How we work
Four to six weeks. Four workstreams. One answer.
We ask for a small number of things. Marketing spend data across all channels, agencies and activities. Commercial performance data — revenue, margin, or whatever KPI the board actually cares about. Any existing measurement reports or agency reviews. And time with three or four people — usually the CFO, the marketing lead, and whoever manages the agency relationship.
We are not expecting perfect data. Part of the value is understanding what exists, what does not, and what that gap tells you.
The engagement week by week
Spend mapping and commercial reality check. Where is the money going? How is it split across channels, agencies, production and media? How does that compare to published evidence on what drives growth? Often the first time anyone has seen the full picture in one place.
In parallel, we look at whether communications is actually the right lever for the business challenge. If the constraint is not an advertising problem, that usually becomes clear quickly. It is one of the most valuable things the engagement can surface.
Agency assessment and measurement review. We assess contract structures, incentive models, and transparency arrangements — not whether people enjoy working together, but whether commercial interests are aligned. Benchmarked against the ISBA Media Services Framework and IPA remuneration guidance.
On measurement, we assess whether what the business is being told about performance actually stands up. Where the data supports it, we run an independent analysis — a defensible range, not a single number.
Findings, stress-testing and report. If the engagement runs to six weeks, we use the additional time robustness-testing the findings before delivery.
The agency assessment is benchmarked against the ISBA Media Services Framework and IPA remuneration guidance. The measurement assessment draws on peer-reviewed research including documented incrementality experiments at major platforms and academic work on attribution failure.
The spend allocation review uses Binet and Field's effectiveness data as the primary benchmark for long-term versus short-term allocation. The commercial reality check draws on commercial due diligence methodology applied to the marketing context.
Where the data supports it, we run marketing mix modelling using the same open-source tools used by Google and Meta. The output is presented with honest confidence intervals — not as a precise answer, but as the best estimate the data can support.
Ready to start
The engagement happens once. What it establishes informs every marketing decision from that point forward.
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