Hiring a production partner in a market you don’t know is mostly about de-risking. You can’t be there to check the work, so you have to vet the partner before the project, not during it. The good news: a few clear signals separate a real operator from a risky one.
At SOMOS DER we work with international agencies and brands, so we know exactly what serious clients check. Here’s the checklist.
1. A verifiable track record
Vague claims are a red flag. A real partner shows real cases with names and numbers: which brands, which events, how many people. Ask for specifics. We can point to Manchester City (Beyond 90), Shell (Venue Brand Experience), DiDi (Backyard Group), and 100+ access operations from 300 to 90,000 people. Names you can check beat adjectives you can’t.
2. NDA and formal contracts
A serious partner signs an NDA before any project conversation if you need it, and works with formal contracts — not handshakes. If confidentiality or contracts are a hassle for them, imagine how the project will go.
3. Clean cross-border invoicing
Ask how they invoice international clients before you commit. We invoice in USD with an exportable Argentine invoice (E-export), and handle retainer structures for recurring work. Payment clarity up front avoids friction later.
4. Vetted vendor relationships
The value of a local partner is their network: vendors they’ve worked with and can vouch for. A partner who has to start from scratch on every vendor is just a middleman. Ask who they work with and how often.
5. A single point of responsibility
The whole reason to hire a partner is to not manage ten vendors yourself. Make sure one team owns the outcome end to end, with one contact. If responsibility is diffuse, problems will fall through the cracks.
6. New-market honesty
For markets where even we don’t operate directly, we partner with previously vetted local production companies and keep central project management. A partner honest about what they do and don’t cover directly is worth more than one who claims everything.
Vetting a partner for Argentina or LATAM? See our strategic partnerships and how we work in finding an operating partner in Argentina, or get in touch.