Everything that must exist before the first euro of spend

A skincare brand launching direct-to-consumer while already selling through an established retail network. The brief was not a campaign, it was building the operating structure a D2C business needs before the first euro of media spend.

The hard decisions were commercial, not technical: online pricing against the retail network, because a D2C channel that undercuts your retail partners destroys the relationship that carries most of your volume. Margin per category, so target CAC could be calculated rather than guessed. A promotional calendar aligned with the retail calendar to avoid cannibalising it.

Only once pricing, margins, calendar, measurement and channel roles were agreed did spend start. The launch was quiet by design — and because the structure underneath it was sound, it scaled without the usual renegotiation of every decision each month.