PR, corporate communications and reputation work ran through dozens of agencies appointed market by market, with overlapping retainers, no common profile or scope, and reputation risk managed reactively. Spend was significant and fragmented, and the group could see neither total cost nor total coverage.
VA consolidated dozens of agencies into a governed hub-and-spoke roster with defined global, regional and local roles on scope-linked agreements — giving the group one view of cost, coverage and reputation risk.
Head of Communication, Head of Brand, Head of Marketing Procurement
The strategic problem
PR, corporate communications and reputation work ran through dozens of agencies appointed market by market, with overlapping retainers, no common profile or scope and reputation risk managed reactively. Spend was significant and fragmented, and the group could see neither total cost nor total coverage.
Diagnose & Design
VA ran a spend mapping & cost baseline analysis of PR, corporate communications and reputation spend across all markets, mapping retainers, project fees and crisis-response costs to surface duplication and coverage gaps; a marketing & production ecosystem audit reviewed appointments, contract terms and scope overlaps, revealing where the group paid twice for the same market. From this, VA defined a single global communications-agency profile and scope against which the roster could be selected and held to account. Market benchmarking compared retainer rates and roster structures with sector norms, and governance design (RACI, KPI framework, scorecards) set the model for proactive reputation management, with AURA/FRC (Fulltime Ratecard Calculator) applied to retainer validation.
Ecosystem & Remuneration
VA executed roster rationalisation & consolidation, reducing dozens of separately appointed agencies to a governed hub-and-spoke network with clearly defined global, regional and local roles, and ran a structured sourcing against the agreed profile to appoint the lead communications partner. Remuneration model design replaced fragmented retainers with standardised scope-linked agreements; fee benchmarking & validation confirmed consolidated rates reflected competitive terms. Scoping & SOW design formalised the global-to-local model — what is produced centrally and adapted locally — and the incumbent partner challenge assessed which retained agencies genuinely added value at the right cost.
Rollout & relationship management
Contracting & onboarding formalised the hub-and-spoke roster with standardised retainer agreements, coverage SLAs, crisis-escalation protocols and review schedules; handover, rollout & commitment tracking governed the transition from legacy arrangements, ensuring no market lost coverage during migration. AURA/Planner back-planned the rollout to two dates — legacy retainer expiry and new roster activation — while relationship management maintained editorial and reputational continuity with agency teams throughout the structural change.
Execution Oversight
VA applied briefing & estimate review to project-fee work triggered outside the retainer scope, validating deliverables and costs before commitment. Production cost validation & budget control monitored total PR spend per market against the consolidated baseline, flagging any deviation from agreed retainer levels. Bid governance was applied to one-off reputation and crisis-communications projects, enforcing competitive discipline on a category that often bypasses procurement under time pressure.
Performance Measurement
Cost, coverage and risk were brought into a single view. KPIs and scorecards from governance design — cost per market coverage point, retainer utilisation rate, crisis-response time, roster concentration — tracked via partner performance evaluation on a 90/180/360 appraisal cadence; cost saving and cost avoidance reported separately. Outcomes: 12% reduction in PR and communications cost, 11% cost avoidance from consolidated retainers, 55% PR roster consolidation (today closure reports; full performance measurement on the roadmap).
Why VA
Reputation is too important to manage agency by agency. VA defines one profile, builds one governed roster and gives the group a single view of cost, coverage and risk.
Common questions
What is a hub-and-spoke PR and communications roster?
A governed network with a lead communications partner and defined global, regional and local roles on scope-linked agreements — replacing dozens of separately appointed agencies with overlapping retainers and no common profile.
How does consolidating the PR roster reduce cost and risk together?
Standardised scope-linked agreements remove overlapping retainers and make cost visible, while one governed network gives a single view of coverage and faster, coordinated crisis response — so reputation risk is managed proactively.
How is the model kept honest over time?
Cost per market coverage point, retainer utilisation, crisis-response time and roster concentration are tracked on a 90/180/360 cadence — so the roster stays consolidated and reputation stays governed rather than drifting back agency by agency.