Agency fees and commercial arrangements are essential to get right. But what is the right agency fee model? How much should be paid? And how do you manage and negotiate these fees effectively? While there is common practice in agency fee models, there is no best practice, with each fee model dependent on the discipline, services, volume, and more.
The objective of our agency fee advisory is to create fair, sustainable and mutually equitable models that are easy to manage, and which drive the desired outcomes.
We approach this challenging area from a number of angles, tailored in each project to fit specific need. You can explore them here:
Find more information on agency commercials arrangements here or explore more details and insights below.
Overcoming Obstacles to Agency Value-Based Pricing Fees
The past 18 months or so have seen more advertisers and agencies looking to move away from “traditional” FTE/resource/cost-recovery-based pricing ...
Why Value Trumps Cost in Agency Remuneration Fees
My grandfather was a frugal man, borne no doubt from living through the Great Depression, then going to war and ...
When it comes to paying your agencies, you need to follow the money.
Marketing teams can be broadly divided into two groups. There are some who think their agency is paid too much ...
The limitations of input cost over output and outcome value for advertising agencies
Talking with a media agency today, they were sharing the struggle they had with a client getting a fair fee ...
Your next agency pitch will cost you financially, but not as much as you think.
The practice of going to tender at the end of the agency contract period has become a habit for many ...
Advertising Agency Fees – The Move from Static Inputs to Valuable Outputs
This is an edited version of the guide "Advertising Agency Fees – A Comprehensive Guide for Marketing". To access the ...
With agency costs on the rise, how should advertisers respond?
Believe it not, advertisers have generally enjoyed a stable and relatively low cost for agency services for more than a ...
Advertising ideas are a dime a dozen according to this advertiser
Ultimately, the value of the advertising agency process is in the intellectual properties created and in the commercial outcomes, those ...
Common mistakes made when preparing a scope of work for the agency
We have written extensively about developing a scope of work for media, creative and digital agencies. This could be to ...
The traps and pitfalls of developing an output-based agency fee model
Since 2004 we have been working with a workload agency fee model, used to calculate agency resources based on work ...
Value-based, cost-based, pricing-based, and performance-based agency fees – bring it on
At the Mumbrella360 Reconnect last year, I was moderating the thought-provoking session by Kathryn Williams, Managing Director at KMint, titled ...
Past, present or future – which tells you more about your agency fees?
Wondering if your agency fee is fair and reasonable? When we benchmark agency fees against a scope of work there ...
Will agencies absorb their advertiser budget reductions again?
For those too young to remember the global recession of 2007, most agencies absorbed the significant cuts in their client’s ...
Are advertising agencies the next big subscription-based model?
Let’s be honest, no one is happy with the current advertising agency fee models. Advertisers struggle with identifying the value ...
The problem with setting agency fees is most are making it up
Would it surprise you that many agencies set their resource plan to the agreed fees? In the absence of any ...
What is more important in assessing agency fees, productivity or price?
If Oscar Wilde was alive today, would he write that a marketer “is someone who knows the price of everything ...
Five ways to use the Verificom toolkit to more effectively manage agency fees
Since our foundation in early 2000, TrinityP3 has been working with our clients and procurement teams to better assess and ...
Why hourly rates are no measure of value when negotiating agency fees
What represents value when you are looking at agency fees? Often marketers and procurement professionals will look at the agency ...
Why a scope of work is essential for managing agency value
This is the next in a series of one-minute videos that address one of the many complex challenges facing marketing, media ...
Deciding on the right agency fee model is now easier
How are you paying your agencies? Is it a retainer? Or project fees? And why did you use that particular ...
Is the problem with agency fee benchmarking simply a matter of statistics?
It is often quite annoying when asked if we sell our industry benchmarks, You see, over more than a decade ...
The difference Between Scope of Work (SoW) and Scope of Services (SoS), and why that matters
We have talked and written many times about the importance of the scope of work in regard to setting or ...
Retained AOR or project fees? Which one is best?
I received an email today from my friend and industry colleague, Francisco Escobar, who said “Just looked through your newsletter ...
The challenges in measuring the value your agencies contribute to your marketing
How do you calculate or assess the value of your marketing spend? In the past three years we have had ...
Why performance based payments need to be an incentive not a disincentive
This is the eighth in a series of one minute videos that address one of the many complex challenges facing marketing, media ...
How long payment terms impact client / agency relationships
This is the seventh in a series of one minute videos that address one of the many complex challenges facing marketing, media ...
Do you remunerate or compensate your agency?
This is the second in a series of one-minute videos that address the many complex challenges facing marketing, media and ...
Is there nothing fair or reasonable about agency remuneration?
During more than 15 years of agency benchmarking and negotiations two words I have often heard repeated in these discussions ...
Cost benchmarking and value benchmarking your agency, which one gives the best results?
In response to the question of “What is a cynic?” Oscar Wilde wrote “A man who knows the price of ...
Why it is so important to have an agency scope of work
This is the final in our series of articles on agency scope of work management. Managing the scope of work ...
