A Greece based online advertising firm running four consumer travel brands across Google Marketing Platform and Google Ads. Redress reframed the renewal around trailing spend, an unbundled platform fee, and a benchmarked competitive anchor. Fifteen percent off the annual Google relationship.
A Greece based online advertising firm cut its annual Google cost by 15 percent across the renewal by right sizing the media commitment, unbundling the platform fee, and anchoring against a benchmarked competitive quote.
Three levers combined to cut the annual Google cost by 15 percent. The media commitment was right sized to trailing spend. The platform fee was unbundled and negotiated on its own line. The cycle opened twelve weeks before the renewal date.
Google publishes the product structure on the Google Marketing Platform site. The platform fee and the media commitment are both negotiable. Most buyers leave both unchallenged.
The firm runs four consumer travel and leisure brands on one Google stack: SkiResortsForKings, BeachesForKings, GolfsForKings, and GreenfeeGuiden. The prior relationship cost 8.0 million euros a year.
That figure covered managed media, the Display and Video 360 platform fee, and the seat and tech fees for Search Ads 360 and Campaign Manager 360. The platform fee alone ran 1.1 million euros.
Trailing twelve month media spend ran below the committed media line. The commitment overhang was 13 percent. Seasonal travel demand swung plus or minus 20 percent across the calendar, with peaks concentrated in two short booking windows.
The new agreement costs 6.8 million euros a year for the same scope. The platform fee dropped hardest. The aggregate annual cost dropped 15 percent against the prior baseline.
Annual Google cost, before and after
| Line item | Prior annual | New annual | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managed media commitment | 6.2m | 5.4m | down 13 percent |
| DV360 platform fee | 1.1m | 0.8m | down 27 percent |
| Search Ads 360 and CM360 | 0.7m | 0.6m | down 14 percent |
| Total Google relationship | 8.0m | 6.8m | down 15 percent |
The platform fee is charged as a percent of managed media. Cutting the percent cuts cost on every euro of media, every month. On this estate the fee reset saved more than the media right sizing did.
The estate carried overlapping seats across Search Ads 360 and Campaign Manager 360. Mapping real active users against billed seats removed the duplicates and trimmed the tech fee.
Four levers carried the most weight. None of them are unique to travel. Every enterprise Google Marketing Platform buyer can pull them.
It needs to be credible, not enormous. A parity quote for the top two campaign types is enough. The point is to show genuine optionality, not to threaten a full platform exit.
Always. The account team will argue the fee is standard and the tier is fixed. Bring the benchmark and the trailing spend to the meeting. Numbers beat narrative.
The standard agency and reseller line is that a bigger annual media commitment unlocks a better platform fee tier, so you should commit aggressively. We disagree. In roughly 18 of the 25 Google Marketing Platform reviews Morten Andersen ran in 2024 and 2025, the platform fee difference between commitment tiers was under 2 percentage points, while the overcommitment risk on the larger media pledge ran above 15 percent. The buyer side move is to right size the media commitment to trailing spend, negotiate the platform fee on its own line, and anchor against The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP parity quotes.
Source: Redress Compliance advisory engagement file, 2024 to 2025.
Spend reconciliation runs monthly against the committed media curve. The team reviews the platform fee and seat usage quarterly and adjusts before drift compounds.
"The platform fee is where the money hides. Right size the media commitment first, negotiate the fee on its own line, and only then talk about the headline rate card."
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The Google enterprise negotiation playbook
How buyers cut Google platform fees and media commitments. Read it free.
Three levers combined to deliver 15 percent against the prior baseline. The media commitment was right sized to trailing twelve month spend. The Display and Video 360 platform fee was unbundled and negotiated on its own line. The commercial discussion opened twelve weeks before the renewal date.
The prior relationship cost 8.0 million euros a year across managed media, the platform fee, and the seat fees. The new relationship costs 6.8 million euros a year for the same scope. The net landed saving is 15 percent, led by a 27 percent cut to the platform fee.
Four levers moved the dial. A media commitment right sized to trailing spend. A platform fee unbundled and negotiated alone. A consolidation of duplicate Search Ads 360 and Campaign Manager 360 seats. A competitive anchor against The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP.
Media spend is reconciled monthly against the committed curve in the Google Marketing Platform reporting. The platform fee and seat usage are reviewed quarterly. Drift against the commit triggers a usage audit and a credit conversation with the Google account team.
Four consumer travel and leisure brands run their performance and brand campaigns through Google Marketing Platform and Google Ads: SkiResortsForKings, BeachesForKings, GolfsForKings, and GreenfeeGuiden. All four sit on one shared media and measurement stack, so the commitment baseline is shared across the portfolio.
Twelve weeks before the renewal date. Week one ran the spend assessment. Week three modelled the right sized media commitment. Week six opened the competitive anchor. Week ten closed the new agreement.
No. Redress is one hundred percent buyer side independent. Redress does not sell or resell Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform, or any media. Redress sits on the customer side of the table at every renewal cycle.
Three things. Open the renewal at least twelve weeks before the date. Right size the media commitment to trailing spend, not aspirational growth. Negotiate the platform fee on its own line before any media commitment conversation.
A buyer side framework for the Google relationship. The platform fee framework, the media commitment framework, the seat consolidation framework, the competitive anchor framework, and the broader buyer side moves at the next Google renewal.
Used across more than five hundred enterprise software engagements. Independent. Buyer side. Built for Google customers running the next renewal cycle.
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Read the Playbook →Google quoted the platform fee as fixed. We reframed the whole relationship around trailing spend, an unbundled platform fee, and parity quotes from The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP. The new annual landed 15 percent under the prior baseline across all four brands.
We work for the buyer. Always. There is no other side of our table.
Google Marketing Platform fee signals, Display and Video 360 platform fee signals, Search Ads 360 seat signals, Campaign Manager 360 signals, Google Ads commercial signals, plus the broader Google renewal leverage signals for enterprise buyers.
