Whose Campaign Is It: Advertising Agencies, Creative Services, and the Work Nobody Assigned
By Casey Scott McKay ·
An advertising campaign is assembled from dozens of separately owned components and delivered under an agreement that usually says the client owns everything. Both propositions cannot be true, and the gap between them is where agency relationships fail. Stock footage carries a licence with a term. Music is cleared for a market and a period. Talent releases expire. The agency's own tools and templates are not the client's. Freelancers who were never asked to sign anything own what they made. This article works through what a client actually receives, the pitch and speculative work problem, the third-party asset schedule that almost never exists, usage windows and the campaign that quietly becomes unlicensed, and what happens at termination.
IP and Technology > General IP | Article | Published 20 July 2024 - Updated 26 September 2024 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. An advertising campaign is assembled from dozens of separately owned components and delivered under an agreement that usually says the client owns everything. Both propositions cannot be true, and the gap is where agency relationships fail. Stock footage carries a licence with a term. Music is cleared for a market and a period. Talent releases expire. The agency's own tools are not the client's. Freelancers who never signed anything own what they made. This article works through what a client actually receives, the pitch and speculative work problem, the third-party asset schedule that almost never exists, usage windows, and what happens at termination.
Keywords: agency agreements · work made for hire limits · deliverable ownership · pitch and spec work · third-party asset schedules · stock licence terms · music clearance · talent releases · usage windows · campaign archive · agency tools and templates · freelance subcontracting · approval records · substantiation files · transition on termination
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