Engagements

Engagements built around the decision in front of you.

Four structures, one method. Each engagement runs on the same proprietary planning engine and the same senior strategist review — the difference is how far you want to go, and whether the plan is still being shaped or already in market. Most clients move from a diagnostic into a sprint, then into ongoing governance.

Start with a diagnostic → See the planning engine
Service 01

Strategic Diagnostic

A focused, time-bounded read on where the most consequential decisions sit — and what a defensible plan would have to address. The fastest, lowest-commitment way to start.

Best for: teams at a planning inflection point, ahead of an agency brief, or entering a new therapeutic area.
What you receive
  • The real commercial question, framed — objectives, audience, constraints
  • A planner-generated baseline scenario to pressure-test assumptions
  • Prioritized list of the decisions that most affect outcomes
  • A clear recommendation on whether and how to go deeper
Service 02

Commercial Mapping

Map the commercial journey — audience, message, channel and KPI by stage — into a single planning view that aligns brand, agency and leadership on one picture of the plan.

Best for: brands that need cross-functional alignment before spend, or a defensible structure for a complex launch.
What you receive
  • A stage-by-stage commercial map: awareness through adoption
  • Audience, channel role and KPI mapped to each journey stage
  • Planner-scored channel roles, so the map is grounded in trade-offs
  • An alignment artifact your team, agency and leadership can share
Service 03

Strategic Planning Sprint

A full planner-assisted sprint from brief to executive recommendation: scenarios generated and scored, the lead scenario reviewed by a senior strategist, and the rationale documented for the room where the decision is made.

Best for: specialty and biotech brands inside a live planning window that need a board-ready recommendation, fast.
What you receive
  • Audience strategy and NPI-level targeting framework
  • Channel recommendations and budget allocation across scenarios
  • KPI framework and measurement design, wired in from day one
  • An executive-ready narrative and documented strategic rationale
Service 04 · Ongoing

Measurement & Vendor Governance

For plans already in market. Independent oversight of vendor recommendations, attribution, reporting and optimization — so the measurement story stays defensible long after the plan is approved.

Best for: teams running active programs who want a neutral read on vendor performance, reporting, and reallocation between cycles.
What you receive
  • Independent review of vendor recommendations and performance claims
  • A single attribution and KPI source of truth across partners
  • Quarterly review of reporting, optimization rules and reallocation
  • Defensible documentation for each leadership review and QBR
Operating model

What Cadence owns — and what it does not

Independence is structural. Cadence provides strategic judgment and decision support, not execution — which is exactly what makes the recommendation defensible.

Cadence provides

Strategy & decision support

  • Independent audience, channel and budget strategy
  • Planner-assisted scenario generation and scoring
  • KPI frameworks and measurement design
  • Executive-ready documentation and rationale
Cadence does not provide

Execution & inventory

  • Media buying, trafficking or campaign operations
  • Data licensing or media inventory
  • Commission-based recommendations
  • Creative production or MLR/regulatory review

Looking for ongoing oversight rather than a single engagement? See the longer-form engagement models

Not sure which engagement fits?

The Strategic Diagnostic is designed to answer exactly that — quickly, and with no obligation. Tell us the decision in front of you and we will frame the right structure.

Request a diagnostic → See the work