About Us

Welcome to the Potomac Group

We’re a leading edge consulting firm that has helped more than 100 advertisers build stronger agency partnerships by identifying significant ad cost savings and tying agency compensation to results.

Founded on the principle that agency compensation should be tied to ad program and business results–not just to agency time investment–we champion performance-based incentives that will ignite and motivate your agency to create more effective programs to provide the results you need to ensure that your advertising dollars are working just as hard as they can for you. Not your agency.

Our experience in working with hundreds of leading organizations confirms that most advertisers don’t know how profitable their account is to their agencies. Why is this so important? Because if you don’t know, you are likely paying too much for your agency’s services and not effectively managing or maximizing your advertising dollar investment.

But, here’s the good news: we can help you change all of that. How? With our proprietary data base of 250+ client/agency real-world financial reviews, we’ll determine just how profitable your agency is then introduce proven performance-based compensation methods that reduce costs and reward superior agency performance and measurable program results. Our proprietary data base consists of salaries by agency job title and department; operating costs by agency type, size and geography; overheads to direct cost “norms”; and account staffing and profitability levels vs. Potomac and ad industry guidelines.

Making our clients’ ad dollars work as hard as they can is the basis of our consultancy. But that’s certainly not all we do. We provide other important cost-reduction and relationship building services, including:

  • Agency search process management–Develop agency selection criteria; identify, screen & vet candidate agencies; RFP development & review; structure finalist presentations (develop agency assignment & scoring models); develop and negotiate new agency contract and compensation
  • Current agency contract & SOW reviews–Uncover agency account operating efficiencies that ensure client ad budget savings
  • Agency compensation analyses, performance incentives & contract negotiations
  • Corporate branding & rebranding process management
  • Print, DM, broadcast and digital production cost analyses & benchmarking
  • Media cost effectiveness analyses–Cost/GRP norms (by media type, by industry/BTB or BTC)
  • Agency performance metrics development–Quantitative/measurable/achievable
  • 360º agency performance evaluation process–Development, implementation, measurement, results
  • Agency consolidation analysis–Reduce total costs, improve agency operating efficiencies, ensure consistency of brand messaging