Retainers have become the most popular type of remuneration model for all types of advertising agencies including media, creative and increasingly digital and other marketing services. These retainers are based on resources being supplied by the agency to deliver the needs of the client.

But what is the retainer based on? What is the level of resources? What is the mix of resources? What is the cost base of the retained resources? And is the level and mix of resources at the right level?

Many marketers would say that this is irrelevant if the agency is delivering the outcomes required. But without these fundamental remuneration principles in place it is impossible to know if you are getting value for money – a question being increasingly asked of Marketing by CEOs and if they don’t get an answer they are satisfied with the CEO is increasingly turning to procurement for the answer.

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