A RACI for Pharma Brand, Agency, Data, and Measurement Teams

Start with decisions, not job titles

Map recurring decisions: audience definition, partner selection, investment allocation, creative approval, data transfer, campaign changes, measurement design, result interpretation, issue escalation, and public claims.

RACI means Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. “Accountable” should normally be singular.

This is illustrative. Actual governance follows company policy and contracts.

Pre-authorize routine choices

Set thresholds for bid, budget, supply, frequency, and creative changes that the agency can make without a meeting. Reserve client approval for changes that affect strategy, claims, approved creative, material data use, or financial commitments.

Include external partners

Data providers, DSPs, publishers, measurement vendors, and verification partners need named deliverables and escalation duties. “Vendor” is not a responsibility. State who diagnoses, who supplies evidence, and who decides remediation.

Test the RACI with failures

Walk through an unapproved domain, claims-feed delay, underdelivery, privacy inquiry, and inconclusive study. If two people think the other owns the response, revise the matrix.

Signs your RACI is not working

Even a well-drafted RACI drifts. Watch for these symptoms in the months after it is agreed:

• The same decision keeps coming back. If a budget shift is approved in one meeting and reopened in the next, accountability is not clear or not respected.
• Everyone is consulted on everything. A long list of consulted parties slows decisions and dilutes responsibility. Consulted should mean input is required, not that someone likes to be copied.
• Partners learn about decisions late. Data and measurement vendors often discover plan changes when delivery breaks. Informed means told before the change takes effect.
• Escalations skip owners. When issues go straight to senior leaders, the operating owners stop feeling accountable.

Review the RACI at each quarterly business review. Pick one decision that went badly in the last quarter and ask whether the matrix would have prevented it. If not, change the matrix. See the operating model guide for how the RACI fits with cadence, evidence standards, and escalation.

Practical takeaway

Governance works when decisions have one owner, response time, and evidence requirement. The next step is a 60-minute workshop using the last three real decisions and one failure scenario.

Editorial note. Analysis and frameworks are the author's own and do not represent Acxiom or any current or former employer, client, or named platform. Examples labeled hypothetical or illustrative are not results from real campaigns. Nothing here is legal, regulatory, or medical advice.