The shift from managing cost to building long-term value 

In 2023, leading marketing organizations are redefining procurement as a strategic growth driver rather than a cost-control function. They are unlocking value by recalibrating team structures, refining roles, and using benchmarking to ensure optimal returns. Forward-thinking leaders are driving efficiencies in the agency ecosystem through agile, next-generation partnership models that balance short-term performance with long-term brand goals.  

Media investment is being optimized through closer collaboration between finance, marketing, and media teams, focusing spend on initiatives that deliver measurable business results and gain CFO approval. The most successful organizations are also strengthening agency partnerships with contracts that foster accountability, define clear performance metrics, and encourage lasting collaboration – elevating procurement from a transactional role to a catalyst for sustained brand and business value. 

Trend #1: Companies are streamlining

Corporate restructures are reflections of changes in the business and consumer landscape, and it is significant that companies like ExxonMobil, Kellogg’s, Disney, Ford, and Novartis have all announced realignment of their businesses within the past 18 months to meet operational needs and grow new pipelines of revenue.

What this means for marketing:

• Invitation to review the current marketing organization to reflect
  wider changes in the business
• Opportunities for integration of services and technology vendors
• Revisit the needs of brand and performance marketing
• Opportunity to look at how marketing operates as a service within the entire organization; i.e., data capability and location/in-housing

What this means for marketing procurement:

• Finding efficiencies in departmental design
• Exploring ideas of offshoring and in-housing
• Talent modeling

Trend #2: Marketing organizations are streamlining their rosters

Marketers are realizing that managing a large number of agency partners leads to less integration and higher risk in cost and time inefficiencies. As a result, more marketers are exploring consolidating the number of agencies in their roster but pursuing new agency models and creating bespoke partnership structures.

What this means for marketing:

• Improvement in go-to-market models, SOW templates, integrated marketing communications processes, media and digital toolkits and other marketing operational working processes
• Agency capabilities that reflect brand and performance goals
• Hybrid structure if in-housing is established

What this means for marketing procurement:

• Savings in agency fees
• Streamlining vendor management
• Increased visibility and transparency across the marketing ecosystem
• Clearer view on data management and ownership

Trend #3: Improved media mix modelling

Though the concept of media mix modeling (MMM) has been around for many years, recent innovations have made it more relevant for modern marketing and attracted the attention of both marketing and finance teams.

Why this is relevant now:

Privacy means marketers no longer expect to have granular device-level attribution of marketing efforts. Major mobile platforms, from iOS and Android to walled gardens like Meta, TikTok and Amazon, can no longer be stitched together effectively.

What MMM is good for:

• Overall spend optimization
• Overall marketing ROI
• Spend allocation
• Determining diminishing returns
• Channel selection
• Understanding organic uplift
• Estimating base levels of organic growth
• Broad incrementality insight

Trend #4: Aligning contracts with best practices

The post-pandemic business and talent landscape has created challenging financial situations for many marketers and their agencies. As companies find ways to better manage cash flow and direct investments to service more immediate needs, marketing is often one of the first-place advertisers look to cut costs. While larger holding companies might be able to weather longer payment terms, smaller independent or specialist agencies might be inclined to walk away from new business opportunities where unfavorable contract terms pressure business serviceability.

What this means for marketing:

• Understand the nature of your agency partner’s business
• Assess agency partners for business continuity
• Agree with your agency on performance KPIs

What this means for marketing procurement:

• Align contracts with current best practices
• Align contracts with current fees
• Consider other factors which might impact vendor performance
• Use contracts as an opportunity to embed other business KPIs (e.g., ESG, DE&I)