Apostrophe

An Apostrophe method

The Missing Mark.

Marketing strategy rarely fails in the boardroom, and rarely fails in execution. It fails in the gaps between them. The Missing Mark finds those gaps, and shows you which ones to close first.

Take the self-assessment

An apostrophe marks what is missing. So does this.

The problem

Three vantage points. One gap.

The boardroom sets the intent. Agencies and partners deliver it. Platforms and data make it possible. Each sees the problem from its own side of the table, and each is usually right about what it can see.

What none of them can see is the space between. A strategy that never reaches the brief. An agency paid for activity, not outcomes. Data that could answer the board’s question, sitting in a system nobody connects. That space is the missing mark.

The method

Fifteen marks across three vantage points

Every engagement scores the same fifteen marks, assessed at the scales you operate in: local, regional and global.

01Boardroom

Is the intent clear, chosen and measured?

  1. Clarity. A strategy leadership and teams can repeat.
  2. Choices. What you will not do, and budget that follows.
  3. Measures. Metrics that matter, trusted by the board.
  4. Growth. A clear view of where the next growth comes from.
  5. Readiness. A plan for the futures your market could face.

02Agency and partners

Is the intent delivered, and held to account?

  1. Roles. Who does what, with no overlaps and no gaps.
  2. Accountability. Performance judged against your objectives.
  3. Incentives. Pay linked to outcomes, not activity.
  4. Briefing. Strategy that survives all the way to the brief.
  5. Partnerships. Partners opening new audiences and revenue.

03Platform and data

Do your systems make it possible?

  1. Single view. One picture of paid, owned and earned.
  2. Data. First-party data that is usable and compliant.
  3. Assurance. Independent proof that media delivers what you pay for.
  4. Human and AI. Technology used where it adds value, by people equipped to use it.
  5. Discovery. Knowing how you show up where customers now research.

The diagnostic

How it runs

  1. 1

    Frame

    Agree the business objectives, the markets in scope and the questions that matter most.

  2. 2

    Listen

    Interviews across the boardroom, the marketing team, agencies and partners, alongside a review of plans, contracts and data.

  3. 3

    Score

    Every one of the fifteen marks scored on evidence, not opinion, at each scale you operate in.

  4. 4

    Find the mark

    The three gaps with the greatest business impact, named plainly.

  5. 5

    Roadmap

    A prioritised plan to close them, with owners, early wins and the work that follows.

What you get

  • A Missing Mark scorecard across all fifteen marks
  • Your three biggest gaps, ranked by business impact
  • A prioritised roadmap with clear owners
  • A leadership readout to agree the way forward

Self-assessment

Find your missing mark

Fifteen statements. Rate how true each one is for your organisation today. It takes about five minutes, and your answers stay in your browser: nothing is sent or stored.

0 of 15 answered

Next step

Run the full diagnostic

The self-assessment gives you a first read. The full diagnostic gives you the evidence, the gaps that matter and the roadmap to close them.