Use case · Creative agency
The creative agency that closes its doors
Eight years, eighty clients, a studio closing because the market shifted and you no longer want to rebuild an agency. The setting of a creative agency shutdown — where the value left behind is not the residual cash, but the source files and rights accumulated.
The setting
You founded the agency eight years ago, with two or three partners. You worked with around a hundred brands — some moved to a competitor, many stayed, a few are no longer trading. You signed every deliverable, negotiated every transfer of rights, kept every master on the studio's NAS. The rhythm slowed, client budgets tightened, you decide to close while you can still do it properly.
Closing an agency is not the same as closing a SaaS. Technical debt is minimal. Creative and legal debt, however, is heavy: 4,200 source files over a decade, 280 GB of archives, transfer contracts whose exclusivity clauses do not extinguish with the company, a public portfolio still relied upon by some of your former clients for their search rankings.
The question is not "what do we do with these files?" It is "to whom do they belong, under what use conditions, until when, and who will be able to provide them to a client who asks for them again in five years?"
A creative agency does not close like a shop. It closes like a studio: what you leave behind is other people's work as much as your own.
- 8 years of activity
- ~80 clients served
- 4,200 source files
- 280 GB archives to preserve
What is at stake
- Client deliverables. Logos, brand guidelines, identity manuals, sites delivered. Each is governed by the transfer contract signed with the client: exclusive or non-exclusive transfer, scope, duration, medium (article L. 131-3 of the French Intellectual Property Code). Closure does not extinguish those obligations.
- Brand source files. Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma files, licensed fonts, original photography. These are the only items that let a client keep their identity alive after their agency closes — hence the importance of organising their handover, rather than their dispersion.
- Transfer rights. For each deliverable, you need to know who holds what: you, the client, a sub-contracted photographer, a stock library. The digital rights transfer is complex in this trade; documenting it at closure prevents later disputes.
- The public portfolio. The agency's website is often the only place the work is gathered, credited and presented. Its disappearance is a dead loss for the founders' professional record and for the visibility of some of your former clients.
- Client email archives. The messages that contain briefs, approvals, scope negotiations. In case of a later dispute over a deliverable's scope, those messages serve as evidence. Retention is typically aligned with the commercial-law prescription period (5 years).
How Archivum operates
- 1
Scoping the case
Before any deposit, we map the context: legal form of the agency, status of proceedings (voluntary cessation or court-ordered liquidation), client portfolio, template transfer contracts, sub-contractors to inventory. Detailed quote, then a template contract adapted to the creative-agency case.
- 2
Source extraction and indexing
We retrieve the full set of source files, sorted by client and project. For each folder, the applicable transfer contract is attached — you walk away with a documentary summary that, years later, will let you respond to any client who wants to retrieve their master.
- 3
Portfolio frozen as static
Your public portfolio is regenerated as static HTML and migrated to Scaleway behind Cloudflare. The domain is kept. Former clients continue to find the pages that concern them. See site continuity.
- 4
Email taken over inbound-only
Critical mailboxes (
contact@,directors@, sometimesaccounting@) are taken over in inbound-only mode. Former clients writing in to retrieve a file are received and routed to the restitution process set out in the contract. - 5
Access grants and restitutions
For each end client, a restitution procedure is documented: identity verification, check of the applicable transfer contract, secure delivery of the sources. This procedure can run for the entire contractual conservation period — see access grant.
- 6
End-of-period arbitration
The partners (or their successors) are notified three months before the deadline. They decide collegially between extension, deletion and transfer to the trustee — see end-of-period arbitration.
Five years on
The founders (or their successors) decide collegially according to the agreed voting rule.
Extension
A new period, aligned with residual obligations toward clients (duration of exclusive transfers still in effect).
Deletion
Secure destruction of files whose preservation is no longer justified. Certificate issued to the founders and, where applicable, to clients who requested erasure.
Transfer to the trustee
Archivum inherits contractually the public portfolio and the domain. Client sources remain under named access of the original clients.
How much it costs
For a case like the one above — 8 years of activity, 280 GB of archives, 4,200 indexed source files, a 120-page portfolio, three mailboxes — over five years, the order of magnitude is a few thousand euros per year, with volume tiers. Source-file weight (HD masters, video) drives cost more than file count. The final price is set in a quote.
Scope your case
The most efficient path, especially with several partners concerned, is to talk for an hour. We understand your context and the agency trade, we validate a perimeter, you walk away with a scoped quote and a draft contract — usable as documentation for the amicable liquidation.