Position the book as the reference text for brand investment governance across senior marketing, finance, and board-level audiences globally, and convert that positioning into sustained sales through institutional channels, corporate adoption, and an eighteen-month programme of author-led demand generation.
CMOs, VPs of marketing, heads of brand. The primary reader. The book gives them the governance language to protect the investments they already believe in.
The book’s second reader and the one who controls the budget. Written in the financial language of capital commitment, delegation of authority, and investment accountability.
The governance decision-makers. The book equips them to hold the investment thesis under quarterly pressure.
Executive education and senior leadership development programmes. The book enters reading lists as governance reference material.
Twelve weekly long-form posts, sequenced to build the book’s vocabulary with the target audience before launch. Weeks 1–4: naming the governance failures most senior marketers will recognise from their own organisations. Weeks 5–8: the GC/GT distinction and why it reframes the conversation. Weeks 9–12: what a governance solution looks like, without giving away the framework itself. Each post is designed to create curiosity and demand in the target audience, not to substitute for the book itself. The author’s LinkedIn following sits at 14,000+ with high-performing posts reaching 900+ engagements, concentrated in senior marketing, media, and commercial leadership across the UK, Middle East, and South Asia.
So&So Partnerships works with senior marketing and commercial leaders on brand investment governance. As the practice grows, every client engagement becomes a natural distribution channel for the book, and every reader who applies the framework becomes a prospective client. The two reinforce each other.
Six senior endorsements are already secured, as shared earlier. A second wave will be mobilised in the six months before launch, drawn from a senior network across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Endorsements will be deployed not only in the book’s cover and back matter but across social channels, creating a network effect that extends visibility well beyond the author’s own reach.
The activation strategy treats each endorser as a gateway to a specific institutional audience. Each activation below is a professional proposition, amplifying interest in the book while extending the outreach and depth of each institution and channel.
Cross-membership communication to 2,500+ members. Hosted launch event and/or podcast on the Society’s platform. Promotion through TMS editorial and social channels. TMS has a standing practice of promoting fellows’ published work; this is an institutional partnership, not a personal request.
Formal proposal for distribution to L. Catterton’s portfolio company leadership across Asia. Portfolio companies investing in brand-led growth benefit directly from the governance framework the book sets out.
The author has collaborated with a wide network of CFOs across his career in FMCG, each a potential entry point for the book into their own organisation and finance leadership community. A CFO recommending a governance book to other CFOs is the highest-credibility route to this audience.
The marketing and business conference world has a well-established circuit of keynote speakers, commentators, and editorial voices whose audiences are a natural fit for the book. The author will pursue opportunities through speaker referrals, podcast appearances, and editorial features.
Direct relationship with Chris Moon, Commercial Director BDP Asia. This positions the book naturally for recommended-reading inclusion within the programme and distribution through its alumni network of board-qualified directors. The alumni community includes advocates such as Loïc Réthoré, a former Global CEO and endorser of the book, who will activate his own NED and Asia-Pacific advisory networks within the governance community. He is one of several senior alumni the author intends to mobilise as the book moves toward publication.
Hosted event for member organisations, which include companies such as Emirates Airlines and King’s College Hospital London / UAE. The Chamber runs regular talks and events for its business community.
2,500+ attendees, 200+ speakers, 100+ global institutions. The Forum introduced a dedicated Book Corner in 2025 for book launches, signings, and direct interaction with authors. The “Optimising Systems” theme, which examines how innovation transforms business, governance, and society, is a direct fit for the book’s argument. Target: Book Corner participation and a panel or workshop contribution. The author is also a member of the Dubai Future Horizon group, which organises talks around books published by members.
An informal community of former Unilever leaders now operating across multiple organisations globally. The book’s governance argument originates from inside this operating culture; this network is its natural first audience and word-of-mouth channel.
The six current endorsers are the first wave, selected to support the proposal. A substantially larger network of senior operators, CFOs, agency leaders, and governance figures is available and will be mobilised before launch. Each new endorser is chosen for the audience they bring access to, not only for seniority.
Speaking platform. Step Conference Dubai, Dubai Lynx, a Marketing Society event, and British Chamber of Commerce Dubai are targeted in the launch window. Further engagements will be pursued through the FT BDP Alumni network and the WFA-affiliated Advertisers Business Group in the UAE. Subject to publication timing, the Dubai Future Forum (November 2026, Museum of the Future) and its dedicated Book Corner are a further target.
Corporate clients. So&So Partnerships advisory relationships provide direct bulk purchase and programmatic adoption channels. Senior leadership teams order copies for marketing and commercial cohorts; client organisations adopt the book into internal leadership and governance development programmes.
MAPS workshop programme. A paid post-launch workshop delivered through So&So Partnerships to senior marketing, finance, and board audiences, with the book as required preparatory reading. Each workshop is both a paid engagement and a bulk distribution event. The model is designed to scale through partner delivery over time.
Academic adoption. Recommended reading in executive education and senior leadership development programmes. The author has existing guest speaker relationships at University of Wollongong Dubai, Heriot-Watt University Dubai, and SP Jain School of Management, providing direct pathways for adoption. Further targets include IBA Karachi, LUMS, and Management Association of Pakistan. In Europe, the author will pursue adoption through his INSEAD network and through FT BDP Alumni connections across UK and European business schools. The FT Board Development Programme itself is a candidate for recommended-reading inclusion.
Governance authority outreach. The book’s argument sits at the intersection of corporate governance and marketing investment, a space occupied by several established professional bodies. Target organisations for recommended-reading adoption and event partnerships include the Institute of Directors (IoD) in the UK and its Chartered Director Programme, the Corporate Governance Institute and its Diploma in Corporate Governance, the Chartered Governance Institute (ICSA), and ICAEW’s corporate governance CPD programme. This channel requires development; the author will leverage his network across these institutions to build it.
Repeat speaking circuit and regional distribution. Marketing Society chapters, WFA/ABG events, Pakistan Advertiser Society, and FT NED Asia network, with each appearance a continued sell-through moment. The recent wave of mergers and acquisitions in consumer goods has underscored the value of the governance argument the book makes, positioning it as reference material well beyond any single region.
The author is a professional marketer with over two decades of experience in demand creation at senior leadership level. Most books on brand investment are written by agency leaders, consultants, and commentators; this one is written by a practitioner who has managed it from the client side.
The strength of this plan goes beyond the reach of any single network. The pre-launch content programme, the endorser activation through institutional channels, the post-launch workshop franchise, and the academic adoption outreach are coordinated phases of the same argument. Pearson’s investment in commissioning and producing the book is matched by the author’s commitment to sustained demand generation across eighteen months of programmed activation.