Saudi Companies Don't Need More Agencies. They Need Better Briefs.

560 agencies have registered with TWOSEL, a Saudi platform that starts with the project instead of the agency. The number matters less than the idea behind it.

Ask a marketing director how they found their last agency. Most will give the same answer. A colleague recommended one, or they scrolled Instagram portfolios. Some called five agencies, explained the same brief five times, and got back five proposals that could not be compared.

Somewhere in the same city, the right agency never heard about the project. This is the quiet contradiction of the creative industry. Businesses struggle to find the right agency, and the right agency struggles to find its next client. The talent exists, but the connection does not.

The problem is access, not talent

The agency market in Saudi Arabia runs on reputation and personal networks. That system has value. A trusted referral reduces risk, and a known name gives a client confidence. But the same system hides capable agencies.

A young studio can do exceptional work and still lack the relationships to reach a major company. A specialist can understand hospitality or healthcare better than any large agency. It may still never be invited to pitch. Talent alone does not open the door.

For the business, the problem looks different. Finding an agency is easy, since a search returns hundreds. Finding the right one is hard. Experience, capacity, availability, and price expectations are rarely visible on a website.

So both sides lose time. Businesses search, explain, compare, and negotiate. Agencies prospect, pitch, and chase work that was never a fit.

The brief comes first

TWOSEL reverses the usual sequence. In a normal search, a company picks agencies first and then explains what it needs. On TWOSEL, the company starts with a brief. It describes the project, the services required, the scope, and the budget. That brief is then matched with relevant agencies.

The business defines the opportunity, and the search for a partner follows. The shift looks small, but it is not. It means a company can start with the work, not with the most famous name.

Why the brief is the real story

Most creative projects go wrong before an agency is chosen. A company asks for social media management when its real problem is positioning. Another commissions a new visual identity before deciding what makes it different. A third approaches production houses with no defined audience, objective, or budget.

The agency is left to guess, and the guesses show up later. They appear as scope creep, budget disputes, and missed expectations. The result is work that disappoints both sides.

A structured brief does not fix all of that. But it forces the company to say what it needs before anyone starts pitching. That alone improves the first conversation.

It also opens a larger possibility. Platforms like TWOSEL may end up teaching companies to be better buyers of creative services, not just faster at finding suppliers. That is a bigger business than matchmaking.

What 560 agencies tell us

Registrations do not prove a marketplace works. They prove one side has shown up. Every two-sided platform faces the same problem. Agencies need briefs to stay engaged, and businesses need agencies worth choosing. Neither side gets value until both are present.

560 agencies is progress on the supply side, but the real test comes next. How many companies submit briefs? How relevant are those briefs to the agencies that receive them? How many introductions become proposals, contracts, and finished projects? And do those projects turn out better than the ones found through a phone call to a friend?

The agencies outside the spotlight

The agencies easiest to find are not always the best fit. Large firms have names, portfolios, and existing relationships. Smaller studios depend on referrals and on how well their founders can sell.

A marketplace built around the project, not the reputation, widens the list of agencies a company considers. Being seen does not mean being chosen. Agencies still have to prove they can deliver. But no agency can win work it never hears about.

From database to marketplace

A database organizes information, while a marketplace creates transactions. TWOSEL's challenge is what happens after the brief is submitted. Can it send a client a short list instead of a flood? Can it keep the briefs relevant and push businesses toward realistic budgets? Can it measure whether a match actually worked?

If agencies get irrelevant briefs, they stop opening them. If businesses get the wrong agencies, they go back to calling friends. The platform's value will not come from registrations. It will come from match quality, which is harder to build and worth more.

A different kind of growth

Most talk about the creative economy is about adding more. It focuses on more investment, more companies, and more talent. That matters. But a market can also grow by working better, by helping the people already in it find each other.

An agency does not need a thousand prospects. It needs a few well-matched ones. A business does not need every agency in the Kingdom. It needs confidence that the few it considers can solve its problem.

TWOSEL is testing whether a better brief can deliver both. The 560 agencies are the start. The measure will be how many find the right project, and what they build together.

Editor's disclosure: TWOSEL and Arabian Growth share a founder. The registration figure was provided by TWOSEL and has not been independently verified. This article examines the platform's model and early development. It does not assess commercial outcomes.