- £107.5m
- Minimum three-year revenue uplift, contractually committed
- 3x
- Spread in commission rates revealed: 2.5% to over 10%, worth £11.25m over three years
- 50%
- Of the annual retainer, £1.275m, placed at risk under a binding malus
A global sports retailer's performance media pitch
- Sector
- SPORTS RETAIL · PERFORMANCE MEDIA RFP
- Capability
- Media & marketing
Challenge
A first structured, competitive RFP for performance media.
Without one, the client had no way of knowing whether the incumbent commission rate was competitive, no accountability structure tying agency fees to results, and no leverage on fees, technology costs or growth commitments. Media investment, agency fees and the way performance was measured had never been benchmarked side by side.
Solution
We ran a three-agency competitive RFP and put media investment, fees and accountability structures on the same page.
Each agency modelled three-year revenue growth from its own media strategy: two returned ranges that were indicative rather than binding, and one committed to a single figure of £107.5m, built on econometric modelling with client-specific elasticity coefficients and quarterly review gates. Fee benchmarking exposed a 3x spread in commission, from 2.5% plus a retainer to a flat 10% of gross media spend. On £50m of annual media investment that gap alone is worth £3.75m a year, and £11.25m over a three-year contract. Only one agency was prepared to put fee at risk against its own projections. The winning structure placed 50% of the annual retainer, £1.275m, under a binding malus if the revenue target is missed in any twelve-month period, and waived more than £200,000 a year in technology platform costs.
