Anna Barej

The fixed-fee, retainer model that has worked for agencies and brands alike for the better part of the last 100 years is slowly dying out. As brands’ demands to translate work into proven results and uncover where the money spent is actually going, the agency mantra of “if we do well, we won’t get fired,” is no longer enough. What is replacing it is the center of this discussion. Labor-based and pay for performance models are becoming more prevalent remuneration models. How do you evolve an existing relationship based on the risk and reward for both the brand and the agency? This panel discussion will debate:
• Moving the discussion away from hours and overhead toward performance improvement
• Myths and realities of pay for performance
• How to get the agency to separate the fee from the production
• Developing a process for measuring success that can be traced directly back to the agency’s work
• Fees and costs- you get what you pay for
• Does pay for performance really increase transparency?
• What do successful incentive structures look like?
• Do pay for performance metrics apply the same for creative, media and digital agencies?

Trust between marketers and agencies has completely broken down, and in light of a recent ANA/K2 report, it’s not likely to be getting better any time soon. With procurement now firmly in the mix of the marketing/agency relationship, this panel will examine where and why the relationships started breaking down, the state of those relationships now in light of the ANA report, what, if anything, can be done to restore trust—and procurement’s role in making that happen. Or, does the entire model need to be blown to pieces and reconstructed from the ground up? Let’s discuss…