Data driven, not kickback driven

Why does a big network agency buy the way it buys?

Part of the answer sits in how it gets paid. When an agency earns a share of the ad budget it spends, it earns more the more it spends. Saving money costs revenue. A second part sits in rebates some suppliers pay once a certain purchase volume is hit. Neither has to work against the client automatically, but both pull the decision in a direction that has nothing to do with the actual audience.

That's why we lay open how we get paid, and how we handle rebates when they're offered to us. In practice: a client's budget cut doesn't change our recommendation on which channel is right. If a supplier offers us a rebate, it goes into the client's price, not into our margin.

Whether an agency really buys data driven can be checked with one simple question. Does the recommendation change when the agency's own pay changes? Ours doesn't. That's the difference, not a slogan.