Marketing spend optimisation for lean growth

The four levers, with sources

1. Agency compensation

The definitive UK/US industry reference on agency fee models is the ANA's Trends in Agency Compensation Report (19 editions and counting), and the joint 4A's–ANA Decoding Compensation Models paper (April 2024) sets out the output, input and outcome-based models in use. The practical procurement play is to move from open-ended input models (hourly rates, cost-plus) toward output or outcome pricing where scope is stable.

2. Media transparency

The ANA's Media Transparency Initiative — including the 2016 K2 Intelligence investigation and follow-on 2020 Ebiquity/Firm Decisions work — documented non-transparent practices (rebates, principal-based buying, undisclosed arbitrage) inside the media supply chain. The World Federation of Advertisers' Global Media Charter gives advertisers a template of contractual protections: audit rights, disclosure of financial interests, and defined data ownership. If your media contract does not reflect the Charter, it is a candidate for a repaper.

3. Martech stack rationalisation

Gartner's Marketing Technology surveys have tracked stack utilisation year on year. Its 2023 release reported marketing leaders utilising only about one-third of their martech capabilities — down from ~42% in 2022 and ~58% in 2020. Coverage from chiefmartec and MarTech walks through the drivers: lack of training, overlapping tools and no single owner. For procurement the play is a rationalisation exercise (identify overlap, right-size seat counts, exit unused platforms at renewal) rather than a further AI-led purchase.

4. Production and content

There is no single authoritative benchmark for production savings; the levers are less contested: preferred supplier lists, modular templates, reuse discipline, and shifting from bespoke shoots to modular asset systems. UK digital ad spend alone reached £40.5bn, with video investment up 20% year-on-year to £9.3bn and search accounting for roughly 44% of digital spend ^[10] — a mix shift that makes production and content efficiency, not just media buying, an increasingly material line. ANA's 2022 Procurement 2022 report gives useful context on what mature marketing procurement functions cover, and where production sits in the responsibility set.

Governance without slowing the team down

The risk with marketing procurement is over-controlling and slowing campaign cycles. Well-designed governance gives marketing preferred-supplier lists, agreed rate cards and fast-track approval within envelope — procurement is only involved above a defined threshold or scope. The ANA/4A's Compensation Models paper (linked above) is a fair starting reference for the shape of that policy.

Working with the CMO

Marketing spend optimisation is a partnership, not an audit. The best programmes start with the CMO's priorities (pipeline, brand, ROI) and design commercial hygiene around them. Cost reduction that damages growth is not a win. See our broader cost reduction consulting approach.