Creator activity had grown bottom-up, with each market booking its own talent through its own agencies and intermediaries on its own terms. The same creator tiers were bought at wildly different rates across markets, with no shared view of deliverables and duplicated fees with no scale leverage. Global marketing wanted one governed roster and a harmonised rate card — without slowing the markets down.
VA consolidated fragmented market-by-market buying into one governed global creator roster on a harmonised, transparent rate card — reference rates by tier, market and deliverable — turning scattered local purchasing into scale leverage with an auditable view of what is paid and got.
VP Global Marketing, Head of Influencer, Head of Digital, Head of Marketing Procurement
The strategic problem
Creator activity had grown bottom-up, with each market booking its own talent through its own agencies and intermediaries on its own terms. The result was a fragmented programme: the same creator tiers bought at wildly different rates across markets, no shared view of deliverables, and duplicated fees with no scale leverage. Global marketing wanted one governed creator roster and a harmonised rate card, with full transparency on rates and deliverables — without slowing the markets down.
Diagnose & Design
VA ran a spend mapping and cost baseline analysis across every market, normalising creator costs to a common basis so the same tier and deliverable could be compared like for like and the dispersion in rates made visible. The AURA/Influencer Benchmarker (Influencer Benchmarker) quantified how far each market sat from the achievable benchmark, separating genuine local-market premiums from pure fragmentation and intermediary duplication.
Ecosystem & Remuneration
VA designed a single governed global creator roster and a harmonised rate card: reference rates by creator tier, market and deliverable, with transparent terms that every market draws from rather than negotiating from scratch. Vendor scouting and shortlisting through the VA 5,000+ supplier database broadened the roster beyond incumbent local relationships, so consolidation widened access rather than narrowing it.
Rollout & relationship management
Rollout and commitment tracking, contracting and onboarding: AURA/Planner (Planner) back-planned the migration of each market onto the global roster and harmonised rate card, sequencing the transition so live campaigns were never disrupted, and tracked adoption market by market. Relationship management embedded the governance so markets keep buying from the roster on transparent terms after VA steps back.
Execution Oversight
VA set bid governance and cost validation around every creator booking, checking each fee against the harmonised rate card and the agreed deliverables before commitment, so transparency held in practice and not just on paper. Consolidating fragmented buying into the governed roster removed duplicated intermediary margins and converted scattered local purchasing into genuine scale leverage.
Performance Measurement
Consolidating fragmented market-by-market buying into one governed global roster delivered an estimated 21% saving at scale on creator costs and around 16% in cost avoidance on previously duplicated fees, with approximately 13% of the programme rationalised through creator roster consolidation [illustrative, to be confirmed]; cost validation runs against the harmonised rate card on every booking (today closure reports; full performance measurement on the roadmap).
Why VA
Fragmented creator buying quietly bleeds budget: the same talent paid differently market by market, with intermediary margins duplicated at every turn. VA consolidated the programme into one governed global roster on a harmonised, transparent rate card — turning scattered local purchasing into scale leverage and giving global marketing a single, auditable view of what it pays and what it gets.
Common questions
What is a governed global creator roster?
One roster with a harmonised rate card — reference rates by creator tier, market and deliverable on transparent terms that every market draws from — replacing bottom-up, market-by-market booking of the same tiers at wildly different rates.
Does consolidating creator buying slow the markets down?
No: markets draw from a shared roster and rate card rather than negotiating from scratch, and vendor scouting widened access beyond incumbent local relationships — so consolidation adds scale leverage without removing speed or choice.
How is rate discipline maintained?
Every booking is validated against the harmonised rate card, giving global marketing a single, auditable view of what it pays and what it gets — so duplicated fees and rate dispersion do not creep back.