Start with the complete cost picture
Ask each supplier to use the same cost categories. At minimum, separate strategy or setup, ongoing service, media spend, creative production, platform or data costs, external specialists, travel and contingency. Show tax treatment and invoicing assumptions in the commercial schedule.
A lower agency fee can depend on more internal client work. Estimate the people, tools and coordination your organisation must contribute so the models are compared on a more complete basis.
Understand the main remuneration models
A fixed project fee suits a defined output and change process. A retainer suits recurring access and an agreed service level. Time-based pricing can work when requirements evolve, provided rates, estimates and approvals are controlled. Media-linked remuneration scales with spend but should be tested for incentive and scope effects.
Hybrid and performance-linked models can combine these elements. Whatever the label, inspect the calculation, included roles, minimums, caps, review points and what happens when activity changes.
- Calculation method and billing frequency
- Named roles or service capacity included
- Minimum commitment and review date
- Approval threshold for extra work
- Treatment of underspend, cancellation or pause
Compare the team and service level on the same basis
Translate titles into responsibilities, expected access and actual involvement. A proposal with senior oversight may allocate only a small review component; another may put experienced practitioners in day-to-day delivery.
Compare meeting frequency, reporting, optimisation, production volume, response times and implementation support. These are part of what you are buying even when they do not appear as separate deliverables.
Expose exclusions and pass-through costs
Create a scenario table for work likely to occur outside the base fee: campaign builds, additional channels, landing pages, shoots, talent, stock, research, travel, dashboards, ad-serving or urgent requests. Ask whether external costs are passed through at cost, marked up or covered by a management fee.
The goal is not to eliminate every variable. It is to agree how variables are estimated, approved and reconciled before they become surprises.
Compare value without inventing certainty
Use credible scenarios rather than a single promised result. Test the cost of the model under expected, lower and higher activity. Consider decision quality, speed, specialist access, learning, internal workload and downside protection alongside forecast outcomes.
Commercial evaluation should reward transparent uncertainty. A supplier that names measurement gaps and dependencies may be more trustworthy than one that presents a precise forecast built on fragile assumptions.
Commercial comparison worksheet
For each agency, record: base fee · included services · named team · media spend · production allowance · technology · third parties · travel · client effort · optional scenarios · change rates · minimum term · notice period · transition cost · material assumptions · total expected range.