A SmartBuyer marketing technology specialist ran a full Customer Data Platform sourcing programme for the broadcaster, working alongside its Marketing, Data and Procurement teams to avoid over £1 million in cost.
cost avoidance
CLIENT
Major
broadcaster
CATEGORY
Customer
Data Platform
SPECIALIST
Martech
sourcing
OUTCOME
£1m+
cost avoidance
A Customer Data Platform is priced on a volume metric, such as profiles, events or active users, and sold as a bundle of modules. Where audience volumes are large, small differences in how volume is counted or which modules are included compound across a multi-year term. Growth tiers, overage charges and annual uplifts then shape the real cost long after signature.
Letting vendors shortlist and demo their way to a decision favours the seller, who knows its price book while the buyer rarely buys one. Marketing and Data usually want different things from the platform, so someone must turn those wants into one requirement before any vendor names a price.
A major broadcaster choosing a Customer Data Platform for its Marketing and Data teams, where vendor pricing and scope varied widely and the terms would bind the business for years.
Client identity not disclosed.
The specialist ran the programme from requirement to signature with Marketing, Data and Procurement, keeping every vendor on the same footing so offers could be compared directly.
DEFINE
Agree one requirement
Turned the separate needs of Marketing and Data into a single weighted requirement, so vendors were judged on fit with how the broadcaster would use the platform, not on the polish of a demonstration.
SOURCE
Put vendors on one pricing basis
Asked vendors to quote against the same volumes and module scope, then assessed each one on capability and commercial terms side by side, because CDP quotes built on different metrics cannot otherwise be compared.
NEGOTIATE
Settle scope, volume basis and terms
Negotiated the modules in scope, how volume is counted, growth tiers and renewal uplift to a defined position, weighing commitment length against price protection before anything was signed, since those terms set cost for years.
£1m+
Over £1 million in cost was avoided on the Customer Data Platform, measured against where the deal could have landed.
The platform was chosen against one requirement and like-for-like quotes, so Marketing and Data can show why it won and have a firm basis for the first renewal.
Volume basis, overage and renewal terms were settled before signature, so growth in audience data is less likely to push cost up unexpectedly.
Requirements before vendors
A Customer Data Platform can mean anything from a data store to a full activation suite, and each vendor sells the version it has, which makes quotes hard to compare. By fixing the requirement first, the specialist helped keep modules the broadcaster did not need out of the price, and gave Marketing and Data one shared test for every vendor response.
Terms beyond the headline price
Negotiation concentrated on the terms that move cost after signature: how volume is counted, what happens when it is exceeded, and how far prices can rise at renewal, which decide the cost of every year after the first. A low first-year price with a steep uplift is not a saving. Negotiate the whole term, not the opening quote.
Complete
Complete
Complete
Specialist support without a permanent hire
SmartBuyer matches organisations with experienced specialists across 250+ categories, giving budget owners access to focused marketing technology and sourcing expertise exactly when the work demands it.
500+
specialists
Experienced specialists who have run marketing technology and data platform sourcing programmes inside large organisations.
250+
categories
Focused coverage across marketing technology, data and the wider technology spend base, matched to the programme in hand.
Flexible
engagement
Specialist cover for a single sourcing programme or a wider category, scoped and costed before any work begins, with no permanent hire.