We don't think either is a fair way to get paid. In the first case, your agency is tempted to buy the most expensive media because that's how it earns more. And in the second case, the agency has no incentive either way - because it earns fees no matter what it does.

In both cases, the agency’s success is not aligned with yours.

In 2004, Pinstorm pioneered the third way: pure pay-for-performance. In our model, we pay for media, we pay for creative, we pay for strategy and account management - and you, the client, only pay for results if we deliver them.

How does it work? It's quite simple, really. Fill the form here and call us.

What we’ll do is to talk with you about what kind of results are relevant for your business - these could be getting the right visitors to your site, or bringing you people who fill a form , or people who make a reservation with you, or enquire about your services - or even purchase goods from you.

As long as we can influence every thing that leads to the result and track it, we're happy to be paid for our performance. In other words: we’re aligned with your success.

How do we do this? We consider your unique needs and figure out the right mix of digital media techniques - from search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimisation (SEO), online display advertising, email marketing, SMS marketing, online community management, social media optimisation, online reputation management, to even a home on Second Life if that's what's needed.

We then invest our strategic, technological, creative and media resources to create and manage your brand presence in these media - at our own cost. We track all results on a password-protected console - and only charge you for what we deliver.

How has this model been received? Somewhat enthusiastically, we think. :)

We started with one office and two people in Bombay, India in 2004.

Come 2008 and we now have 125 people across offices in Bombay, New Delhi, Singapore, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Santa Clara in Silicon Valley. We're the largest independent digital advertising firm in South East Asia, and perhaps the most awarded, being chosen by Red Herring to its list of "hottest companies" twice and being chosen "India's coolest company" once (which keeps us a little ambivalent about our temperature).

Our clients have no such doubts however. We have deep practices in travel and hospitality marketing (we work with leading online travel agencies and global airlines), financial services (we work with some of the bigger global names in banking, insurance and stock brokerages), online services (jobs, classifieds, match-making, real estate), education, retail and we’re just beginning to help FMCGs come online.

Can we help you? If you’d like to hear back from one of our solution architects, do fill the form on the right. Interested in partnering with us around the world? Write here. Fancy a career with Pinstorm? This is for you.