Situation 

There was a significant drop in all marketing budgets following the Covid-19 impact on this European travel provider, who subsequently required all marketing services contracts to be renegotiated to match this lower budget (-65% YOY). The client wanted the key long-standing partnerships to remain in place with their agencies, to be able to emerge strongly from the pandemic when international travel re-opened.

Obstacle

Most agencies across creative and media were on fixed fees plus PRF schemes, meaning most of their income was guaranteed, regardless of client spending. Additionally, many within the client marketing teams were also very reliant on external agencies. The final challenge was that marketing procurement only had one person to manage 30+ contracts across Europe.

Action

We seconded somebody to the procurement team for 90+ days and conducted a review of service requirements. Fuel then created an estimate of YOY savings possible, with a roadmap for achievement and milestones. We evaluated and advised on in-housing for digital marketing services. We managed PPC, SEO and Creative agency pitches across EMEA, at the same time implementing a new creative production process and renegotiating with the client’s media agency to reduce headline fees and income from proprietary media, while balancing this with a reinvigorated PRF scheme, rewarding the agency for great performance and delivery against business KPIs.

Results

• Savings reach the top end of projections.
• Service levels to the marketing team remained high. All key agency relationships remained strong.
• In-housed PPC function.
• Added value to revised contracts – improved costs, improved service, and delivered up-to-date terms.