Plan B™
The Agency Alternative
Value + Values = Invaluable
Pay for performance isn’t a threat if your work generates the results clients are looking for.
Traditionally, advertising agencies have relied on three basic compensation models – a commission (on media spend) model, an hourly rate model, or a fixed fee for an agreed-upon scope of work model.
If these models represent 'the way it’s always been done' – what’s ‘the way it should be done', based on the realities of today’s millennial marketing landscape?
To answer that question we put the output of each of those sacred cows all in one conceptual blender and let the cream rise to the top…
To make this work, we need to rethink how we account for time. If we were to divide our time sheets not by job title, but by project success we would create buckets that track value – not just hours. And when the reality that this means that the agencies’ position as to what WILL make an impact must be afforded MORE weight, finally becomes apparent to all (as it will) — we will all win.
Value-based pricing is the way of the future. For all the agencies playing ‘catch up’ that is. Plan B was given its name in 1998 with just this premise in mind: The International Holding Company held agency world was/is milking their blue-chip, Fortune 500 client base to support their real estate, technology firm acquisitions and senior management spending sprees of the late 20th century.
Welcome to the 21st century.
Rather than being strictly compensated by ‘time on task’ — we profit by consistently delivering bigger ideas, faster and more efficiently. These are the values that make us invaluable. Yes, clients CLEARLY benefit, and old-school agencies resist this notion arguing that their clients would never offer retail customers a performance-based sliding scale of satisfaction. What they fail to see is that by mitigating client-side risk we can encourage more activity, more opportunity and more willingness to share creative risks.
As true pioneering veterans of this ‘earn it by becoming invaluable’ philosophy we’re here to tell all — that the performance-based compensation model goes an incredibly long way toward cutting through the destructive dissonance and constant bickering over reconciling hours against budgets — in a way that frees everyone from the “us” vs “them” quarterly reconciliation model that the old school once thrived on.
We’re in this together: As research, data management and tracking metrics capabilities continue to evolve toward more timely, available and reliable reporting standards — our ability to thrive cooperatively under PFP compensation structures will become ‘fairer’ to all. Resistance to this changing paradigm is ultimately futile. Technology will continue to break down the barriers between valuation and accountability allowing for the kind of heightened transparency that drive collaborative partnerships that energize everyone — including the WORK.
The bottom line is that we treat our client relationships EXACTLY as we treat their brands:
In order to form lasting connections with you – while simultaneously gaining actionable insight to support the ongoing development of ever more positive experiences – we need to create MORE creative solutions that attract YOU instead of chasing you around with contracts to sign and billings to reconcile.
Customized, one-on-one (project-by-project when necessary) compensation solutions are one kind of Plan B difference that fosters long-term brand loyalty. At Plan B we recognize, hell…we helped create the reality that the complex dynamics of 21st century marketing require customized approaches to every client, every brand and even every project. Plan B’s cross-disciplinary teams have a ten-year-plus history of developing customized value-based compensation plans that reflect the necessity for hybrid solutions that marry the consistency and trackability of a fixed fee model, the flexibility and economies of an hourly-rate scheme with the motivating force of the PFP model.
Call us on it:
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Plan B is an officially certified MBE/DBE business in most states, and we have experience working with municipal clients. We know how to navigate bureaucracies and manage the complexities of government contracting. And our MBE/DBE certification means we can help you meet your procurement requirements without sacrificing top-quality service.
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Plan B
® is an equal opportunity employer.