Agency Fee Models – Insights

TrinityP3’s agency fee modelling is dedicated to helping businesses understand the different ways in which marketing agencies charge for their services. With a range of fee models available, from hourly rates and fixed fees to commission-based models and performance-based pricing, it can be difficult for businesses to know which model is right for them.

The page provides a range of resources to help businesses navigate this complex landscape, whether you are looking to better understand the pros and cons of different fee models, or you are considering changing your agency fee structure. Our resources cover a range of topics including how different models work, which models are most commonly used, and how to choose the right model for your business.

Find more information on agency commercials arrangements here or explore more details and insights below.

Overcoming Obstacles to Agency Value-Based Pricing Fees

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 ...
Managing Marketing: Value Based Pricing For Agency Fees

Managing Marketing: Value Based Pricing For Agency Fees

Nick Hand is a commercially savvy, hands-on Finance Director and a CPA with over two decades of experience managing the ...
Why Value Trumps Cost in Agency Remuneration Fees

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 ...
Managing Marketing: The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) On Agency Fees

Managing Marketing: The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) On Agency Fees

Nick Hand is a commercially savvy, hands-on Finance Director and a CPA with over two decades of experience managing the ...
When it comes to paying your agencies, you need to follow the money.

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

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 ...
Advertising Agency Fees – The Move from Static Inputs to Valuable Outputs

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 ...
The traps and pitfalls of developing an output-based agency fee model

The traps and pitfalls of developing an output-based agency fee model

Since 2004, we have been using a workload agency fee model to calculate agency resources based on the work to ...
Value-based, cost-based, pricing-based, and performance-based agency fees - bring it on

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 ...
Could advertising agencies be the next big subscription-based model?

Could advertising agencies be the next big subscription-based model?

Let’s be honest: No one is happy with the current advertising agency fee models - retainers, project fees and hourly ...
Deciding on the right agency fee model is now easier

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 ...
retainers vs project fees

Retained AOR or project fees? Which one is best?

While paying agencies with retainers is still a popular fee model, project fees and hourly rates are becoming more popular ...
marketing agency

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 ...
disencentive schemes

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 ...
Agency remuneration models

What is the best agency remuneration model for every advertiser?

It is interesting that according to the ANA the most common agency compensation model is still the resource retainer approach ...
How Value Based Compensation can support Zero Based Budgeting

How Value Based Compensation can support Zero Based Budgeting

Zero-based budgeting is an accounting practice that forces managers to think about how every dollar is spent in every budgeting ...
Seven essential considerations when moving from agency retainer to project fees

Seven essential considerations when moving from agency retainer to project fees

There is a distinct market trend in how marketers and advertisers are compensating their agencies and suppliers: the trend is ...
Trends in agency remuneration

The latest trends in agency remuneration

This is the first in the series of TrinityP3 Webinars. Today we're talking about the latest trends in agency remuneration and ...
5 issues you need to overcome to make agency incentive payments work

5 issues you need to overcome to make agency incentive payments work

For the past ten years we have been working with advertisers to move their agency compensation from the popular cost-based ...
What should my advertising agency cost be

What should my advertising agency cost be?

We have been benchmarking advertising agency costs for more than a decade. This is usually undertaken with an historical focus, looking ...
How to develop a price-based remuneration model

How to develop a price based remuneration model for your agencies

We have been working with value based remuneration (VBR) or compensation (VBC) models since 2007 and have implemented these in ...
Paying your agency

Why paying your agency for being nice to you is flawed

It is fairly common for Agency Relationship consultants to recommend that agency fees, and especially performance fees should be linked to the ...
Risk vs reward in value and performance based agency compensation

Risk vs reward in value and performance based agency compensation

The resource (FTE) based remuneration model is low risk for both agencies and advertisers, which is possibly why it is ...
How many KPIs are optimal to drive agency performance?

How many KPIs are optimal to drive agency performance?

The concept of performance-based remuneration or payment by results appears to be universally embraced. After all, according to the ANA ...
Why marketers should stop paying agencies for ideas

Why marketers should stop paying agencies for ideas

As more people are jumping on the bandwagon and declaring the current agency remuneration model broken, there are those who ...
A step by step approach to calculating ad agency resource rates and head hour costs

A step by step approach to calculating ad agency resource rates and head hour costs

With the increased application of AI in generativing content and automating workflows, and the corresponding call for the application of ...
Is your advertising agency a supplier or a partner?

Is your advertising agency a supplier or a partner?

While many people in the industry talk about partnering with their agency or with their client, the majority of agency ...
Balancing risk and reward in value based advertising agency compensation

Balancing risk and reward in value based advertising agency compensation

Last week in NYC I was speaking at the WFA COMPAG group about Value Based Compensation (VBC). During the discussion ...
Defining Value Based Agency Compensation

Defining Value Based Agency Compensation

A few weeks ago in NYC I presented the results on a survey undertaken by the WFA on Value Based ...
How your agency compensation method can add value

How your agency compensation method can add value

I was recently participating in a discussion in the ANA Advertising Financial Conference LinkedIn Group when Bob Cauley from Beekman ...