Comparison · the outsource alternative
Ads Direction vs a PPC agency retainer
Indian D2C agencies typically retain at ₹40,000-₹75,000/month and take editor access to your ad accounts. Ads Direction is the self-serve alternative — same weekly audit depth, you keep the editor seat, founder ships the changes. Honest comparison.
| Ads Direction | PPC agency retainer | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | ₹6,000/mo | ₹40,000-₹75,000/mo typical |
| Account access | ✓ Read-only OAuth · you keep all editor access | Editor access · they ship changes for you |
| Implementation | You ship · we measure | They ship · you trust the report |
| Reporting cadence | ✓ Weekly written audit · every Monday IST | Monthly call + spreadsheet typical |
| Specificity | ✓ Cites the exact keyword, ad, campaign, query | Varies — often summary-level "ROAS up, CPA down" |
| Lock-in | ✓ Cancel anytime · one click | 3-12 month contracts typical |
| Creative production | AI-generated pack each week (brand-drift validated) | Often add-on, billed separately |
| Strategic conflict | ✓ We make money only if you stay | Agency is paid more if ad spend grows — sometimes pushes scale over efficiency |
When an agency retainer is the right call
If you genuinely don't want to touch your ad accounts — you'd rather a team operate them daily, including campaign launches, bid adjustments, creative production, and reporting — a competent agency at ₹40-75K/mo is a fair trade. The 10x price buys execution time.
When Ads Direction is the right call
If you (or someone on your team) is comfortable spending 30 minutes a week shipping a ranked to-do list, you'd rather keep the strategic decisions in-house, and you don't want an agency's 10% incentive to grow ad spend regardless of efficiency — Ads Direction at ₹6K/mo is the founder-controlled alternative. Same audit depth, you decide what ships.
The honest one-liner
Pay an agency to do the work. Pay us to do the thinking. Founders who already do the thinking themselves don't need an agency — they need a sharper to-do list.
Try the weekly audit before you renew the retainer
First Monday is on us. Run them in parallel for a month if you want — compare apples to apples.