Before the company commits money to a brand repositioning, war-game the proposal. Write the old and new versions of the promise, the audience, and the proof side by side, count what the transition costs across the website, sales, and partners, and set a 90-day test with a point at which you walk it back. Paste the positioning proposal, the current messaging, customer data by segment, where new demand comes from today, the partner program, and the budget into one request. Instruct Pingpong to test whether the new position is earnable with today's product and customers, flag demand the change puts at risk, and check for a walk-back rule. Review your written answers in a second round.
This page is for chief executives, marketing leaders, and directors deciding whether to fund a change in how the company presents itself. Executive starting points live under Pingpong for executives.
Write the before and after
- Promise: the one line a buyer should remember, old and new.
- Audience: who you speak to first, and who you stop speaking to.
- Proof: the customers, product capabilities, and results that make the new line believable today.
- Demand at risk: the searches, referrals, and buyers that found you through the old line.
If the proof column is mostly roadmap, the new position is not yet earnable.
Count the transition cost
Agency fees and a new site are the visible part. Add the pages and search rankings that change, sales materials and case studies to rebuild, partner programs that depend on the old audience, and the months when two stories run at once.
Set the test and the walk-back point
Choose measures you can read in 90 days, such as qualified demand from the new audience, win rates, and demand from existing channels. Write the threshold at which you pause or reverse, and who decides.
A worked example
This example is illustrative and does not describe a customer. A 140-person software company sells accounting automation to small accounting firms. The marketing leader proposes repositioning it as "the finance operations platform for mid-size companies," with $1.8 million for an agency, a new website, and a launch campaign.
The chief executive pastes the proposal, current messaging, customers by segment, pipeline by source, the partner program summary, and the budget.
A useful pass finds that the proof is thin. Mid-size finance teams expect consolidation across entities and approval workflows, and the product has neither yet. Only six customers have more than 200 employees. About 70% of new pipeline comes from organic search on accounting firm topics, and the new site plan retires most of those pages. Forty accounting firm partners refer about 30% of new revenue, and the new message leaves them out. Sales has no mid-size case studies. The only measure in the plan is a brand awareness survey, and nothing describes when the company would reverse course.
The revised proposal stages the change. Accounting firms remain the primary audience, and the existing pages stay. A section for mid-size finance teams launches once multi-entity consolidation ships, with $600,000 for the first phase. Partners hear about the change before launch, with a clear statement that the firm program continues. Sales builds two mid-size case studies from current customers. The 90-day measures are demo requests from companies above 200 employees, win rate in that group, organic traffic to existing pages, and partner-referred revenue. If organic traffic or partner revenue falls more than 15%, the change is paused and reviewed. The full repositioning comes back to the board when the company has 25 mid-size customers.
If the repositioning really changes who sales pursues, see test the evidence and write the definition before you change your ICP.
A request you can copy
Below are our repositioning proposal, current messaging, customer data by segment, pipeline by source, partner program, and budget. Lay out the old and new promise, audience, and proof side by side. Test whether the new position is believable with today's product and customers. Identify demand the change puts at risk and the full transition cost. Check for 90-day measures and a walk-back rule. Stop there so we can answer in writing, then review our answers.
How Pingpong runs the review
The web review app sends your request through several models in order. Each later model receives the original request and every earlier answer, with instructions to assess the work so far. For the steps inside the app, see running your first review.
What a model can't review
A model does not know how buyers perceive your brand today beyond the data you paste, or how a new message will land. Customer research and the decision belong to you and the board.
When the proposal goes to the board, see war-game a decision before the board meeting. More guides live under work decisions before you commit.