Every engagement — discovery briefing, project, retainer or advisory — moves through five phases. The names are plain. The sequence is fixed. Duration and intensity change; the order does not, because drafting before listening produces language that sounds polished and fails the first factual check.
The cadence is how we avoid surprises on both sides. You know when we will ask for access, when drafts will arrive, when leadership must be in the room, and when materials leave your building. We publish it here so procurement teams can map our rhythm to their internal approval paths before scope is signed.
Phases overlap in live issues — listen and assess may repeat hourly — but the logic holds: understand before arguing, argue before writing, align before releasing. Skipping a phase is a documented decision, not a silent shortcut.
Talking points · draft stage
Listen
Listen is discovery without premature conclusions. We read what already exists — website copy, prior announcements, media coverage, internal memos if you share them — and we hold a working session with the people who know the facts. Interviews are structured: what happened, what is changing, who cares, what cannot be said yet, what went wrong last time communications tried this.
We take notes you can see. Surprises belong here, not in draft two when legal sees a number for the first time. For ongoing retainers, listen never fully stops; it becomes a lighter monthly check-in. For urgent issues, listen compresses to hours but still happens — we will not draft a holding statement from a one-line email.
Your role: Make subject-matter experts available; flag sensitivities early; share existing materials even if embarrassed by them.
Assess
Assess is where we convert listening into a plan. We map stakeholders — who must hear news, in what order, with what level of detail — and scan issues: what could be misread, what competitors might say, what reporters will ask first. We articulate the argument: the single sentence a reasonable outsider should remember, supported by proof points that survive scrutiny.
Assessment produces no outward-facing prose yet. It produces judgement you can challenge before words are polished. If the argument is weak, we say so. Better to fix the story at this stage than to decorate a flawed premise with elegant sentences.
Your role: Confirm or correct our understanding; involve legal or finance where facts require it; agree the argument before drafting begins.
Draft
Draft is production — narrative documents, talking points, press releases, Q&A packs, internal briefings, pitch frameworks, playbook sections. Drafts arrive in editable form with version numbers and a cover note explaining choices we made and questions still open. We do not bury landmines in paragraph four; flagged items appear in the cover note as well.
First drafts are complete enough to reject or redirect, not skeleton outlines that waste a review cycle. We expect consolidated feedback from a named approver, not six conflicting comments arriving over three days without resolution. Revision rounds are agreed in scope; open-ended "until perfect" loops are where engagements sour.
Your role: Return timely, consolidated feedback; resolve internal disagreements before the next draft; verify facts on your side.
Paper texture · proof surface
Align
Align is leadership review, spokesperson preparation and channel planning happening together — because an approved press release means little if the chief executive contradicts it on camera an hour later. We walk leadership through materials, run briefing rehearsals for difficult questions, and confirm sequencing: internal note before external release, embargo time, who speaks to which outlet first.
Alignment sessions can be uncomfortable. They are meant to be. The point is to surface disagreement while changes are cheap. We document what leadership approved and when, so later disputes about "what we agreed" have a paper trail. Legal and communications sign the same version before release.
Artefacts: approved final draft · spokesperson briefing deck · channel plan · alignment log
Your role: Put decision-makers in the room; enforce one approved version; schedule rehearsals for spokespeople who need them.
Release
Release is distribution support and handover — not "going viral", not guaranteeing pickup. We help your team execute the plan: sending materials under the agreed embargo, supporting media calls, monitoring for factual misquotes that need correction, posting internal briefings on schedule. When our scoped role ends, we hand over files, logs and a short memo on what to watch in the weeks ahead.
We schedule a later review point — a week or a month out, depending on the engagement — to capture lessons while memory is fresh. What questions arrived that we did not prepare for? Which internal channel lagged? That conversation feeds the next cycle, especially for retainers.
Your role: Execute distribution through your channels; keep us informed of factual corrections needed; attend the review session or delegate someone who was present throughout.
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How cadence meets format
A discovery briefing typically runs listen and assess only, ending with a written brief-back. A project runs all five phases once, tightly. A retainer repeats phases on a rolling basis — lighter listen each month, full draft-align-release cycles when news demands. Advisory might join at assess or align, commenting on work you drafted internally. The engagement format sets the envelope; the cadence sets the rhythm inside it.
Practice areas from our mandate page describe what each phase produces for media relations, crisis work, executive messaging and the rest. If you want to see how the cadence applies to your situation, email [email protected] or read the practical questions on queries.
Keong Saik · Tanjong Pagar
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