RAB: The number you aren’t tracking but definitely should be...

At The Future of Advertising 2026, hosted by the Advertising Producers Association (APA), I wanted to challenge the room on a fundamental question: How are you actually creating and capturing value in your business?

Far too many creative and production businesses leave money on the table because they treat a client’s budget as a hard ceiling rather than a starting line.

To fix this, I introduced a concept I call RAB: Revenue Above Budget.

RAB is simply the difference between a client’s initial stated budget and the final value of the work you actually deliver. When you start tracking RAB consistently, it tells you a lot more than just your financial health. It acts as a behavioural health check. It quantifies exactly how effectively your team is expanding scope, increasing the client's ambition, and capturing value far beyond the initial brief.

In my work with real businesses, applying this lens has generated massive incremental revenue. But more importantly, it proves that you are driving strategic influence, not just fulfilling an order.

Are you the Expert, or just the Vendor?

Achieving high RAB comes down to a crucial distinction I talk about constantly: Are you perceived as an expert, or a vendor?

• Vendors are treated like order-takers. They are brought in late, squeezed on margins, and subjected to intense price pressure.

• Experts are invited into the room early. They are valued for their thinking, brought into strategic conversations, and can command higher fees.

If you want to shift that dynamic, you have to look at how you show up in the world. I shared some recent research during the talk that paints a pretty grim picture of production company positioning. A staggering number of businesses fail to clearly state what they do, who they do it for, or what specific problem they solve.

When your positioning is that vague, you are forcing the client to do the interpretive work for you. And trust me, they won't. They’ll just default to treating you like a commodity vendor.

Stop answering briefs. Start asking better questions.

Moving the needle on your business isn't about clever sales tactics; it's about changing your behaviour.

You need to show up with clearer positioning, and you need to start asking much better questions. Specifically, stop just asking about the immediate project parameters and start asking where the client actually wants to get to in the future.

That future state is where the real value and the much better creative work always lives.