Benchmark your ecosystem costs and commercial model
For marketers who want to assess the performance of their external agency partners the AAR Commercial Audit is an efficient and cost-effective way to get to an informed position and clear recommendation for change.
We know it can be challenging to get impartial, objective benchmarking of any commercial position; whether it be commercial models, hourly rates, cost-efficiency of production or assessing the ways of working between the marketing team and your external agency partners.
It can feel like the only way to gather the information is to run a pitch, but this is not the appropriate vehicle to address these questions and will not give you the information you need or best outcome for your business.
AAR is at the forefront of the debate about commercial arrangements, payment models and performance related pay schemes across the industry. We have a unique database of agency hourly rates across the creative, CRM, Media and PR disciplines that will provide empirical data against which your agency rates can be benchmarked.
We can share our expertise across input, output and outcome based pricing models recommending the right construct for your circumstances.
Our consultancy is flexible we’ll design a scope of work that suited to each specific requirement.
AAR’s Commercial Audit consists of three core areas of analysis. We work with you to determine what questions and challenges you are facing, and how best to address those:
We work with you to agree the scope and level of information required
Using all relevant sources - internal and external
Compare rates and production costs against our database and best practice
Review current and alternative commercial models informed by our expert knowledge
We report our findings and recommend the best ways for you to make changes and improvements
We provide a fact base that delivers clear and focused recommendations of where efficiencies and improvements can be applied, as a result of an evidence-based examination.
As well as capturing the success of the relationship between the marketing team and your agencies we ensure inefficiencies in ways of working and cost competitiveness are addressed.
Beyond this we will investigate new, more effective ways to incentivise performance with our knowledge of a wide range of emergent commercial models.
All delivered by the informed opinion and perspective of our experts.
The evidence that longer working relationships between brands and their agency partners are based on mutual commercial transparency and fairness is unquestionable.
And longer working relationships deliver better work and ultimately better business impact.
AAR’s Commercial Audit delivers a critical analysis that enables your commercial model to be reviewed objectively with clear recommendations based on evidence, insight and experience.
Get in touch to discuss how we can help you address your commercial conundrums.
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