Start a project Process · how engagements actually run
Five steps from the first inquiry to a multi-year retainer. The bits that usually feel like agency theatre (fixed packages, qualification calls, sales decks) aren’t in this list, because we don’t do them.
Step 01 · ≈ 90 seconds
You send the brief at /contact (or by email). We read every one by hand. No auto-routing, no Cal.com link the second you submit.
Five questions, ninety seconds. The form covers what you do, where the friction is, the budget shape you can live with. Be honest. Vague briefs cost both of us a fortnight of misalignment downstream.
Step 02 · Within the working day
We write back by email within the working day, with thoughtful questions, an honest no, or a written proposal for how we’d work together.
Talking in writing first is how we figure out whether the fit is real. The bar for us moving to a call is that the brief reads as something we can genuinely help with, not the fact that you filled in the form.
Step 03 · Inside the first week
If the brief lands, we map modules across the three pillars into a custom retainer. You see the scope, cadence and cost in writing before anything is signed.
No fixed packages. The proposal includes which modules run from day one, which run later, what the trigger is for adding scope, and what the off-ramp looks like at quarterly review. Nothing locked in beyond what both sides want.
Step 04 · Monthly cadence
We kick off with a monthly cadence on deliverables and async updates as you need them. Quarterly review checkpoints are baked into every engagement.
The cadence is built around your business, not our reporting calendar. We default to a shared workspace + monthly summary + ad-hoc email. But if your team prefers Slack, Notion, or a weekly call, we adapt.
Step 05 · Multi-year by default
Long retainers are normal here. Our longest is nine years. We treat every month like opening night. The brand pays us to bring the same intensity month one or month seventy-two.
Quarterly reviews are when either side can widen, narrow or call it, and that’s written into the proposal. Most clients stay multi-year because the compounding does its job, not because they’re locked in.
Tell us about your business in ninety seconds. If it’s a fit, we reply by email within the working day. If not, we send you something useful instead. We never promise the moon.
The Social Target · Limited · Est. 2017 · London