Grit & Soul, Zobbzle Designs and ClickTribe Media all quoted against the same videographer brief: 12 client and partner interviews, one 60-second reel each, delivered in three reframed ratios, with two major revision rounds and full rights. Their prices for that identical scope are AED 66,760, 120,000 and 134,500. Below is what each price covers, every point where a submission is silent on something the brief asked for, and the two internal contradictions that have to be resolved before any award.
ClickTribe is 2.01 times Grit & Soul for an identical deliverable: 12 subjects, 36 finished reels, three ratios, two revision rounds, full rights. That is 67,740 of difference on a fixed scope.
Every supplier delivers 36 reels. That works out at 1,854 per reel from Grit & Soul, 3,333 from Zobbzle at its headline price, and 3,736 from ClickTribe.
ClickTribe states VAT not applicable as a free zone entity. Grit & Soul is a mainland LLC and is silent on VAT, so 5% may sit on top of 66,760, taking it to 70,098. Zobbzle states nothing.
Grit & Soul charge 3,000 per trip outside the UAE. Zobbzle charge 5,000 per site with a line-by-line breakdown. ClickTribe do not price it at all, quoting it separately once the country is known.
| Grit & Soul 3,500 per subject | Zobbzle 10,000 per subject | ClickTribe 11,208 per subject | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 subjects | 59,760 | 100,000 | 112,080 |
| 12 subjects, quoted | 66,760 | 120,000 | 134,500 |
| 15 subjects | 77,260 | 150,000 | 168,120 |
| Gap at 15 vs lowest | Baseline | +72,740 | +90,860 |
Grit & Soul is the only supplier whose marginal rate sits well below its own average. At 3,500 to add a subject against an implied average of 5,563, going from 12 to 15 subjects costs 10,500. The same move costs 30,000 with Zobbzle and 33,624 with ClickTribe, whose per-subject rates are simply their totals divided by twelve. If the count is likely to land at the top of the range, the gap widens rather than closes. The 10 and 15 subject rows are calculated from each supplier's own stated per-subject rate, not separately quoted by them.
| Grit & Soul 66,760 | Zobbzle 120,000 | ClickTribe 134,500 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercials | |||
| Total, 12 subjects | 66,760.00 | 120,000 also 108,000 | 134,500.00 |
| Per-subject rate | 3,500 Below average | 10,000 | 11,208 |
| VAT position | Not stated | Not stated | Not applicable, free zone |
| Invoicing entity | Grit & Soul For Commercial Photographs Production LLC | None on document Personal name and Gmail only | ClickTribe Media LLC, Sharjah Media City Free Zone |
| Payment terms | 70% before first shoot 30% at first cut | 50 / 50 Balance on final delivery, net 30 | Not stated |
| Cancellation terms | Not stated | 30% of that shoot's rate under 24 hours, free above | Fee applies within 2 days, amount not stated |
| Quote validity | Not stated | 60 days on cover, 30 in terms | Not stated |
| Travel beyond UAE | 3,000 per trip | 5,000 per site, itemised | Quoted separately later |
| Stated exclusions | None listed | Scope changes repriced | Nine, incl. clearance and idle time |
| Crew and capture | |||
| Crew on site | 1 to 3 people, unpinned | 8 named roles incl. DIT | 5 people: DOP, director, lighting tech, 2 videographers |
| Cameras | Not specified | 2 × Sony FX6 with primes | 1 to 3: Sony FX3, FX5, Blackmagic Pyxis |
| Brief asked for single camera | Priced to brief | Two, with rationale | Up to three |
| 4K capture, 1080 delivery | 4K ProRes, Full HD out | 4K package, 1080 delivery not stated | 4K, delivered at 1080 |
| Lighting detail | Included, no detail | Key, fill, rim. 20 to 30 min setup | Aputure 600D × 3 |
| Audio with backup | Yes | Yes, dedicated recordist | Yes, parallel backup |
| B-roll, 15 min per site | Captured, no quantity | 1 hour cut to 15 min | Separate pass, no quantity |
| Pre-shoot recce | Not offered | Not offered | Where access allows |
| Backup before leaving site | Not stated | DIT owns it, cloud or drive | Yes |
| Raw retained 12 months | Yes, on request | Yes, 1 year | At least 12 months |
| Post-production and delivery | |||
| Reframed, not cropped | Explicit | Versioned, wording not explicit | Explicit |
| Lower thirds, brand frames | Not mentioned | Graphics, brand frames not named | To OI specification |
| Burned-in captions on verticals | Captions, no split stated | Captions, no split stated | Explicit |
| Separate subtitle file, 16:9 | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | Explicit |
| 2 major rounds + technical pass | Yes, sign-off sequenced | Yes | Yes, sign-off sequenced |
| Music licence, perpetuity | Paid and global, perpetuity absent | Licensed, terms unstated | Worldwide, in perpetuity |
| Delivery turnaround | First cut 5 days from last shoot day, then 5 and 3 | Per interview, 10 to 12 days each | Not stated |
| Rights, conduct and logistics | |||
| Ownership of deliverables | Full assignment of all IP | Full ownership | Full ownership |
| Raw footage handover | Assigned outright | Included in price | On request |
| No self-promo without approval | Retains portfolio licence | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| NDA covering all crew | No objection | Signed before any shoot | Every crew member |
| Max interviews per day | Not stated | 2 per day | 1 per day |
| Mobilisation notice | 5 days minimum | 2 days | 7 business days |
| Conduct on live client premises | Not addressed | Addressed in detail | Addressed |
| Creative alignment meeting | 2 weeks before shoot 1 | Look and feel approval before first interview | Not offered |
| Unified setup and props | Props included for consistency | Consistency argued, props not named | Props excluded |
Priced the brief, not an upsell. The brief asked for a single-camera setup per subject. Grit & Soul is the only supplier that quoted exactly that, which is most of why it lands at half the highest bid rather than because it misread the scope. It also carries the strongest rights transfer of the three, the only creative alignment meeting, and props for a unified look across twelve different offices. Its weaknesses are all commercial and administrative: a 70% advance, an unpinned crew size, a retained portfolio licence, and no cancellation or validity terms. Every one of those is a clause, not a capability.
The best answer to a schedule we do not control, undermined by its own paperwork. Two shoots a day against ClickTribe's one, two days notice against seven, per-interview delivery instead of one batch at the end, the only commitment to the 15 minutes of B-roll the brief asked for, and the fairest payment and cancellation terms in the set. Against that: the deck quotes 120,000 and 108,000 for the same scope, states its validity as both 60 and 30 days, carries no invoicing entity or TRN, and offers no explicit reframe-not-crop commitment or subtitle file. The production thinking is the strongest of the three. The document is the weakest.
Reads the brief back to us, then costs double to deliver it. It is the most compliant document: rights, music licensing, captions, subtitle files and brand frames are all answered in the brief's own language, and it is the only recce and the only clear VAT position. But it commits to no payment schedule, no delivery turnaround and no validity period, prices no travel, caps at one interview per day on seven business days notice, and excludes nine items including crew security clearance and onsite idle time, both of which the brief effectively guarantees will arise. Compliance on the page is not the same as the lowest risk in delivery, and at 134,500 it is not close to the best value.
The deck states AED 120,000 on its Overall Price slide and AED 108,000 as the base for the same 12 UAE subjects four slides later. Twelve at the stated 10,000 per subject equals 120,000, so 108,000 appears to be either an error or an undeclared discount. This is a 12,000 swing on the deciding number.
The quote is issued in a personal name under a trading style, from a Gmail address, with no company name, trade licence or TRN anywhere on the document. For a six-figure engagement filming inside government, banking and defence premises, that has to be resolved before evaluation, not after award.
Only ClickTribe states a position. Grit & Soul is a mainland LLC and does not mention VAT, so confirm whether 66,760 is inclusive or whether 5% takes it to 70,098. Get every price restated as VAT-inclusive before they are compared again.
The brief requires paid and organic use, worldwide, in perpetuity. Only ClickTribe states all three. Grit & Soul lists paid ads and global distribution but never says perpetuity, and Zobbzle states only that licensed material is included. Without perpetuity the films expire.
The brief asks for burned-in captions on the verticals plus a separate subtitle file for each horizontal master, and lower thirds to OI specification. Only ClickTribe commits to both. Add them explicitly to the winning scope so they are not treated as a variation.
Grit & Soul deliver the first cut five days after the last shoot day, so with filming spread over two to four weeks nothing is reviewable until the whole series wraps. Zobbzle deliver per interview. ClickTribe commit to nothing. Fix a per-interview cadence in the PO.
Grit & Soul's terms assign everything to us, then retain a perpetual licence to use the finished films on their own website, social and demo reel. The brief requires written approval before any such use. Narrow this to case-by-case written consent as a condition of award.
Zobbzle's price line covers licensed third-party material including music, AI and or graphics. The brief never asked for AI-generated content. On credibility assets featuring named government and banking executives, that needs an explicit exclusion.
The brief warns that some venues need advance crew clearance and that subject availability drives the schedule. ClickTribe excludes both crew security clearance and onsite idle time, so its 134,500 is a floor rather than a ceiling. Ask all three to bring these inside the fixed price.
The brief specified a single-camera setup per subject. Grit & Soul quoted that. Zobbzle and ClickTribe both quoted multi-camera crews of eight and five people, which is scope we did not ask for and a large part of what separates 66,760 from 134,500.
67,740 buys nothing in the other two submissions that a PO clause cannot secure here. The capability difference is a recce and a subtitle file. The price difference is a second production budget.
It assigns all copyright and IP in both the deliverables and the raw footage, worldwide, perpetual, exclusive, royalty-free and irrevocable. The other two grant ownership of deliverables with raw footage handed over. This is the only outright assignment.
At 3,500 to add a subject, going to the top of the 10 to 15 range costs 10,500. The same move costs 30,000 with Zobbzle and 33,624 with ClickTribe, whose marginal rates are just their totals divided by twelve.
The only submission with a creative alignment meeting two weeks out and props carried across every site for a unified setup. The brief's core requirement is that twelve interviews read as one campaign, and this is the only quote that budgets for it.
Grit & Soul lists no exclusions at all. ClickTribe lists nine, two of which the brief makes near-certain. On a fixed-scope series, a quote with no carve-outs is worth more than a cheaper-looking one that reopens on the day.
Stated plainly so the decision is made with eyes open. Grit & Soul is not the strongest document in the set, ClickTribe is, and it is not the strongest production plan either, Zobbzle is. It is the submission with the best ratio of delivered scope to price, and the one whose shortfalls are all contractual rather than operational. The risk in awarding it is real and specific: an unpinned crew size and a 70% advance. If those two are not closed in writing before the PO, the saving is not a saving, it is exposure. Conversely, if Zobbzle resolves its 12,000 price contradiction downward to 108,000 and produces a licensed entity, it becomes a defensible award on operational grounds at 1.6 times the price. ClickTribe, at double the lowest bid with nine exclusions and no commercial terms, is not recommended.