Branding Agency Collaboration: The End of the “Do Everything” Studio

These days, brand agency collaboration is where a lot of the best projects begin. But it wasn’t always like this.

But not too long ago, the industry favoured the opposite where a single creative branding studio  would claim everything from strategy and social media, to paid media and production. The promise was simplicity, efficiency, and control. 

In practice, it was often a small team trying to cover more ground than any one studio realistically can. Anyone who’s worked inside those projects knows what usually happens next. 

Individually, parts of the project might be convincing. But together, something feels off. That disconnect is usually a depth problem caused by people operating outside of their expertise.

The studios producing the strongest work have mostly stopped pretending this model makes sense. Instead, they’ve become more deliberate about their focus, and more comfortable collaborating with others who specialise in the parts they don’t. 

Why specialists make better work

Most specialist branding studios have a handful of disciplines they’re genuinely good at. Outside that zone, the work usually becomes more practical (and somewhat panicked) rather than exceptional. 

The last thing any client wants is to discover their project has become someone else’s learning exercise. Studio collaborations prevent that by keeping specialists close to the work they excel in.

In practice, these partnerships tend to form in fairly predictable places:

• A brand identity agency needs digital expertise to bring the work online.
• A web-focused agency wants stronger brand thinking.
• A project needs something specific, like naming, positioning, or messaging.
• The scope grows and another team joins to keep things moving.

When this happens, a few things usually follow:

• Deeper expertise: Each part of the project is shaped by people who spend most of their time doing that exact thing.
• Faster decisions: The right people are involved from the start, which means fewer adjustments halfway through.
• Smoother projects: Less time spent figuring out unfamiliar territory. More time spent doing the work.

What good studio collaborations look like

There’s a version of branding agency collaboration that clients are understandably wary about. Three agencies on a call, twelve people on screen, and nobody’s sure who’s responsible for what. In short, a nightmare.

But when studio partnerships work properly, the opposite happens. From the outside, it feels like one cohesive team. The mechanics are usually simple:

• Defined roles:  One studio leads strategy and identity. Another leads digital. Nobody is drifting into someone else’s lane.
• Clear handovers: Strategy informs identity. Identity informs digital. Messaging survives the journey from document to design. Each stage builds on the last.
• Shared outcomes: No blame-shifting if something doesn’t quite land. Everyone involved shares responsibility for the final result.

When it works well, nobody is thinking about how many specialists or studios are involved. It just feels like the right people are shaping the work together.

How we work with other studios

At Immo Studio, we focus on brand strategy, visual identity, naming, messaging, and websites. And we also spend a lot of time working alongside other studios.

Good examples of this are our collaborations with OK Yes Please, a studio led by Dan Bennett. 

For Cala, an end-to-end production, photography and film studio, OK Yes Please developed the identity system, while we worked on the naming, tone of voice, and website. The identity established the look and feel, and we made sure the language and digital experience carried that thinking forward.

We carried the same approach through on Outloud Talent, a creator representation platform. OK Yes Please created the identity, and we translated it into a website that would work equally well for brands looking for collaborators and for creators thinking about representation.

More recently, we’ve been applying this model alongside a small group of London-based specialists across strategy, PR, and social media to offer clients a serious depth of expertise across every stage of a brand project. A couple of exciting projects are already taking shape.

Ultimately, we don’t see brand agency collaboration as a workaround if a project becomes too complex for one team.  As more studios lean into their strengths, this kind of collaboration is becoming less of an exception and more of the way the best work gets made.

Frequently asked questions

1. Why are more branding studios collaborating with other agencies?

Many studios focus more on their core strengths now. Instead of trying to cover every discipline themselves, they partner with experts when a project needs specialised guidance.

2. Didn’t branding agencies use to handle everything?

For a long time, a single studio offered strategy, design, marketing, and production under one roof. In practice, that often meant small teams were trying to cover more ground than they could.

3. Does working with multiple studios make projects more complicated?

Not necessarily. When roles are clearly defined, collaboration can make projects run more smoothly. Each team focuses on the work they understand best, reducing the need for revision.

4. What makes a studio collaboration work well?

Clear roles and clear handovers. When one team leads strategy and identity while another focuses on digital execution, the project works well without confusion.

5. When does a branding project usually involve more than one studio?

It usually happens when a project extends beyond the core brand work. For example, a company might complete a rebrand and then need support launching it through PR, campaigns, or longer term marketing. In those situations, collaborating with specialist studios allows each part of the project to be handled by teams who focus on that discipline every day.