The Hidden Cost of Unaccountable Marketing Partners
By Filip Ivankovic
Director, New Rebellion
Filip has led enterprise marketing functions, managed a $40M budget and delivered 30% growth on a $200M base. An ex-CMO with experience across agency, client and vendor roles he understands where marketing delivers and where it gets stuck.
New Rebellion was built to create something sharper. A model that connects strategy to delivery, fast.
It’s a phrase that sounds harmless. Helpful, even.
“Our agency handles that.”
But behind it often sits a quiet problem.
Nobody inside the business is really sure what’s happening. And if no one owns it, no one’s driving it.
Delegation Isn’t a Strategy
Outsourcing is smart when done right.
It brings scale, speed and specialist skills that many teams can’t justify in-house.
But there’s a difference between using external partners to extend your capability and using them to avoid responsibility.
If you’re not clear on what success looks like, how it’s being measured, or where the gaps are, you’re not running a marketing function. You’re funding someone else’s process.
Where It Breaks
Work is happening, but results are not. This is where the cracks begin to show.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
- Campaigns get launched without internal review
- Reports are delivered but no one knows how to challenge them
- Budgets get signed off without clarity on what is actually being bought
- Creative does not land because no one is closing the loop with real customers
The business ends up moving, but not necessarily forward.
Because while the agency is working on something, no one internally is working with them to shape it. That is how strategy turns into activity and activity turns into waste.
Agencies Need Leadership
Great agencies want to work with clients who know what they are doing.
Not micromanagers, but partners. Leaders who:
- Write clear briefs
- Set sharp goals
- Interrogate the work
- Know when to pivot or push
When that happens, agencies deliver. Fast. Well. With impact.
But when there is no clear internal owner, even the best partners underperform.
Because they are flying blind and often isn't on them. It is on the business.
Build Accountability Inside
You can outsource execution. You cannot outsource ownership.
If it matters to your business, someone inside your business needs to lead it. That does not mean doing all the work. It means driving the outcomes.
The internal lead does not need to be the smartest marketer in the room. But they do need to:
- Understand the commercial goals
- Know how to measure progress
- Ask the right questions
- Close the feedback loop
That is how you get more from your agency and more from your budget.
The Bottom Line
Outsourcing should amplify your capability, not replace your thinking.
If no one internally owns the outcomes, you are not buying results.
You are renting motion.
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