Running a US media agency review in 2027: write the brief first

Most agency reviews are decided by the internal objectives document, not the pitch. What it needs to say before a single agency is invited.

A media agency review is won or lost before the first RFP goes out. The document that decides it is the internal one: what the business is trying to achieve, what it will and won't change, and who signs off. If that document is vague, the pitch becomes a beauty contest and the winner is whoever presents best.

This is the checklist we use when a marketing or procurement team asks us to look at its review brief. It is built for a US review running into 2027, but the logic holds anywhere.

1. Say why you are reviewing

There are only a few honest reasons. Performance has slipped. Fees feel high and nobody can prove otherwise. The contract is expiring. The business has changed (new channels, new markets, an acquisition) and the agency model no longer fits. Pick the real one and write it in a sentence. Every later decision gets tested against it.

If the real reason is cost, say so to the stakeholders, even if the RFP language is softer. A review sold internally as a performance exercise and judged afterwards on savings leaves everyone unhappy.

2. Define scope in channels and in money

List what is in: linear, CTV, programmatic, paid social, search, retail media, influencer, measurement. List what is out. Then put the spend against each line. Agencies price what they can see. A scope that hides where the money goes (for example, how much of programmatic is bought through the agency's own trading desk) produces proposals that cannot be compared.

If the business has retail or ecommerce media, decide now whether it goes in the same review or a separate one. Mixing them is the most common reason scopes balloon.

3. Decide how you want to pay, before agencies tell you

Agencies will propose the model that suits them. Know your position first: fixed fee, fee per FTE, commission, performance bonus, or a blend. Whatever you choose, write down what the fee covers and what triggers extra charges. Our piece on how much to pay a media agency goes through the trade-offs.

The point most reviews miss is principal media. That is when the agency buys inventory itself and resells it to you, so it is both your adviser and the seller. It can be fine. It has to be disclosed, priced and written into the contract. See the disclosure clause we recommend.

4. Set the contract terms you will not trade away

Put these in the RFP as requirements, not asks:

• Full transparency on media costs, rebates and any agency-owned inventory
• Audit rights, with a named third party allowed to exercise them
• You own the data, the accounts and the platform seats
• Clean exit: 60 to 90 days, with handover of everything above
• Disclosure of every platform, tool or affiliate fee added on top

Agencies that push back hard on these before the award will push back harder after it.

5. Weight the criteria, then stick to the weights

Agree the scoring grid before you see a pitch. A simple one: strategic fit and category understanding, team and seniority on the account, planning and measurement approach, commercial terms and transparency, and chemistry. Chemistry matters, but it should not be allowed to overrule everything else. Put the weights in writing and share them with the stakeholders who will vote.

We wrote about why the pitch is the weakest part of the process. Case studies and credentials tell you what an agency has sold. Working sessions with the actual team, and references from clients of similar size, tell you what you will get.

6. Ask about AI plainly

Every agency will say it uses AI. Ask what changes in the fee and the staffing as a result. If automation takes hours out of planning and reporting, the price should reflect it. Put the question in the RFP and score the answers. See will AI reduce our agency fees.

7. Get the decision-makers aligned early

When the final decision sits with an executive in another office, as it often does in a multinational, the internal objectives document is the thing that travels. It needs to be short, specific and easy to defend. One page of objectives, one page of scope and spend, one page of criteria and weights, and a timeline. If it takes more than five minutes to read, it will not be read.

Agree the timeline backwards from the contract end date and add a transition period. Reviews that finish with six weeks to spare tend to produce rushed onboarding and a bad first year.

What a good brief looks like

• One sentence on why the review is happening
• Scope by channel with spend attached
• A stated fee model and the contract terms that are fixed
• Scoring weights agreed before the pitch
• A named decision-maker and a decision date
• A transition plan

If you are running a review in 2027 and want a second set of eyes on the brief, a Second Opinion takes five business days. We are independent and paid only by clients, never by agencies or vendors.