Field notes
Short essays on how media and marketing teams actually run.
Short, opinionated pieces on operating models, performance marketing, AI adoption, brand-agency partnership and how digital functions actually compound. Written by the partners, not by a content team.
Brand–Agency Partnership10 min read
How to build a paid media agency scorecard (with a weighted template)
Most agency reviews happen once a year, are largely subjective and tend to be coloured by whatever went wrong most recently. A well-designed scorecard goes a long way towards fixing that. This is the structure we use with brands, the weights we start from, and a template you can adapt.
Team Build12 min read
Digital team structure: organise around disciplines, not channels
Most digital teams are still drawn around the media plan, with a search lead, a social lead and a programmatic lead, each with their own reports and their own idea of what good looks like. This is the structure we would build instead, for brands and agencies alike, along with the research behind it.
AI & Automation8 min read
From AI experimentation to governed adoption
By 2026, almost every digital team has run an AI pilot. Almost none have a clear answer to the more important question.
Operating Model9 min read
Why digital maturity is no longer a channel problem
Most senior leaders still describe digital problems as channel problems. Almost none of them are.
Operating Model9 min read
The four operating rhythms every digital team needs
Without a deliberate cadence, even talented digital teams end up running in circles. Here is the four-layer rhythm that fixes it.
Brand–Agency Partnership9 min read
Why most brand-agency relationships underperform
After two decades on both sides of the relationship, the pattern is consistent. Underperformance is almost never one root cause.
Team Build9 min read
Building a digital function that improves itself
Most digital teams plateau. Five elements separate the ones that compound from the ones that just stay busy.
Start with a six-week diagnostic.
Most engagements begin with a short, candid conversation about where the team is today and what good looks like in twelve months.