If your advertising agency is insolvent, we take over without interruption

If your advertising agency is insolvent, campaigns, websites, and print jobs often come to a halt within a few days. Contact persons are no longer reachable. Invoices remain unpaid, and no one can say where data and access credentials are actually located. KAOS takes over in precisely this situation and has been serving medium-sized companies from Wangen im Allgäu since 1992.

We step in where your previous service provider left off. First, we review the existing situation: ongoing campaigns, website, open print projects, existing access credentials. Then, together we determine what needs to continue immediately and what can wait a few weeks. Companies whose advertising agency has become insolvent rarely need everything new at once, but rather clarity about the current status first.

The initial consultation is free of charge. In the free initial consultation, we assess your case and identify the first steps to take in your situation. Whether the advertising agency is insolvent or currently undergoing restructuring makes a significant difference to the approach.

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What happens to your website if the agency becomes insolvent

As long as the server bill is paid, your website will remain online. This is precisely where the risk lies: many agencies operate client websites through their own collective contracts with the host. If the advertising agency becomes insolvent, these contracts are often no longer serviced. The provider can then shut down the server without informing you beforehand.

Therefore, the first thing you should check is whose name the hosting contract is under. If your company is listed there, switching providers is straightforward. If everything is handled by the agency, the process goes through the insolvency administrator. Then speed is of the essence.

A second point is easily overlooked: maintenance and security updates cease as soon as the advertising agency becomes insolvent. Because updates are no longer provided, a CMS becomes a gateway for attacks within a few months. Outdated plugins are among the most common causes of hacked company websites, as known security vulnerabilities often remain open there for months. Therefore, we can take over ongoing maintenance at your request even before the formal transfer.

We take over existing presences in WordPress, TYPO3, Contao, webEdition, WooCommerce, and Shopify. Provided that the technical substance is sound, your site can be continued instead of being completely rebuilt. What this specifically means for your system will be clarified in advance as part of web development.

Securing your domain and access data after the agency’s insolvency

The domain is the most valuable asset. At the same time, this is precisely where problems most frequently arise. Whether you can act quickly depends on the owner entry with the registrar. If the agency is listed there instead of your company, the domain is part of the insolvency estate and must be released by the administrator.

Before the last contact persons leave the company, you should collect these access details:

  • Domain and registrar with owner data and Auth-Code for transfer
  • Hosting and CMS with server, database, and administrator account
  • Advertising Accounts such as Google Ads, Analytics, and Search Console
  • Social Media and Newsletter with page roles and mailing tool

If an access is missing, we reconstruct it via the registrar, host, or platform operator. Depending on the provider, this takes a few days to a few weeks. If an advertising agency becomes insolvent, you as the client have a right to your own data. Usage rights to the design and source code, on the other hand, depend on the contract and must be reviewed before any further step.

Because third-party backups can be lost at any time, you should ideally create your own backup in parallel. This includes a complete export of the website including the database, the open print files in print-ready resolution, and the logo files in the original format. These three packages are the hardest to obtain later if the advertising agency becomes insolvent and servers have already been shut down.

Meeting

Designed with us.

Salomon Green
Aj brand core tile
Reracing Website Tile
Munk anniversary brochure 125 years embossing
Tettnang Advent calendar door
Plantavet Trade Fair Booth Tile
Pferdehof Balthasar Tile
Anomal White Reference Tile
Swa Print Tile 800x800px

Wait or switch immediately? These deadlines decide

Not every insolvency means the end. If the proceedings run in self-administration, the team often continues working for months. A hasty switch then costs unnecessary money. If operations are shut down, on the other hand, every day counts.

The insolvency administrator decides under § 103 InsO whether ongoing contracts are fulfilled or rejected. Until this decision is made, you should be ready to act: data backed up, access documented, an alternative prepared. As long as the situation is unclear, it is better not to pay outstanding invoices.

Three things are particularly time-critical: domain renewal, the next hosting bill, and ongoing advertising budgets. Check your domain renewal dates immediately. If such a deadline falls during the period when the advertising agency is insolvent and no one releases invoices anymore, a domain can slip into the return period and in the worst case be registered externally.

We also accompany this transition if you ultimately decide against switching. As an advertising agency for industry, we support manufacturing businesses beyond the acute crisis.

One team continues brand, website and print simultaneously

Once your own agency is gone, many companies immediately search for three new service providers: one for the website, one for design, one for print. With us, that all happens at one table. As an advertising agency for mid-market companies with our own print operations in a network, we continue print and digital projects in parallel without requiring you to coordinate three separate parties.

When an advertising agency files for insolvency, both discretion and speed are equally important. We treat your documents confidentially, speak with the insolvency administrator on your behalf if desired, and keep you informed at every step.

Because brand, website and print come together under one roof with us, you lose no time at interfaces during the transition. When a company reaches us in the middle of an ongoing campaign whose advertising agency is insolvent, we first secure what would cost reach if it failed. We have fixed responsibilities for this instead of changing project assignments.

Contact us before your site goes offline. A brief conversation is enough to sort out the most urgent points and put the next steps into a reliable order. After that, you’ll know where you stand. Your projects continue.

Do you have any questions?

Kurt Schauer
Kurt Schauer

Managing Director

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