Marketing represents a significant investment for most companies, with the average organization allocating 7.7% of revenue to marketing initiatives. For this global brand, their marketing ecosystem included a complex structure of master, regional, and local agreements for media planning, buying, and services across multiple markets.
While outsourcing specialized marketing functions can deliver expertise and efficiency, it also introduces significant complexity through shifting priorities, variable labor rates, diverse media charges, and intricate retainer structures. These complexities create numerous opportunities for billing discrepancies that can significantly impact marketing ROI. Effective Contract Management becomes essential to both protect investments and maximize returns, particularly when managing marketing relationships across global markets.
$9.6M+
Corrective Actions Identified
$3.2M
Cash Recoveries Realized
Challenge: Enhancing Marketing Contract Management Across Locations and Campaigns
Media budgets often represent one of the largest discretionary spending categories and can create significant potential for Contract Compliance issues. The global brand needed comprehensive visibility into three financial years of campaigns, pre-invoice documentation, actual charges, discount structures, and retainer arrangements across their marketing network.
To ensure proper fund allocation and billing accuracy, the organization required detailed review of marketing charges with full transparency into media costs to identify existing issues and implement preventative measures. They engaged PRGX for thorough Contract Management Services encompassing their worldwide marketing operations.
Solution: Integrated Contract Management Approach Delivers Comprehensive Value
PRGX conducted a comprehensive review of the brand’s marketing expenditures and discovered unutilized campaign funds not being returned, third-party media cost discrepancies, and rebate irregularities. Most concerning was the discovery of unaccounted funds being allocated to other charges in agency accounts, effectively obscuring the client’s true marketing expenditures.
Throughout the engagement, PRGX leveraged the continuum of Contract Management services—from identifying compliance issues to implementing better terms. Contract Compliance reviews revealed anomalies in existing practices, while Contract Optimization provided opportunities to improve terms through strategic renegotiation. This integrated approach delivered $3.2M in immediate recoveries while establishing the foundation for $9.6M in future benefits.
Breakdowns Identified:
- Un-utilized funds not returned
- Campaigns not reconciled to actual costs
- Third party media costs variances, not incurred, cancelled, or partially run
- Discounts & Rebates
- Correctness and compliance issues
- Other errors and variances on mark-ups, retainers, rate cards
Key Learnings:
- Process breakdown in 3-way Accounts Payables controls
- Invoices not properly accounted, approved, processed, and remitted
- Unaccounted funds allocated to other charges in Agency accounts
Strengthen Your Marketing Spend with PRGX Contract Management Services
PRGX can apply specialized expertise to optimize your marketing expenditures across agency services, media placements, and creative production. Our Contract Management Services help ensure every marketing dollar delivers maximum impact through rigorous oversight of complex agency relationships and media buying arrangements.
Guided by our Contract Insights™ AI platform, the PRGX Contract Management team is ready to help you ensure adherence to terms with Contract Compliance, maximize value with Contract Optimization, and proactively manage and mitigate risks with Contract Monitoring.
PRGX combines over five decades of experience across industries with secure AI technology to help drive 6x ROI with smarter contracts. Contact our experts today about your unique goals, or watch a demo to see our solutions in action.
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