That’s when you make rushed choices.

A smarter trigger is: your production needs have doubled, but results haven’t. That usually means your creative process needs an upgrade (briefing, testing, speed, or channel fit).

2) Specialist beats “full service” when you need leads

For lead-gen focused startups, I’d rather have:

• an agency that understands paid social testing and landing page messaging,

than a “we do everything” shop that mainly produces big brand films.

If your campaign goal is LEADS, your creative partner must be comfortable with:

• direct response concepts,
• offer framing,
• clear CTAs,
• iterative improvement (not one big reveal).

3) The review itself is a strategy exercise

Deliveroo’s review being managed by a specialist (Ingenuity+) is a clue: the process matters.

Even if you don’t hire a pitch consultant, copy the discipline:

• Define what success looks like (not vague “awareness”)
• Decide how you’ll judge creative (performance + brand fit)
• Set roles (who briefs, who approves, who measures)

Otherwise you end up buying “vibes” — and paying for it later.

How to choose the right digital creative agency for your growth phase

Answer first: Choose an agency based on proof of process, relevant results, and how they’ll run weekly work — not just the portfolio.

Here’s a practical selection framework you can run in 2–3 weeks.

Step 1: Write a one-page brief that forces clarity

Keep it short, but specific:

• Goal: leads per month, CPA/CPL range, pipeline target
• Audience: who buys, who influences, what they care about
• Offer: what’s the first step (demo, quote, audit, waitlist)
• Channels: paid social, search, email, organic social, SEO content
• Constraints: compliance, turnaround time, internal approvals

If you can’t describe the offer and the buyer clearly, an agency can’t fix that with design.

Step 2: Ask questions that reveal how they think

Good pitch questions aren’t “What’s your creative approach?” (everyone has an answer). Use questions that force trade-offs:

1. “What would you test first in month one, and why?”
2. “How do you balance brand consistency with performance creative?”
3. “What does your weekly cadence look like?” (deliverables, feedback, iteration)
4. “Show me a before/after where performance improved due to creative.”
5. “What do you need from us to move fast?” (this reveals operational maturity)

Step 3: Look for a measurable creative system

A serious digital creative agency will talk about:

• number of variations per concept,
• testing windows,
• how they label/track assets,
• how they translate learnings into new briefs.

If the conversation stays at the level of “We’ll make it more premium,” you’re buying subjective taste, not growth support.

Step 4: Align pricing to output (and reality)

Most startup frustration comes from mismatch:

• You pay a retainer but get “big campaign thinking” and not enough assets.
• You pay per-asset but lose consistency and momentum.

A workable middle ground for many UK small businesses:

• a monthly retainer tied to a defined cadence (e.g., 12–20 paid social assets + 1 landing page iteration + 1 reporting/insight session)
• clear “out of scope” rules
• a 90-day review built into the contract

Step 5: Run a paid pilot, not a long marriage

If possible, start with a 4–6 week pilot:

• one product/offer
• one or two channels
• fast feedback loop

You’ll learn more from how they handle revisions and reporting than from any pitch deck.

What to track when your agency is responsible for “creative”

Answer first: Track a blend of performance metrics and production metrics so you can spot issues early.

Performance (tie directly to leads):

• CPL (cost per lead) by channel
• CVR (conversion rate) on the landing page
• Lead-to-meeting rate (if you have sales follow-up)
• CAC payback proxy (even a rough one)

Creative health (prevents “we’re busy but nothing improves”):

• Creative velocity: how many new testable assets shipped weekly
• Time-to-first-draft and time-to-live
• Win rate: % of new concepts that beat the current control
• Fatigue markers: frequency vs CTR trend (especially on Meta)

A simple rule: if you’re not shipping enough new creative, performance usually falls. If you’re shipping lots but learning nothing, your testing is poorly structured.

People also ask: quick answers for founders

Should a startup hire a digital creative agency or build in-house?

If you need speed and variety now, start with an agency and build internal ownership (briefing + measurement). Hire in-house once you know which channels and offers are repeatable.

What’s a reasonable budget for a UK small business creative agency?

It depends on scope, but many lead-gen focused retainers land between low four figures to mid four figures per month for consistent output. The real question is output cadence and business impact, not the headline number.

How do you know if an agency is working?

You should see improvement in either:

• lead volume at the same spend,
• CPL at the same lead quality,
• conversion rate on the landing page,

within 6–10 weeks if you’re testing regularly and the offer is viable.

The practical takeaway for UK small businesses

Deliveroo looking for a digital creative agency isn’t gossip — it’s a reminder that marketing partnerships are part of scaling. When growth targets rise, “someone who can make assets” stops being enough. You need a partner who can build a creative engine that produces leads consistently.

If you’re working through your 2026 plan right now, make this your January check: is your creative process built for the next stage, or just coping with the last one?

Source: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/deliveroo-searches-digital-creative-agency/1944524