Brandform Performance - Ways of Working

01

Purpose

This document sets out how we collaborate day-to-day as an in-house performance marketing arm of Brandform. Brandform owns the client relationship, the creative direction, and the commercial conversation. The delivery team (Henrik and Stuart) runs paid media execution, measurement, and reporting under the Brandform Performance banner.

It is a starting point for discussion. Expect to iterate after the session.

02

Team structure

Brandform Performance delivery team

Role	Person	Primary responsibilities
Strategic lead / architect	Henrik Soderlund HSC	Commercial oversight, measurement infrastructure, platform architecture, dashboard product, new client onboarding leadership, escalations.
Paid media operator	Stuart Grove Grove Foundry	Day-to-day campaign management, trading, optimisation, reporting cadence, asset deployment, client-facing operational communication.

Brandform internal team touchpoints

Person	Function	Interfaces with performance team on
Paul	GM, commercial relationship	Strategy, new client onboarding, escalations, commercial decisions.
Kate	Account management / ops	Client onboarding forms, creative assets, approvals.
Steph	Team member	Creative review, brand consistency.
Jess	Melbourne-based operations	Platform access, Melbourne client coordination.

03

Client engagement lifecycle

01

New client brief intake

Paul or the relevant account lead brings a new client opportunity to the delivery team.
Client completes the Brandform Performance onboarding portal covering brand assets, audience descriptors, competitive context, campaign objectives, and lead destination.
Kate or the designated account lead verifies the portal submission is complete.
Delivery team reviews, identifies gaps, requests missing information.
SLA clock starts when the brief is complete.

02

Setup and launch

New advertiser setup SLA: 3 business days from complete brief and approved creative.
New campaign setup SLA (existing client): 2 business days from complete brief.
Setup includes ad account creation or access, conversion tracking, platform pixel verification, audience build, campaign structure, ad upload, and QA.
Go-live sign-off by Henrik or Stuart against the Launch readiness gate in section 08.
Kate or the account lead notifies the client.

03

Ongoing campaign management

Weekly optimisation and trading by Stuart (bids, audiences, creative rotation, pacing).
Monthly strategic review by Henrik on high-spend clients.
Creative change cycles per tier per pricing guide (4 / 8 / 12 per month for Simple / Medium / Advanced).
Live dashboard always accessible - no need to request reports.

04

Reporting and client communication

Live Brandform Performance Dashboard for each client from go-live.
Dashboard URL shared with client contacts as authorised by Paul.
Additional PDF exports or scheduled email reports on request (roadmap feature).
Ad-hoc client questions routed via the account lead (Kate or Paul) rather than direct to the delivery team - keeps Brandform's account-management surface intact.

05

Offboarding / churn

30 days notice between Brandform and client, per Brandform's client terms.
Delivery team supports clean pause or transfer.
All data and ad-account access remains with the client per the engagement terms.

04

Asset and creative flow

Creative supplied by Brandform or client

Base creative (images, video, copy) supplied by the Brandform creative team or the client.
Delivery team handles platform-specific adaptation (aspect ratios, ad copy optimisation, headline variants).
Creative change limits per month per pricing guide tier.
Additional creative production beyond tier limits billed at agreed hourly rates.

Asset delivery standards

High-resolution source files preferred (minimum 1080p video, 2000px image).
Brand guidelines and colour codes documented per client.
Logo assets in both square and landscape variants.
Shared Dropbox folder per client, structured per Brandform's existing convention.

Approvals

New creative ads: 24-hour approval turnaround from client via the Brandform account lead.
Urgent approvals possible, flagged via Slack.
Approved creative signed off in the shared thread before go-live.
QA and compliance check by the delivery team before launch.
Late approvals (outside the 24-hour window) are accommodated where capacity allows. The delivery team confirms in writing whether the launch date holds or moves.

05

Communication channels

Day-to-day operations

Slack (BF Media channel) - primary working channel, all delivery team plus Kate, Steph, Jess, and Paul.
Email - for formal communications, commercial matters, and client-facing correspondence.
WhatsApp - urgent and after-hours only, between Paul and Henrik on commercial matters.

Client-facing

Brandform account lead (Kate or Paul) is the client's primary contact.
Delivery team may join client calls at Paul's invitation.
Direct client-to-delivery communication avoided by default - keeps Brandform's account management visible.
Change requests on delivered work - raised by the account lead in a single consolidated message tagged with the relevant deadline. The delivery team acknowledges within 4 business hours with commit, partial, or decline; no rework begins before that exchange is closed. Report-specific rules (cutoff, cap, templates) live in section 09; scope and additional-work rules live in section 12.

Cadence

Ad hoc as needed for day-to-day.
Weekly 15-minute internal sync between delivery team and account leads (optional, driven by demand).
Monthly commercial and strategy review between Paul and Henrik.

06

Briefs and working documents

New client briefs

Submitted via the Brandform Performance onboarding portal.
Must include brand assets, audience description, budget, timeline, key metrics, and competitive references.
Missing information pauses the SLA clock.

Campaign briefs (existing client, new campaign)

Short-form brief template in the shared Dropbox.
Must include objective, audience, budget, timeline, creative available, and platform preference.
Account lead completes with client input. Delivery team reviews before build.

Ways of working iteration

This document lives in the shared client workspace.
Changes discussed at quarterly review meetings.
Emergency updates communicated via Slack and confirmed at the next review.

07

Shared tooling

Platforms (access managed centrally)

Google Ads - Brandform Manager Account (MCC) with client sub-accounts.
Meta Business Manager - Brandform Business Portfolio with client-level assets.
Performance Max / Display - within the respective platforms above.
GA4 - client-owned. Delivery team given admin or edit access.
Brandform Performance Dashboard - hosted by HSC, branded and shared per client.

Collaboration

Slack (BF Media channel) - day-to-day working communication.
Dropbox - shared folder structure per client for assets, briefs, reports.
Google Workspace - shared documents, ways-of-working, briefs.
Jira / Trello / Linear - TBC if process volume warrants it.

Password and secrets management

Action needed

Current state: credentials are shared ad hoc, which is unsustainable. Recommended adoption of a shared password manager, to be discussed in a later session. Until a shared tool is agreed, credentials are shared via time-limited Slack messages that are deleted after use.

08

Quality standards

Measurement and tracking

Every new advertiser has conversion tracking verified at level-4 pixel implementation minimum (WordPress reference).
Server-side tagging recommended for clients at spend above $20k/month.
CAPI (Conversions API) implemented for Meta on all active clients.
Pixel health monitored via dashboard alerting.

Campaign QA

Pre-launch checklist completed by the delivery team: creative checks, audience targeting, pacing, negative keywords, tracking, billing.
Go-live sign-off documented in the client folder.
Post-launch 48-hour check to verify delivery and data flow.

Reporting

Live dashboard always up to date, no stale data.
Monthly commentary added by Henrik for high-spend clients.
Anomaly alerts from the dashboard to the delivery team Slack channel.
Client-facing communications always pass through the Brandform account lead.

Launch readiness gate

A campaign goes live only when every item below is complete and verifiable. This applies equally to new clients and new campaigns within existing clients, and keeps setup clean in the first week of trading.

Brandform Performance onboarding portal submission is 100% complete for the client: brand assets, audience descriptors, competitive context, objectives, compliance answers, and lead destination.
Campaign brief is complete: objective, budget, timeline, targeting intent, approved creative, and platform preference.
Platform access confirmed: ad account, GA4, GTM, and the client's CRM or lead destination where relevant.
Conversion tracking verified end-to-end by the delivery team - pixel plus CAPI for Meta, conversion action firing on a test submission for Google.
Written client approval captured in the shared thread.

If any item is outstanding, the campaign stays in pending launch. The delivery team posts the blocking list and the owner in BF Media, and the launch SLA clock pauses until the block clears. The delivery team does not launch on verbal assurance or partial information - everything lands in the portal or the brief.

09

Reporting governance

Reports are the most visible thing we produce together. Clear rules on timing, scope and format keep the quality consistent for every client, protect the delivery team's capacity across the portfolio, and give the Brandform account leads a predictable rhythm to plan around.

Standing cadence

Monthly performance reports delivered by business day 5 each month.
Client-facing meetings typically run from business day 8 onward - that's the window we size against.
Interim fortnightly snapshots delivered on request, lead-time permitting.
The live Brandform Performance dashboard is available at all times and does not need to be requested.

Change-request window (cutoff)

Requests for edits, re-cuts, additional views or layout tweaks reach the delivery team at least 24 business hours before the scheduled client-facing meeting.
Requests inside the 24-hour window are handled on a best-efforts basis only. The account lead decides whether to present the report as delivered or defer the meeting.

Revision cap

Each monthly report includes the initial delivered version plus one consolidated round of revisions.
The revision round is a single batched list from the account lead, not drip-fed edits. If requests arrive piecemeal, the delivery team holds them and actions them together once the list is closed.
Additional rounds beyond the cap are either absorbed at the delivery team's discretion, or scoped and billed per the hourly rate in the pricing guide.

Template and format governance

Reports are produced against canonical Brandform Performance report templates maintained by the delivery team.
The three-tier measurement framework (CRM as verified total, platform data for channel optimisation, GA4 for cross-channel mix) is the authoritative data model and is not negotiated per report.
Wording standards: British English, no em dashes, no emojis, no "we're being transparent" tells. "Strategy" language appears only when explicitly commissioned.
Format deviations - new chart type, alternative layout, additional section - are raised at brief stage, not at delivery. Retroactive format requests consume the revision round (see Revision cap).

Acknowledgement loop

Change requests are posted by the account lead in a single consolidated Slack message in the BF Media channel, tagged with the client meeting date and time.
The delivery team acknowledges within 4 business hours with one of: committed (full list will be actioned by X), partial (the following items only), or decline with reason (outside cutoff, breaches the measurement framework, or not feasible before the meeting).
No rework begins before that exchange is closed. If the account lead doesn't confirm, the delivered version stands.

Escalation path

If the account lead and the delivery team can't agree on a change request, escalation is Paul and Henrik jointly, same day where meeting time permits. Same row captured in the escalation table below.

10

Commercial and invoicing flow

Summary below. Full detail in the commercial-structure document.

Brandform invoices end-clients monthly (first week, in arrears) with three line items: media pass-through, one-off fees if applicable, and ongoing management fee.
HSC (team-fee portion) and Grove Foundry invoice Brandform separately.
HSC invoices Brandform separately for the dashboard licence.
Wednesday AP run. Invoices in by Tuesday EOD.
14-day payment terms.

Escalation and issues

Issue types and routing

Type	First contact	Escalation
Campaign performance concern	Stuart (delivery)	Henrik if not resolved in 24h
Platform access / technical issue	Stuart first, Henrik if infrastructure	Paul if commercial-impacting
Commercial / fee / scope	Paul	Henrik
Client relationship concern	Paul	Joint Paul and Henrik
Billing / payment	Paul -> accounts team	Henrik follow-up if unresolved
Out-of-window change request on a delivered report	Kate or Paul via BF Media Slack	Paul + Henrik joint, same day
Campaign blocked on incomplete onboarding or brief	Kate to client, delivery team notified	Paul if the block persists beyond 5 business days

Response time expectations

Urgent issues - campaign down, billing failure, disapproved ads

2 business hours

Standard requests

1 business day

Strategic or commercial discussions

3 business days

12

Scope boundaries

What's covered by the monthly management fee, what we're happy to deliver as scoped work, and what sits outside this engagement. Written so the team can answer scope questions without escalating.

Included in the monthly management fee

Campaign management across booked platforms (Google Ads, Meta, and any platform named in the engagement).
Weekly optimisation and trading on active campaigns.
Creative adaptation and platform-specific copy variants within the per-tier change limit (4 / 8 / 12 per month for Simple / Medium / Advanced).
Conversion tracking maintenance for already-implemented events.
Live dashboard access for the named client contacts.
Monthly performance report against the canonical template, plus one consolidated revision round (per section 09).
Anomaly response and in-platform troubleshooting during business hours.
In-channel creative check-ins and ad-hoc operational questions that keep a campaign running well.

Scoped separately - available but quoted on request

Work we are happy to do under the engagement, but which lands as a separate line item because it sits outside monthly management effort. Quoted against the hourly rate in the pricing guide, or as a fixed scope where appropriate.

New creative production beyond the per-tier change limit.
New campaign build for a new product, launch, or market (distinct from continuing an existing campaign) - subject to the new-campaign SLA and the launch readiness gate.
Landing-page briefs, lead-form redesigns, or funnel changes requested mid-campaign.
Measurement changes: new conversion events, new audience definitions tied to new data, CAPI or server-side tagging upgrades below the Premium spend threshold.
Mid-cycle platform additions (for example adding TikTok or LinkedIn to a Google + Meta engagement).
Report-format rework requested after initial delivery (consumes the revision round if inside cap, charged if outside).
Bespoke one-off deliverables: pitch decks, client QBRs, ad-hoc deep-dive analysis.
Ad-hoc creative performance deep-dives beyond the monthly report.
Client training sessions, platform walkthroughs, or internal Brandform upskilling.

Out of scope for this engagement

Work we don't deliver under any tier, either because it sits in a different skillset or because it would blur our role against Brandform's account and creative function:

Website migration, CMS work, or development of new site pages.
CRM implementation, lead-nurture automation, email sequence build.
Server-side tagging implementation for clients below the Premium spend threshold (available as scoped work above Premium).
Full-funnel attribution build-out and martech integration projects.
Brand strategy, positioning, brand guidelines, and creative concept origination - these sit with Brandform's creative team.
Capability statement and BD materials for Brandform's own pitches (Brandform-led).
Direct client account management, contracting, and commercial conversations - owned by Paul and the account lead.
Bespoke dashboard features beyond the standard product roadmap - captured in the roadmap backlog and released when shipped.

How to raise a change or additional scope

Raise the request with the delivery team in BF Media with a one-line description and the desired date. The delivery team responds within 4 business hours with one of: included (no charge), scoped separately (a quote follows), or out of scope (with reason). Once scoped, work starts only after written confirmation from Paul or the account lead. Logged by the delivery team against the client record.

13

Open items for the ways-of-working session

Agree on the password and secrets management approach.
Confirm Slack channel naming and membership.
Lock in reporting cadence expectations per client.
Clarify asset approval routing - client to Kate, or client direct to creative team.
Finalise the new-client brief template.
Agree on escalation paths and response time expectations.
Review the onboarding portal flow together and confirm it is intuitive for Kate.
Endorse the reporting governance rules - 24-hour cutoff, one revision round, 4-hour acknowledgement SLA, template governance.
Decide whether the launch readiness gate applies retroactively to in-flight clients or only from the next new client onward.
Walk through the Scope boundaries subcards and confirm the Included / Scoped separately / Out of scope split matches how Brandform expects to answer client questions.
Schedule the first quarterly review of ways of working.