Before you sign the agency contract.
Before you scale marketing spend.
Before it gets expensive to reverse.

Independent Marketing Counsel for Founders & Leaders facing High-stakes decisions

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.

Contact Us

Contact Us

The Threshold Moment -
The MOMENT BEORE 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.
There is no execution, no retainer and therefore no incentive to recommend continued spend if it is not right for the business.

Instead, Threshold delivers short, fixed-scope decision sprints.

Each sprint is designed to resolve one high-stakes decision before commitment becomes difficult to reverse.
What is the staus 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 plateued?
Each sprint ends with a written verdict you can act on and share with your leadership team. The risk isn’t doing too little marketing.

An agency wants to keep running campaigns - an agency benefits from more spend. Threshold exists to independently advise.
Senior judgement.
Personally applied.
Every Threshold sprint is delivered personally by Chris Gorney.

The judgement you are borrowing is judgment 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

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.
£275m
Marketing Decisions Made for our Clients
Is MARKETING HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Senior judgement without the hire.

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

Should we commit to this agency or walk away?
Clarity before renewal, renegotiation or exit.

When agencies sound convincing but as a leader your not sure.

This sprint delivers an independent, expert verdict on whether the relationship is genuinely creating value.

View Sprint

WHICH MARKTING NUMBERS CAN I TRUST?
When dashboards abound, but data doesn't seem to be connected to outcomes and lack of confidence in reporting is making decisions challenging.

This sprint which clarifies which metrics are sage to base decisions on, which are creating false assurance and what decisions you need to make next here.

View Sprint

Why has growth stallled & where is the real lever
Senior diagnosis before you back the wrong growth story.

When spend continues, but momentum doesn't.

This sprint identifies what's constraining growth and clarifies where future effort and investment should be focused, before more time and money is committed to the wrong answer.

View Sprint

Book a 15-minute sanity check call.

Independent. No pitch. No obligation.

We'll confirm if Threshold is right for your situation - or if you're better served elsewhere.

Book a 15-minute Sanity Check Call

Book a 15-minute Sanity Check Call

Why Founders & Leaders use Threshold
Threshold exists to say the things agencies can’t and internal DYNAMICS PREVENT.
 We don’t do execution, so advice stays clean.
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- We’re not angling for retainers, so decisions stay objective and honest
- Clear calls, not endless options

You get independent judgement, not reassurance theatre.
Who uses Threshold
Founders & leaders who need senior marketing judgement
 SME founders and CEOs across:
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- Consumer brands and DTC
- SaaS and tech businesses
- PE backed scale-ups
- Professional services

How we work with you -
WHAT TO EXPECT
Threshold is designed to intervene at a specific moment.
1. 15-minute sanity check call
Confirm which sprint fits or whether you need Threshold at all
2. Sprint begins (5-7 working days)
Fixed scope. We review strategy, reporting, agencies.    Conversations with your team and agencies where needed.
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.
Threshold judgement has been used when leaders needed a call they could stand behind, on strategy, brand, agencies, measurement and media investment, before commitment became expensive to unwind.
Real Decisions -

Judgement that protects growth and unlocks it

From “support everything” to a focused Christmas plan 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.
‍

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Threshold applies judgement developed managing £275m in 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.
Battle-tested judgement -

THRESHOLD'S JUDGEMENT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED MANAGING £275M MARKETING INVESTMENT

Book a 15-minute sanity check call.

Independent. No pitch. No obligation.

We'll confirm if Threshold is right for your situation - or if you're better served elsewhere.

Book a 15-minute Sanity Check Call

Book a 15-minute Sanity Check Call

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