01 Understand · Partnership Clarity
Independent Media Validation Review
A credible alternative to pitching.
Independent confidence in an existing media agency relationship, without defaulting to a full tender.
The Renewal Dilemma
A full pitch is disruptive. A simple renewal is hard to defend.
One is expensive, slow and often unnecessary when the relationship is broadly working. The other is quick, but built on internal reassurance alone. Pitching is the industry's reflex. It is rarely the proportionate response.
Two in three reviews end with the incumbent retained.
Months of process. Same agency.
Source: ANA/4A's Cost of the Pitch, 2023.
Most organisations need a credible middle way.
When it helps
The relationship works. You still need more than reassurance.
Renewal is approaching
A contract ending or coming up for renewal, and a decision that has to be justified, not just made.
Assurance is needed
Procurement, finance or senior leadership need independent evidence, not the team's own confidence.
Scope has moved
The agency's remit has expanded or changed well beyond the original agreement.
Questions keep circling
Concerns around value, governance or reporting that internal reviews never quite close. Familiar? That is the moment.
Wanting to avoid an unnecessary pitch is not complacency. It is good governance.
What IMVR is
A proportionate review that sits between a simple renewal and a full tender.
What it reviews
Five areas that carry the renewal decision: strategic alignment, commercial value, delivery and accountability, contract and scope clarity, and risk and governance.
What you receive
A written report suitable for procurement and governance, an executive summary with a confidence statement, a renewal recommendation, and an optional senior read-out.
The three possible outcomes
Renew. Renew with amendments. Or review the market.
A defensible decision, not a drift into tender.
How it works
Proportionate by design.
01 Documentation review
Works from what you already hold: contracts, scopes, plans, reporting and billing.
02 Structured conversations
A small number of focused sessions with your team and your agency. No pitch theatre.
03 Report and read-out
Written report, executive summary and a clear recommendation, with an optional senior read-out.
The ask of you
Typically 4 to 6 weeks, alongside business as usual. Your campaigns and your agency's delivery carry on uninterrupted.
Documentation in. Conversations held. Recommendation out. Weeks, not months.
Why it is credible
Independent, proportionate, and yours.
How it stays independent
Mosaic is engaged and paid by you, not your agency. The agency has no financial stake in the outcome and cannot influence the methodology or recommendation. That is what makes the findings credible to procurement, finance and the board.
It reports what the evidence supports, whichever way that falls. That possibility is exactly what makes it credible.
The commercial case
Fixed fee, agreed upfront, based on scope. A fraction of the cost and disruption of a full tender.
Set against the alternative: months of senior time on both sides, disrupted live campaigns, and transition risk if you change for the wrong reasons.
Strong relationships get evidence to support renewal. Weaker ones get issues surfaced early enough to fix.
In their words
“Mosaic helped us make a confident decision without creating unnecessary process. The approach was practical, proportionate and focused on strengthening an important partnership rather than defaulting to a pitch.”
Liv Forster
Friends of the Earth
Questions before you start?
The questions clients ask most, answered honestly.
Why do we need this if we're broadly happy? What does it ask of our team? Will it unsettle our agency? Eleven questions, answered in one place. Agencies looking at IMVR from their side have their own set.
Next step
Decide with evidence.
A no-commitment conversation about whether a review fits your renewal, with a proportionate scope agreed around your contract dates and governance calendar. The earlier the conversation, the more options stay open.
IMVR sits within Partnership Clarity, the Understand stage of Mosaic's four-stage system.
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