Independent Marketing Counsel
Book a 15-Minute Sanity Check Call

Independent Marketing Counsel
‍For Founders & Leaders

Independent Marketing Counsel
‍For Founders & Leaders

When investment is increasing but confidence isn't. When you're not sure if it's right but can't prove why. Threshold delivers independent marketing due diligence at the point where being wrong commits you to the wrong thing.

Book a 15-Minute Sanity Check Call
The Decision Sprints
The Threshold Moment

The moment before you make an expensive decision.

Founders and leaders make expensive marketing commitments; agencies, tools, headcount, without always having sufficient senior judgement on whether that money will work.

The marketing industry profits from continued spend, not from preventing unnecessary spend. So there's no natural checkpoint before you commit.

Threshold exists for that moment. Independent senior judgement before the next tranche of marketing money gets locked in.

A Decision Service, Not A Marketing Agency -

Threshold is not
‍an agency.

Threshold delivers fixed-scope decision sprints. Each sprint is designed to resolve one high-stakes decision before your marketing commitment becomes difficult to reverse.

What is the status quo of our marketing? Is it going to get us to where we want to be? Is our agency delivering value? Can we trust our marketing data? Why has growth plateaued?

Each sprint ends with a written verdict you can act on and share with your leadership team.

An agency wants to keep running campaigns, so an agency benefits from more spend. Threshold exists to independently advise.

The Marketing Counsel Behind Threshold -
Chris Gorney, Director of Threshold

Senior Judgement. Personally Applied.

Every Threshold sprint is delivered personally by Chris Gorney. The judgement you are borrowing is judgement that has been accountable for high-stakes decisions and market out-performing outcomes, not just advice.

Chris has spent his career accountable for high-stakes marketing decisions, managing £275m of marketing spend across major consumer brands. Threshold applies that same judgement,  independently, at the moment founders need it most.

Who's behind Threshold
The Decision Sprints —

Decision Sprints
For High-Stakes Moments.

Each sprint exists to resolve a specific decision, not create ongoing work.

Marketing Decisions Made for our Clients

£275m

01

Is marketing heading in the right direction?

When marketing activity and spend is increasing but leadership confidence isn't. This sprint gives you a clear call on whether your current direction is sound and what decisions you should make next.

View Sprint
02

Should we commit to this agency or walk away?

When agencies sound convincing but as a leader you're not sure. This sprint delivers an independent, expert verdict on whether the relationship is genuinely creating value.

View Sprint
03

Which marketing numbers can I trust?

When there are many dashboards but data doesn't seem connected to outcomes. This sprint clarifies which metrics are safe to base decisions on and what decisions you need to make next.

View Sprint
04

Why has growth stalled & where is the real lever?

When spend continues but momentum doesn't. This sprint identifies what's constraining growth and clarifies where future effort and investment should be focused.

View Sprint
Who Uses Threshold —

Threshold Exists To Say The Things Agencies Can't And Internal Dynamics Prevent.

We're not angling for retainers, so that decisions stay objective and honest and deliver the independent judgement you need.

We have no commercial interest in recommending you continue spending on an activity, only in giving you the senior independent judgment you need.

There is no reassurance theatre - unlike agencies and inhouse teams we don't have to justify the actions we've taken, we just given indepenent, senior judgement.

Agencies are incentivised to get you to do more activity, we're here to tell you what to stop as much as what to start.

Who Uses Threshold -

Founders & leaders who need senior marketing judgement.

 SME founders & Senior leaders across:

01
Consumer Brands & DTC
02
SaaS & Tech Businesses
03
PE Backed Scale-Ups
04
Professional Services
How We Work With You -

What To Expect

Threshold is designed to intervene at specific moments.

1
15-Minute Sanity Check Call
Confirm which sprint fits or whether you need Threshold at all.
2
Sprint Begins (5-8 Working Days)
Fixed scope. We run the Decision Sprint you need, gathering & analysing data from across your business, you agency and the market.
3
Written Verdict Delivered
Clear document: what matters, what doesn't, what to stop, what to back, the decision to make next.
4
Walkthrough Call, Then You're Done
You use the verdict. If you want more support later, you ask. Some founders choose to continue with monthly decision reviews after their sprint.
Real Decisions —

Judgement That Protects
Growth And Unlocks It.

01

ASDA

From “support everything” to a focused Christmas Campaign that actually moved revenue

What I Changed

ASDA’s Christmas spend was being diluted across too many categories. I forced focus.

What It Delivered

Spend concentrated behind 3 customer missions and 10 hero products, increasing marketing effectiveness and driving 8 figure Christmas revenue growth.

02

Silver Cross

Identified the real growth constraint: brand meaning, not performance marketing

What I Changed

Silver Cross hadn’t become “worse at marketing”. It had become less meaningfully different. The issue was positioning and comms, not channel optimisation.

What It Delivered

Brand and comms strategy rewritten to rebuild mental availability and pricing power, restoring a platform for sustainable growth.

03

Evans Cycles

Protected value under pressure and improved contribution

What I Changed

Evans Cycles was pushed to discount heavily for Black Friday. I built the case to push back.

What It Delivered

More full-priced bikes sold than previous years, improving contribution without damaging long-term brand value.

04

Agency Relationship

Rejected agency fee increase and restructured the contract so value improved

What I Changed

An agency asked for a 20% fee increase. I audited where time went and found ~50% spent on reporting/account management.

What It Delivered

Fee increase rejected; contract reshaped (reporting tied to objectives, automation + streamlined briefing, incentives realigned, termination standards added). Performance improved and the work went on to win awards, without paying more.

05

Media Investment

Bypassed an internal MMM solution and commissioned a decision-led model

What I Changed

A mandated internal MMM approach wasn’t actionable for real decisions (brand/media/creative). I replaced it with the write brief and the right partner.

What It Delivered

A model commissioned at ~1% of media budget that now underpins brand, media and creative decisions for 2026.

06

Turned an unprofitable affiliate programme into a profitable growth channel

What I Changed

The affiliate programme was structurally loss-making due to historic deals. The issue was commercial design, not execution.

What It Delivered

Unprofitable relationships terminated, terms renegotiated, team have commercial guardrails, programme returned to profitability.

07

Meta was under-scaled due to the wrong metrics and an incomplete view of incrementality.

What I Changed

Meta was under-scaled due to the wrong metrics and an incomplete view of incrementality.

What It Delivered

Spend tripled and delivered ~£0.5m incremental revenue that would otherwise have been missed.

Battle-tested judgement —

Threshold's Judgement Has Been Developed in the Field.

Threshold's judgement has been developed managing £275m marketing investment across major consumer brands, SMEs and charities including ASDA, PokerStars, Sports Direct, Silver Cross and Evans Cycles.

That experience is now available to founders at the exact moment high-stakes marketing decisions need to be made.