Fictional worked example · not client results
Meet Northline Packs.
A made-up commuter-backpack retailer helps us practice a real sequence of decisions. Every Northline business fact and number is invented for teaching. Separate, attributed case-study analyses follow the practice project.
01 · The starting point
A product. A question. Some gaps.
Northline sells commuter backpacks with a laptop compartment and water-resistant outer material. It ships nationally and has a stated returns policy. The owner wants to assess a new advertising channel.
Unknown: contribution per order, verified purchase tracking, and an approved media budget. These gaps prevent a launch recommendation.
02 · The scoped service
Make readiness the first decision.
The assessment delivers one readiness summary, a campaign brief, and a measurement plan. Website development and media costs are excluded. A live pilot is scoped separately after prerequisites are resolved.
Client responsibilities: supply true product facts, own the account, pay media directly, and approve consequential changes.
03 · A planning fee
Explain the assumptions.
Eight delivery hours × $40 internal cost, plus $40 direct costs and $40 contingency, equals $400. At a 20% gross-margin assumption, the planning fee is $500. A separate media budget is not agency revenue.
This is arithmetic using invented assumptions, not a recommended market price.
04 · An inconclusive report
Two purchases do not prove a pattern.
A synthetic report records $200 spend, 100 clicks, and two purchases in a click-based dataset. CPC is $2, purchase conversion rate is 2%, and media CPA is $100. With zero purchases, CPA would be unavailable.
Revenue is not profit. Tracking, attribution, costs, and data maturity still matter.