Portfolio Review
Ending or redesigning a marketing partnership
Decide whether to continue, narrow, pause or end a B2B marketing partnership, then manage commitments, customer messages and shared material.
Decide whether to continue, repair, narrow, pause or end a marketing partnership by checking three things: what customers still gain, what partners actually delivered, and what each can commit to next. A single disappointing campaign cannot settle all three questions.
Establish the current position
Gather the agreement and approved changes, unfinished commitments, campaign records and live joint material. Ask each partner to confirm the factual record. Identify who can authorise a change or an ending; a campaign contact may not have that authority.
State the customer proposition as it stands today. Who is it for, what does each business contribute, and what can a customer do or understand because those contributions are combined? If an offer or capability has changed, review the public promise promptly.
Keep delivery and value separate. A missed send may explain a poor campaign result without showing whether the proposition is sound. A completed campaign may reveal that customers had little use for the combination.
Agree shared rights and responsibilities
For collaboration material, distinguish background IP brought into the work, project IP created during it and third-party IP. Agree who can access and use background IP, who will own and manage project IP, and what happens if new material is created unexpectedly. A non-disclosure agreement may help protect sensitive information.
If both partners own project IP, clarify how it will be protected and commercialised; IP Australia recommends considering legal advice about each partner's share of earnings. Third-party IP requires the owner's agreement to its use, with licence terms covering circumstances, timeframes and any proposed sublicensing.
Choose an outcome
| Decision | When to consider it | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Continue | The customer need and both contributions remain clear | Next activity, owners and review point |
| Repair execution | A specific delivery failure limited what the activity could show | The fix and how delivery will be checked |
| Narrow | One audience, task or contribution remains credible | The retained use case and excluded work |
| Pause | A material question remains open | Its owner and decision date |
| End | No workable proposition or mutually acceptable next commitment remains | The authorised decision and close-out actions |
These are management choices, not automatic contractual rights. Check the actual terms for notice, outstanding work, payment, confidentiality and continuing asset use before relying on a date or outcome. Refer disputed terms to the people authorised to resolve them.
Check that public claims made during a transition remain supportable. The ACCC can require businesses to back up claims and may investigate or take compliance or enforcement action; reports it receives inform its education, compliance and enforcement work. It does not resolve individual disputes or provide legal advice.
Manage the transition
Give the decision an effective point. Identify work to finish, cancel or hand over; supplier commitments to settle; customer questions that still need an answer; and public material that may become inaccurate. Name an owner on each side and retain the original commitments alongside any agreed change.
Tell sales, support and publishing teams what they may now say. Where a customer was promised a joint activity, agree who will contact them and what accurate alternative, if any, is available. Review pages and messages that could imply a current endorsement or capability after it has changed.
Before sending a proposed transition message as a commercial electronic message, check the applicable ACMA guidance and requirements.
Where personal information is used for direct marketing, APP 7 generally prohibits an organisation from using or disclosing it for that purpose unless an exception applies. If an exception permits the marketing, the organisation must provide a way to opt out and honour requests; in some circumstances it must also make the individual aware of that right.
Close out material and information
Review shared and public-facing material at a partnership level. Agree what remains in use, what needs correction or withdrawal, and who is responsible for any permissions or changes. Check the agreement and relevant rights, including third-party material.
Treat customer and attendee records separately from creative assets. Identify which organisation holds each record and assess any proposed transfer, continued use or disposal.
For entities covered by the Australian Privacy Principles, the rules for secondary use or disclosure, direct marketing, security and retention depend on the information and circumstances. Ending a campaign does not itself authorise an exchange of records or require immediate deletion of every record.
Keep a dated decision record with the customer question, delivery facts, unresolved evidence, decision-makers, effective point and close-out owners. If the partners choose a narrower restart, define it as a bounded new activity. Confirm completion of the transition with both sides.
Under APP 6, an APP entity generally may use or disclose personal information only for the purpose it was collected for. A secondary use or disclosure may be permitted, for example, with consent or where the person would reasonably expect it and it is related to the original purpose; sensitive information must be directly related.
APP 11 requires APP entities to take reasonable steps to protect personal information they hold. They must take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information when it is no longer needed for a permitted purpose. This requirement does not apply where the personal information is part of a Commonwealth record, or where the entity is required by or under an Australian law or a court or tribunal order to retain the personal information.
Privacy and compliance references for partnership transitions
- ACCC guidance on misleading claims
- https://www.accc.gov.au/business/advertising-and-promotions/false-or-misleading-claims
- Australian Privacy Principle 6 (Use or disclosure)
- https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-6-app-6-use-or-disclosure-of-personal-information
- APP 7 (Direct marketing)
- https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-7-app-7-direct-marketing
- APP 11 (Security of personal information)
- https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-11-app-11-security-of-personal-information
- ACMA spam guidelines
- https://www.acma.gov.au/avoid-sending-spam
In this guide
- Recognising an alliance with no clear customer benefitCheck whether an existing B2B alliance still solves a customer problem, and distinguish an unclear message from a missing joint benefit.
- Separating an execution failure from a weak partnership fitDiagnose whether a disappointing partner campaign reflects a delivery fault, a weak customer proposition or unresolved evidence.
- Handling shared assets after a partnership endsInventory joint pages, recordings, logos, files and records after a partnership ends, then assign rights checks and corrections.
- Restarting a partnership with a narrower scopeTurn a stalled B2B partnership into one bounded customer activity with clear contributions, approvals, limits and a review decision.
