Overview
When our internal capacity to manage paid media campaigns became constrained, TAB Bank began a search for a new agency partner to handle our performance marketing efforts. After a thorough RFP process, we selected a vendor that offered promising industry-specific insights, proprietary tools, and a strategic outlook—but once work began, it quickly became clear that the partnership was not meeting expectations.
My Role
As AVP of Marketing, I was a key player in the vendor selection, onboarding, performance evaluation, and contract oversight. I worked closely with both internal stakeholders and the agency team to ensure alignment on strategy, deliverables, and goals.
What I Did
- Led an extensive RFP process, evaluating multiple agencies and freelance marketers for capabilities, contract flexibility, and industry relevance.
- Negotiated contract terms that reduced upfront cost and mitigated risk, allowing for an early exit if performance or fit proved inadequate.
- Managed onboarding and provided brand, audience, and campaign context—though much had to be repeated due to the agency’s disjointed process.
- Monitored performance and internal bandwidth trade-offs, recognizing that our team was spending more time managing the agency than it would have taken to execute campaigns in-house.
- Initiated and led a difficult but necessary conversation about agency performance, clearly communicating unmet expectations and the changes needed to resolve concerns.
- Ultimately recommended early termination of the contract, reabsorbing campaign management internally to protect budget and deliver higher-quality results.
Impact
- Avoided continued waste of marketing budget on underperforming agency fees
- Protected internal team capacity and morale by eliminating an increasingly high-friction relationship
- Reinforced a performance-first mindset in vendor management—emphasizing value over sunk cost
- Preserved organizational trust in Marketing’s decision-making and budget stewardship
Tools & Skills
- Vendor selection & evaluation
- Contract negotiation
- Campaign performance tracking
- Stakeholder communication
- Budget optimization
- Decision-making under uncertainty
- Leadership through conflict