The mention of bartering may conjur up images of farmers exchanging bushels of wheat for other goods, or for those of a certain age, the nostalgia of Saturday Swap Shop! In a media context however, were you aware that bartering is in fact a is a well-known trading mechanism for media agencies to drive additional returns for clients?

Essentially, barter offers an alternative method of paying for media that generates added value. To do this, agencies use a third party barter company, who sits between the client and the agency in the media buying process.

For example, if a retailer had a £100k media budget, we may negotiate a barter deal for them for £80k in cash and £20k in barter. The barter company then utilises its buying power to produce an additional margin on that £20k, which is then shared with the client, allowing them to invest in some qualitative research to support their campaign in this scenario.

The barter model is risk free for clients and the media price and quality is completely unaffected  – the barter agency doesn’t buy the media cheaper, it just pays for it in a different way to create a margin.

Media owners won’t accept barter for all clients or bookings and it needs to be viewed as commercially beneficial, which means it is new or incremental spend, solus spend or a partnership/ sponsorship.

Barter is a useful media solution in an agency’s toolkit however and benefits everyone in the chain including clients, agencies and media owners. If you want to make your 2021 media spend go further, no matter how big or small, then we can help you explore this.

Plus, if your current media agency isn’t talking to you about these type of opportunities, then you could be missing out on additional savings, so why not contact us for an informal chat?