Napier believes that PR and marketing campaigns benefit by the use of payment-by-results (PBR): linking the our payment to the results we achieve is not only fair, but it also helps improve the campaigns we deliver for clients. Whilst many agencies use the more opaque payment for hours of work approach, PBR means that clients know exactly what they should expect for their money.

Good PBR schemes rarely – if ever – result in clients enjoying a reduction in fees for mediocre work. At Napier we structure PBR campaigns so that the we’re incentivized to do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to deliver the agreed results. Campaigns that are anything less than brilliant have no place in an environment that embraces PBR, and our system is geared to help ensure we deliver better campaigns.

Why do we encourage payment-by-results. Some of the reasons why we think it works so well are:

• Using PBR helps focus the mind when the brief is written, resulting in better briefs
• Defining what the payment depends upon means that the objectives and metrics of any campaign are clearer
• The agency remains focussed on achieving the objectives that matter most to the client throughout the campaign
• PBR results makes assessing the impact of the campaign as the metrics are very clearly defined at the start

Of course it’s possible to achieve these things without PBR – for example agencies obviously aim to deliver on all our objectives whether or not we’re getting paid based on results – but in our experience PBR does a great job of focussing minds.

To find out more about our approach, read our Using payment-by-results to create better campaigns or contact us for more information.