A global consumer-electronics company spent heavily on media across 40+ markets but could not say how much investment reached working media. Data and technology costs were opaque, KPIs measured activity rather than value, and a pool-based audit had concluded there was little left to improve — so the CFO was asked to fund growth on numbers no one fully trusted.
VA replaced the pool-based audit with a value-based audit and a media operating model on fixed FTE fees with zero tolerance for opaque data and technology charges — tying every pound of investment to working-media efficiency.
Head of Media, Head of Marketing Procurement, CFO
The strategic problem
Across over 40 markets the company spent heavily on media but could not say how much investment reached working media. Costs for data and technology were opaque, KPIs measured activity rather than value, and a pool-based audit had concluded there was little left to improve — so the CFO was asked to fund growth on numbers no one fully trusted.
Diagnose & Design
VA replaced the incumbent pool audit with a value-based marketing & production ecosystem audit conducted at log level — planning, buying, supply chain, data and technology costs examined line by line for value, not price alone; spend mapping & cost baseline analysis separated working media from non-working in a way the previous approach had not; a gap & maturity assessment exposed where data and technology fees had grown opaque and unchallenged; market benchmarking set fair-value references for each media category; and governance design reset the KPI framework — replacing activity metrics with working-media value measures — and established the scorecard and RACI the new operating model would run on.
Ecosystem & Remuneration
Remuneration model design replaced legacy commission and pooled-cost structures with fixed FTE fees and zero tolerance for opaque data and technology charges; fee benchmarking & validation (AURA/FRC (Fulltime Ratecard Calculator) applied to reverse-engineer media ratecards and validate planning SOWs) confirmed that renegotiated terms reflected genuine market rates; scoping & SOW design (AURA/Strategic Mapping Expectation) produced transparent agreements with audit-right clauses and technology cost itemisation; incumbent partner challenge tested the value of long-standing agency relationships against a competitive field.
Rollout & relationship management
Contracting & onboarding embedded the new commercial terms and audit rights into live agreements; handover, rollout & commitment tracking — with AURA/Planner sequencing market-by-market implementation to two go-live milestones — confirmed that the transparency commitments made during negotiation were enforced from launch; relationship management maintained a constructive working dynamic with the media agency through a commercially challenging transition.
Execution Oversight
Bid governance governed media planning and buying decisions above agreed thresholds; production cost validation & budget control (AURA/BMT (Budget Management Template)) tracked data and technology fees quarterly against the new baseline; post-production monitoring extended to digital supply-chain integrity; wrap & final reconciliation at each planning cycle confirmed actual working-media ratio versus target, the value measure now scored on a structured performance review.
Performance Measurement
KPIs from governance design — anchored to working-media value, not activity — tracked via partner performance evaluation on a 90/180/360 cadence; cost saving of 17% on data and technology fees and cost avoidance of 12% from opaque costs removed reported separately; 28% improvement in working-media efficiency, with 100% of investment now measured against value [illustrative, to be confirmed]; today AURA delivers closure reports — full performance measurement as a continuous platform is on the roadmap.
Why VA
When the incumbent auditor concludes there is nothing left to find, that is precisely the moment to audit differently; VA audits value rather than pools, resetting the KPIs to working media — and the result is a media operating model the CFO can fund with full confidence in what the numbers mean.
Common questions
What is a value-based media audit?
It audits how much investment actually reaches working media and whether costs reflect genuine market rates — rather than a pool-based audit that nets costs across a group and can conclude there is nothing left to find while opacity remains.
How do you make media data and technology costs transparent?
By moving to fixed FTE fees, itemising technology charges with audit-right clauses, and benchmarking terms against reverse-engineered ratecards — so data and technology costs become visible and defensible rather than bundled into a pool.
Why re-audit when the incumbent auditor found nothing?
That is precisely the moment to audit differently: resetting KPIs to working-media value rather than activity surfaces efficiency the pool-based method masks — and gives the CFO a media model to fund with confidence in what the numbers mean.