Saving pennies, wasting pounds: Rajiv Dingra tells brands to ditch credit reselling agencies

New Delhi: Amid growing concerns over commission-based credit reselling within the digital agency ecosystem, Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO of the digital marketing agency ReBid, has urged clients to take direct ownership of their Google and Meta ad accounts to ensure greater transparency and control.

Commenting on a recent BestMediaInfo.com report that highlighted the increasingly normalised practice of credit reselling, Dingra stressed the importance of brands having full control over their ad accounts. 

He pointed out that since brands upload significant volumes of first-party data, owning these accounts is not just advisable—it’s essential.

“We push clients to do this because it gives them complete, detailed transparency over their Google and Meta spends,” Dingra said. “More importantly, they own their ads data, which, when layered with customer data, forms the secret sauce for digital advertising intelligence. This data can later be analysed by agentic AI at scale.”

He further emphasised that any brand spending more than Rs 3 crore annually on Google and Meta should directly own credit lines with the platforms.

According to Google Ads policy, the practice of credit reselling violates the platform’s agreement with advertisers and agencies. “Advertiser may not resell, assign, or transfer any of its rights hereunder. Any attempt by the advertiser to resell, assign, or transfer such rights shall result in immediate and automatic termination of this agreement, without liability to Google,” the policy states.

Dingra warned against choosing agencies solely for the credit they offer: “If the only reason you work with a media or performance agency is because they provide you credit, then you are saving pennies and wasting pounds.”

Instead, he advised brands to partner with agencies that understand data, AI, and the evolving marketing landscape. “Brands need an agency to optimise their marketing spends and drive performance—not one that simply provides credit,” he added.