Now Available! 4A’s 2021 Labor Billing Rate Survey Report

 

We are excited to share that the 4A’s 2021 Labor Billing Rate Survey Report, which covers 2020 billing rates, is now available!

Agencies, marketers and industry advisers frequently request information about agency labor billing rates. To accommodate these requests and provide a credible framework for understanding labor billing rates, the 4A’s conducted a labor billing rate survey covering 2020 hourly rates agreed upon with clients.

The 4A’s 2021 Labor Billing Rate Report provides relevant parameters to help the industry frame labor rates that were utilized in 2020.

About the 4A’s 2021 Labor Billing Rate Survey Report

The 4A’s 2021 Labor Billing Rate Survey Report presents data in three agency size groups and by four geographic regions. NEW this year, the 4A’s has created access to the Labor Bill Rate Report in a Digital Dashboard Format. It is our expectation that this digital dashboard will save time and drive efficiencies for those who utilize the data.

Survey highlights, including the new Digital Dashboard features, include:

  • 323 agency offices participated (up from 312 in 2019)
  • 35,000 + hourly billing rates were collected
  • 17 departments comprising a total of 145 positions plus selected blended departmental rates are represented
  • New departments and report structure includes:
    • Commerce
    • UX/UX
    • Analytics
    • Content Production
    • Social Media
    • “General Advertising” as a department has been broken out into the following four departments for easier and more
      • direct access:
      • Media
      • Creative
      • Account Management
      • Strategic Planning
  • The Digital Dashboard provides quick and easy online access to job descriptions for those positions reported

New highlights, coming soon, will include: 

  • Labor Bill Rate Trending Reporting (comparisons of 2018 rates vs 2020 rates)
  • Primary Service – Type Reporting (according to the major agency service types identified in the survey)

 

Why Is Labor Billing Rate Survey Information Important?

Fees for service, based on agency labor, are the predominant form of compensation in the marketing services industry. Since many agency compensation arrangements are based on labor, there is a need for reliable labor rate information. Considerations that led the 4A’s to gather and publish labor rate information include:

  • Agencies are under pressure to justify that the labor rates that they charge are reasonable and competitive.
  • Marketers want to understand the relative range of labor rates and benchmark the rates that they are paying their agencies.
  • Industry stakeholders benefit from transparent credible benchmarks that facilitate accountability of key components of marketing investment. Industry labor rate ranges, from a reliable source, provide all industry stakeholders with valid and statistically reliable benchmarks.
  • Actual hourly billing rates charged is the most comprehensive, accurate and relevant methodology for benchmarking labor rates. Agency labor rates are derived based on a range of considerations including, but not limited to, agency reputation, pricing policies, services provided, market forces, rate cards, budgets, agency cost, value provided, opportunity cost and negotiated rates. The common denominator for framing labor rate ranges, regardless of how the rates were derived, is by looking at actual rates charged.
  • Actual billing rates provide actionable information without the limitations of cost build-up benchmarking, which focuses solely on surrogate cost component information (Salaries, Overhead Rates, Profit Mark-ups) that is complex, administratively burdensome, and one-dimensional.

The 4A’s 2021 Labor Billing Rate Survey Report contains robust, statistically sound, market-based labor rate information which provides the agency and advertiser communities with a mechanism for discussing and benchmarking labor rate ranges. The survey results are an important tool that provides useful hourly billed labor rate information for agencies, advertisers, and industry advisers.

Ordering Information

The 4A’s 2021 Labor Billing Rate Survey Report is available for purchase through the 4A’s. 4A’s members that participated in the study have receive a complimentary copy of the report. The cost for 4A’s members that did not participate in the study is $500/PDF Report Only and $750/PDF Report + Digital Dashboard. The cost for non-4A’s members is $1,250 for both the PDF Report and the Digital Dashboard.

  • PDF Report Only – $500
 Request to Purchase
  • PDF Report + Digital Dashboard – $750
 Request to Purchase

If you have any questions, require further information, or would like to verify whether your agency participated in the study please contact any one of our Business Intelligence team members: Helen Miranda ([email protected]) or Sal Conte ([email protected]).

Thank you!