Short answer
Check the licence first — branding agencies are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 97 Australian branding agencies in this directory, only 11.3% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 0% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Branding Agencies handle brand strategy, naming, logos and visual identity, brand guidelines and the rollout across signage, packaging and the web. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
There is no branding agency licence — so check something else
Branding is unlicensed creative work, so the evidence is the portfolio and the paperwork. A good agency hands over the final files in every format, assigns the copyright to you in writing, and checks that the name and mark are free to register with IP Australia before you fall in love with them.
There is no national licence register in Australia — each state and territory runs its own. The regulator for your state is listed at the bottom of this guide, and checking a number takes about a minute.
What 97 Australian branding agencies actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For branding agencies:
| What we checked | Branding Agencies | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 11.3% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 47.8% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 0% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 91.7% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 83.3% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 18 | 39 |
What goes wrong with branding agencies
- A logo delivered without the source files or the copyright assigned to you
- A name or mark nobody searched against the trade marks register
- A brand strategy that is a mood board with no decisions in it
What to ask before the work starts
- Do I own the copyright and receive the source files on final payment?
- Will you check the name and mark against IP Australia before we commit?
- Which decisions will the strategy make that we could not make without it?
A branding agency who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median branding agency in this directory has 18 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do branding agencies need a licence in Australia?
- No. Branding is unlicensed creative work, so the evidence is the portfolio and the paperwork. A good agency hands over the final files in every format, assigns the copyright to you in writing, and checks that the name and mark are free to register with IP Australia before you fall in love with them.
- How do I check a branding agency's licence?
- There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Building and Plumbing Commission and Energy Safe Victoria in Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- What percentage of Australian branding agencies have a verifiable ABN?
- 11.3% of the 97 branding agencies in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a branding agency have?
- The median branding agency here has 18. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Read next
- How to check an Australian tradie's licenceThere is no national licence register in Australia. Here is the regulator for every state and territory, what each one c…
- What an ABN tells you about a tradie — and what it doesn'tAn ABN is free, public and takes a minute to check — and only 21.5% of 133,763 Australian trade businesses publish one. …
- When a tradie's phone number doesn't match their own website10,300 Australian trade businesses list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website. Sometimes it is a …