Services

Agency fees

Determining a fair fee to pay an agency can an area fraught with difficulty. What model should be adopted? Should it be based on outcomes? How should the agency team be structured? Should blended rates be used? How is overhead and profit? Is a mixture of retainer and project fees wise? Which agency job titles should be chargeable and which should be covered by overhead? Is there a difference between regional vs national rates that needs to be considered? How should performance related pay be structured? What is a fair percentage for a risk/reward package?

Many elements need to be considered plus arriving at aligned view between marketing, procurement and the agency. Agency remuneration should be closely linked to their contract with a client, and those people responsible for doing the negotiation on behalf of both parties should have the knowledge and experience in order to be able to arrive at a price that incentivises the agency adequately, yet provides the paying client with confidence they are receiving value for money.

If a fee negotiation is conducted thoroughly and fairly both parties should be satisfied that they are receiving the best deal possible.

Agency reviews & pitches

The relationship between clients and agencies requires investment in time as well as money. Running pitches is time consuming, expensive and disruptive to both parties. In order to ensure that an account team in any marketing discipline is performing successfully we recommend a mutual performance review be conducted every 6 months. These reviews are not linked to remuneration, and are designed to check the following elements:

Strategy & Creative: are creative solutions on brief and deliver against agreed objectives, and are these clearly imparted in the first place

Staffing: is the team resourced correctly by experience, skills and time across the various agency departments

Management: is the agency proactive overall and does it assist the client meet deadlines

Cost control: do both parties manage budgets efficiently and provide and respond to timely and accurate reconciliations

Pitches: In the event that a relationship has broken down or an account becomes subject to an international conflict/roster alignment, then a pitch may be desirable. Contrary to some practices a pitch can be run efficiently taking no more than 10 working days from start to finish over a period of no more than 6 weeks including initial briefing, long to short-listing, meetings and presentations – as long as each party has defined objectives and responsibilities throughout the process. A scoring template is recommended to capture feedback and each of the pitch team’s scores.

Contracts

Contracting an agency with whom a great deal of money is spent is a basic financial and administrative hygiene factor, yet too often one that stalls between marketing, procurement and over-worked legal departments.

As a rule most clients standard Master Service Agreements form a usable and sensible basis for a marketing contract as long as it recognises the type of agency to be contracted, and contains as many marketing-specific clauses as necessary.

Clients should endeavour to utilise their own contracts rather than accept the agency's own contract. The balance of risk will be biased and should be equally mitigated between both parties. Important areas such as IP ownership, conflict, payment terms, fees, performance-related pay or bonuses, audits, performance reviews, team structures and rates, reconciliations, scope of work, TUPE and reporting should be included.

Getting the contract right between both parties is important in order to avoid contractual difficulties as the relationship develops. A contract can be amended at any time subject to appropriate negotiation.

Production costs

Agencies typically make half their money on fees, and half on production costs. To that end it is the responsibility of clients to ensure that undeclared mark-ups and commissions aren't being added to their production costs, and that they are paying a fair price for each and every line item.

Commercially-minded marketers believe that company money should be subject to as rigorous scrutiny as their own personal spending, and frequently achieve good cost savings to be reinvested into their marketing budgets. It is not advisable to delegate such financial authority to third-party suppliers whose ‘proprietary tools’ are independent of marketing and/or procurement input.  After each campaign agencies should be encouraged to produce a fully receipted reconciliation and return all unspent monies to the client. Which funds can be spent on more activity with the agency.

Paying a fair price for production will not jeopardise quality or creativity, but will engender mutual respect between budget holders and agencies.

INSTANT QUOTE CRITIQUING

Agency production quotes are often late, giving marketers and marketing procurement little time to consider them.  Use our stress-busting instant quote critiquing service to obtain a constructive breakdown of any quote, within 24 hours.  

Typical quote examples:

  • Photographic shoot
  • Retouching
  • TVV shoot
  • Radio campaign production
  • Print quote
  • Event quote
  • Promotion insurance quote
  • POS: semi-permanent and permanent
  • Brand guidelines
These instant critiques are cost-effective and represent excellent ROI for budget holders

Training - In-house and online

These training courses are designed to build confidence and impart knowledge in an interactive and memorable fashion. Practical advice and top tips are imparted throughout along with group exercises. Feedback is excellent and attendees report being able to practice their new skills immediately to good effect.

Courses are designed for marketing and marketing procurement professionals, and cover all marketing disciplines of advertising, digital, PR, Sales Promotion, design, media planning & buying, auditing, and production. Training courses typically take half a day to deliver, and are conducted in-house or at a client preferred venue. The content is bespoke, and can be designed around current scopes of work, and existing practices.

Agency fees: how fee proposals are constructed by role/by time; who should be covered, and points to negotiate 

Agency contracts: adapting existing client contracts to be fit for marketing purpose, including the 'must have' marketing procurement clauses

Production costs: TVV, radio, digital, OOH, print, photography - how to budget for, understand quotes, manage the costs, and reconcile expenditure

Agency performance reviews: annual, 360 degree constructive feedback format

Agency search & selection: top tips for running creative agency pitches professionally

ONLINE

All the above courses are designed to be delivered on-line one to individuals or small groups via Zoom or Microsoft Teams for example.  Each course runs for around 90 minutes, and is the perfect way to gain an overall understanding of a subject, or to provide a handy brush-up of key skills.  

These are cost-effective courses guaranteed to provide an excellent ROI.