A global insurer and asset manager ran marketing across 40+ markets on contracts un-recalibrated for over five years, with weak transparency clauses and programmatic and working-media fees well above benchmark. Procurement and Finance wanted assurance that what was contracted was delivered — without breaking the relationships marketing relied on.
VA modernised the master agreements with audit, transparency and remediation clauses, reset remuneration to benchmark on a defined FTE model, and installed procurement-led controls jointly owned by Marketing and Finance — recovering value while preserving the partnerships.
Head of Marketing Procurement, Head of Indirect Procurement, CFO
The strategic problem
Marketing spend across over 40 markets ran on contracts that had not been recalibrated in over five years, with weak transparency clauses and programmatic and working-media fees that had drifted well above benchmark. Procurement and Finance wanted assurance that what was contracted was what was delivered, and that money owed to the company was recovered, without breaking the relationships marketing relied on.
Diagnose & Design
VA ran a marketing & production ecosystem audit and a spend mapping & cost baseline analysis combining contractual and media spend, complemented by stakeholder interviews across Marketing, Procurement and Finance, then applied market benchmarking to every fee and transparency clause — using AURA/FRC (Fulltime Ratecard Calculator) to expose where rates had drifted and by how much — and quantified both the recoveries due and the forward value of stronger contractual protection.
Ecosystem & Remuneration
VA modernised the master service agreements across the portfolio, inserting audit rights, transparency and remediation clauses and resetting remuneration to current market benchmarks on a defined FTE model; operating model design and governance design established a procurement-led framework jointly owned by Marketing and Finance, with clear RACI and a scorecard for ongoing commercial assurance.
Rollout & relationship management
Contracting & onboarding and handover, rollout & commitment tracking: AURA/Planner back-plans the re-contracting sequence to protect market continuity, and tracks that every recovery and new-clause commitment is closed out; relationship management keeps agency relationships intact throughout the audit and reset process.
Execution Oversight
VA validated the recovered amounts, re-contracted on the strengthened terms, and embedded a continuous-assurance cadence — combining briefing & estimate review with wrap & final reconciliation — so transparency is maintained as a standing discipline jointly owned by Marketing and Finance, not a one-off event.
Performance Measurement
EUR 1.2m recovered (c.6% of audited spend), 15% saving on renegotiated terms, and a further 12% cost avoidance from stronger contracts [illustrative, to be confirmed], with a defensible ROI and agency relationships preserved; cost saving and cost avoidance reported separately on a 90/180/360 partner performance evaluation cadence (today closure reports; full performance measurement on the roadmap).
Why VA
Procurement-led need not mean relationship-breaking. With Marketing and Finance owning the controls together, VA recovers value, resets terms and keeps marketing partners on side — auditable at any point, with a governance model that prevents the same drift from recurring.
Common questions
What are finance-grade marketing controls?
Master agreements with audit rights, transparency and remediation clauses, plus a defined FTE remuneration model and a joint Marketing-Finance scorecard — so what is contracted can be verified as delivered, and money owed is recovered, at any point.
Does procurement-led transformation damage agency relationships?
Not when Marketing and Finance own the controls together: terms are reset to benchmark and value recovered, while the partnerships marketing depends on are preserved — the discipline targets the contract, not the relationship.
How is contract drift prevented from recurring?
A procurement-led governance framework with clear RACI and a continuous-assurance scorecard keeps terms at benchmark on a 90/180/360 cadence — so contracts do not silently drift above market again over the next five years.