Inputs

Three sliders, three answers.

Estimates use Dubai-market benchmarks: senior digital marketer ~AED 30k/month fully loaded; mid-market agency retainer ~AED 18k per discipline per month plus 15% management fee on media; VIMDRIVE platform fee scales with discipline count and content volume. Real figures vary — book a call for a tailored quote.

Option 1 · Traditional agency
Multi-agency retainer model
AED —
over the engagement

Per-discipline retainer plus 15% media management fee. Scales linearly with disciplines. Typically two-week brief-and-revision cycles. Performance optimisation is a billable line item.

Option 2 · In-house team
Hire and run it yourself
AED —
over the engagement

Salaries, benefits, and platform tooling. Full focus on your brand — but capped at the bandwidth of the team you can afford. Spans three disciplines well; six disciplines stretches it thin.

Beyond cost

What the calculator doesn't show.

Cost is the easy comparison. The harder ones — and usually the more important ones — are about output, speed, and risk. Here's how the three models actually compare on the variables that matter.

Variable
Traditional / In-house / VIMDRIVE
Creative variants tested per month
~12 / ~30 / 800+
Time from brief to live creative
14–21 days / 5–7 days / 1–2 days
Optimisation cadence
Monthly review / Weekly / Continuous (hourly bid, daily creative)
Reporting
Monthly PDF / Custom dashboard / Real-time + monthly written
Disciplines covered at depth
2–3 / 1–3 / All 6
Hiring & ramp time
4–6 weeks / 3–6 months / 2 weeks to live
Vendor lock-in risk
High (agency-owned data) / Low / Low (clean handover)

Want a tailored quote?

The calculator uses market averages. A 30-minute call gets you actual numbers for your scope, your category, and your targets.